Starting This Year's Lawn Work ~ Dethatching
@2026.03.29
This task has come around again this year. Lawn dethatching. Although it is a once-a-year job, it is quite tedious. That said, since I introduced a machine, it has become surprisingly simple and easy. I can never go back to doing it by hand...
Now, I would like to get right to work, but since it is still in the state it was in after mowing last year, I cannot start without switching from the regular mowing blade to the dethatching blade.
For the details, please refer to this article from last year.
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Replacement Procedure (Mowing Blade -> Dethatching Blade)
1. Flip the machine over, remove the bolt on the right side of the direction of travel, and remove the cover
2. Remove the guide plate (semicircular plastic plate) and the belt
3. Remove the two bolts for the counter blade and remove the counter blade. Don't forget the spring.
4. Remove the four bolts for the mowing blade and take out the mowing blade
5. Install the dethatching blade and secure it with the four bolts
6. Attach the guide plastic and the belt
7. Attach the cover and secure it with the bolt
* The counter blade assembly is not needed during dethatching, so set it aside
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A part of the lawn before the work looks like this.
By running the dethatching machine over this,
it looks like this. By the way, this bucket becomes full after just one round trip in the vertical direction shown in the photo above... The bucket itself could have been about four times larger...
The thatch I removed this time was placed on top of the weed-suppressing sheet for the blueberries. If it were just the black sheet, the temperature might get too high... By the way, there are 12 buckets' worth just from this area.
Since that amount of discharge wasn't enough this time either, I also spread it in the fruit tree area in the back and under the persimmon tree.
However, lawns are plants, aren't they? With their incredible growth power, they produce a lot of dead lawn leaves... This debris is proof of that.
Seeing the state where the soil is slightly visible after dethatching makes me realize that this year's lawn work is beginning. How beautifully will I be able to maintain it this year?
Since dethatching is done once a year, I return it to the mowing blade immediately after finishing the work.
For what it's worth, the lawnmower I own has a blade sharpening mechanism, but since I had it removed anyway, I easily sharpened both the counter blade and the mowing blade with a whetstone before putting them back.
Now, lawn maintenance begins again this year... But let's take it easy!!