SD, I had a lawn mowing business in High School so I'm pretty much an expert! I agree with everything EMO and some of this overlaps but
1. Mow your lawn in different directions every week.
2. When you get tired of north/south east/west and are ready for diagonal do this.
A. Make 2 laps around the outside. Now you have room to turn your mower around.
B. Start in the middle at a 45 degree angle, finish one half then do the other half.
C. Your lawn will look "Kaufman Stadium" awesome
3. Definitely mow shirtless, the neighbors wife's will love it (Old ladies used to tip me and I'm sure its because I was shirtless)
4. Splurge on a nice weedeater. You can get one with different attachments that turn it into an edger.
5. Bag your yard in the spring and fall, mulch it during the summer when its hot as balls. The mulch helps to trap the moisture and keep your grass looking studly.
6. Leafblowers are the crap. Unless you are planning on paying the neighborhood kids to rake leaves I would get one.
7. If your green thumb ever comes back think about putting a compost pile in your backyard somewhere. Grass clippings/Leaves can go there and you will have super awesome soil to plant stuff your veggies in.
8. The only winterizing I have ever done for a mower is to make sure it has no gas in it over the winter. You may need to sharpen the blade like once every 3 years but other than that don't worry about it unless you notice the blade is sucking.
