By Jim McCausland, Sunset senior garden writer

If you have a not-too-huge flat lawn, maybe it’s time to move over to a electric mower. They’re clean and relatively quiet, and you never add gas or oil (or spill them on the driveway when you’re hosing grass clippings out of the deck). I recently tested the Black and Decker CMM1200 19-inch cordless electric mower, which cuts 1/3 acre—the area of three pro basketball courts—on a charge.

More eco-friendly than notoriously polluting gas machines, this mower’s rechargeable 24-volt battery lets you cut without being tethered to a power outlet. It started instantly for me, and its one-touch blade-height adjustment was remarkably easy to use.

I found that while the CMM1200 was weak at bagging, it performed well as a mulching mower, letting fine grass clippings drop into the turf, decompose, and refertilize the lawn. Grass clippings are about 4 percent nitrogen—a primary nutrient—so it makes good environmental sense to recycle them.

At 76 pounds, this push mower is too heavy for easy use on slopes, but it’s well-fitted for flat lawns that are too big for manual push mowers. MSRP is about $475, but you can find it for under $400.