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A standard home lawn mower with sharp blades can handle a thin layer of leaves without issue. You may need to make a couple of passes within several days to mulch leaves down, but your mower shouldn’t struggle. If your mower comes with a mulching kit, like an attachment to blow leaves out the side, that’s a good sign it’s ready for fall leaves. Set your mower to the highest or near-highest height for this project so it focuses on the leaves rather than the grass below.

The American ideal of a large, perfectly-manicured lawn is tied to the post-World War II suburban housing boom. In the decades that followed, technological advances made self-propelled mowers more affordable and plentiful. Many Americans came to see reel mowers as old-fashioned, inconvenient, and time-consuming, and they eventually fell out of fashion.  

The cord you pull to start a lawn mower is commonly called the “starter cord” or “pull cord.” This uses and internal combustion process to start the lawn mower engine and it prone to wear and tear over time. You’ll want to check the starter cord as part of your regular lawn mower tune-up process.

Sometimes dark smoke trailing out of your lawn mower is the result of excess oil. It smokes as it burns off. Other times, it could signal a problem with the combustion or contaminated fuel. If changing the fuel and cleaning your mower doesn’t help, call a professional (especially if the smoke is white).