Cleaning Up Our Backyard Landscaping with Ease

Tips for Using a Trimmer Around Your Yard

I use my STIHL trimmer all the time to keep our yard looking neat and clean!

DISCLOSURE: This is a sponsored post in partnership with STIHL.

Now that spring is upon us, staying on top of landscaping and yardwork is… a lot. From lawn maintenance to weeding to planting garden beds, this time of year is busy outside. I have an arsenal of tools and gadgets thanks to my job, but there are a handful that I use weekly and end up being the real MVPs of yard maintenance around here (and now, also at the flip house!). I know that power tools can be intimidating for lots of reasons: they’re heavy, they’re complicated, they have big moving blades, etc. I’ve partnered with STIHL for years and one of the many reasons I love their products and continue to share them with all of you is because they are light weight, easy to use and THEY WORK GREAT!

Now through 6/18, you can save $50 on the FSA 57 Battery Trimmer. Includes AK 10 battery and AL 101 charger. Now Just $149.99. Was $199.99 MSRP while supplies last.

So back to our yard. Two years ago, I shared the hardest working member of the Smith House: our iMow. It’s a robot lawn mower and, as I type, I can see him working away out our back windows. So yes… we love him and he works great. But, like all lawn mowers, he can only reach so far so we always have to go around the edges of our garden beds to clean things up. This year I’ve been using the STIHL FSA57 trimmer which is incredibly light weight AND battery powered which I love… no pollution, not as loud, no yanking at a starter chord trying to get things running. Just the press of a button!

TIP: Whenever you’re using a trimmer, be aware of which way the line is spinning since this will determine where the clippings are sent and therefore where you should stand to avoid said clippings … i.e. if your trimmer spins counter- clockwise like mine, the clippings will come out the left side of the tool so you’ll want to stand and cut from the right.

I took my trimmer over to the flip house to clean up the lawn and I was able to essentially trim/ mow half the lawn without changing the battery… it’s hard to sufficiently show in photos the before and after of a clean lawn but trust me when I saw the yard was baaadd… and then it was GOOOOD!

TIP: When using a trimmer, try to keep a little distance from whatever it is you’re trimming so that only the tips of the trim line are cutting through the grass.

We also use our trimmer in places of our yard that get a little soggy and muddy or small little patches of grass that wouldn’t fit a lawn mower that easily. The trimmer works like a charm!

It took me between 30 minutes to an hour to trim all the edges and small patches of grass around our yard and not only does this trimmer hold its battery charge the entire time, but it is also light weight enough that I can easily handle it for the whole duration.

Sometimes it feels like it takes an arsenal to keep up with everything around the house, but our iMow and this trimmer are truthfully all we need to keep our lawn and garden beds looking perfect!

For more posts about my STIHL projects check out:

How I Created an Easy Garden Bed

Using a Pole Pruner

Using a Chain Saw