1. If you have a non-electric mower which runs on petrol or gas have a look in the instruction manual to find out how to check and change the oil. Check the oil level often, add more oil when necessary and change it when its dirty.

2. Store the lawn mower in a shed or in some kind of protective environment so that it isnt sitting in the elements.

3. Check your lawn mower to see if it contains instructions for sharpening your mower blade. Some lawn mowers do encourage you to sharpen the blade and others do not. If the manual does direct you to sharpen the blade then do so frequently.

4. The best time to mow your lawn is after any dew from the night before has had time to evaporate. This means that the late afternoon is usually better than the morning as the grass cuts better when its dry and the humidity has left the air. Also, wet grass can cause problems with the mower and generally just makes a bigger mess!

5. Try mowing your lawn in different directions each time you mow. This will help keep your lawn healthy and will reduce the likelihood of any patterns forming over multiple sessions.

6. Make sure you keep the fuel and oil that you pour into your mower as free of foreign objects as possible. No matter what your daughter insists, her bottle of moisturizer added to the gas tank will probably not make your lawn mower run any better.

7. Take the time to clean the grass off the underside of the mower from time to time. Make sure the mower is off before you attempt to clean the underside. Make sure if you are going anywhere near the blade you disconnect the spark plug wire first.

8. Clean the air intake for the mower. Combustion (petrol or gas) engines need some type of air intake to run correctly and if the air intake on your mower is clogged with grass then the mower wont run at peak efficiency.