Lets talk lawn mowers.

[artie]

My 36 inch ride on is waiting for an oil seal, so I have to use a 15 inch Mountfield push mower to do it all.
Bit tedious .
The biggest bit at the rear is around 1500 sq mtrs and takes a bit over 90 mins to cut.

But I think it is cut closer and looks better than it did with the ride on. So I did some calculations.

A 22" should do it in around 60 mins.

A 30" should do it around 45 mins and I know the 36" does it around 40 mins.

I'm actually considering buying a 22" and selling the ride on when fixed.

The purchase cost to time ratio seems to favour a 22" as the price jump to a 30" seems to outweigh the 15 minute per week time saving.

Any thoughts welcome.

 

[Tris]

As I do this for my day job a few things I've noticed re time to cut a lawn: takes twice as long in the spring and autumn cos you have to empty the bag more often, on a big lawn a builders bag at either end saves time, empty the bag before the chute gets clogged, if it's got too long cutting twice high and low at 90 degrees will often be quicker than 1 pass trying to take it all, if you walk across and moisture flicks off your boots it's too wet- use a dragmat or blower to get the excess off. This year we've had heavy dew up until last week which has kept the grass growing. I'm down to 45 minutes on the main lawn (1300 sq m) with a 24in Ransomes, it takes about 1½ hours in spring.
Get a big old cylinder mower, stripes look great and they move faster than a rotary.
Apologies if I'm teaching egg sucking here

 

[flying haggis]

You can get Rotary's with a rear roller so you get nice stripes. its what I have , 21in lawnflite, alloy deck so no rust
https://www.lawnflite.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=69I am on my second, the first one never got serviced in the ten years I had it and still sold for £150! And I only paid £300 for it secondhand.
If the grass is a bit long only cut half width passes, quicker to cut narrower passes than stopping to unclog it!
My lawnflite leaves the lawn looking like this

 

[Spectric]

I'm actually considering buying a 22" and selling the ride on when fixed.

It will also be the more healthy option because you are not sitting around.

 

[Noel]

 

[Jacob]

I'm into no-mow May etc. Been doing it for years - just mow not too short about 3 times a year - spring (after the dandelions), mid summer, autumn. Not quite the flowers that Noel grows but a nice selection of self setters. Mow paths though and everybody sticks to them, even the dog!
It's a cheapo Mountfield, about £120 I seem to recall. They are subject to rust so well worth a bit of maintenance.

 

[Sandyn]

I would have all these flowers cut down........they just attract bees!!!

 

[clogs]

we had a 2 acre garden/orchard at our old house...not quite a lawn but it did look nice...
used to cut it every week when up for sale....
had normal big ride-on's......
but then bought one of these....it wizzes around the tree's..........
wern't cheap but oh so quick....still got it but no lawns at our house in 30+degrees....
up for sale this autumn....plenty of rich folks here with lawns....lol...

 

[dickm]

A 22" should do it in around 60 mins.

A 30" should do it around 45 mins and I know the 36" does it around 40 mins.

I'm actually considering buying a 22" and selling the ride on when fixed.


Any thoughts welcome.

Just one warning; depending on the shape of your lawn and your age, a 22" mower can become a real pain. My 20 year old Hayter is self-propelled, so no pushing, but manoeuvering it in any confined space takes quite a lot of effort. Fortunately, it only usually gets used now to get the lawn down to a level for the robot to be happy!

 

[Ollie78]

Sounds like you need a tractor, or maybe a couple of sheep.

 

[flying haggis]

Trouble is,sheep don't just eat grass...

 

[niemeyjt]

I used a 21" Honda - alloy deck - great exercise and also with a catcher no clippings to get trapsed into the house and good for the compost heap - on maybe half an acre. Recommended.

 

[ian33a]

At our old house I used a small petrol Atco to get around the difficult stuff and a power drive Hayter Harrier 48 for the more open sections.

In our new place we have about 0.5 acres of grass to cut near the house and the Hayter decided to have a strop immediately after moving. It took us 2 hours to cut the rear lawns with the Atco - much of that was emptying and carting the cut grass to the compost heap.

I now have the Hayter back from the repairers so this should take away some of the pain.

As we also have a field, currently rather overgrown, the plan is to use our flail mower for most of that. Great fun cutting it down with a tractor but I do miss the stripes when I use that on the main lawns - plus the tractor and flail are not easy to manoeuvre into tight corners.

Ultimately, the Hayter will be used to give a fine striped cut near the house and the flail will be used further away and in the field.

 

[Fergie 307]

At our old house I used a small petrol Atco to get around the difficult stuff and a power drive Hayter Harrier 48 for the more open sections.

In our new place we have about 0.5 acres of grass to cut near the house and the Hayter decided to have a strop immediately after moving. It took us 2 hours to cut the rear lawns with the Atco - much of that was emptying and carting the cut grass to the compost heap.

I now have the Hayter back from the repairers so this should take away some of the pain.

As we also have a field, currently rather overgrown, the plan is to use our flail mower for most of that. Great fun cutting it down with a tractor but I do miss the stripes when I use that on the main lawns - plus the tractor and flail are not easy to manoeuvre into tight corners.

Ultimately, the Hayter will be used to give a fine striped cut near the house and the flail will be used further away and in the field.

View attachment 138048

You can get Rotary's with a rear roller so you get nice stripes. its what I have , 21in lawnflite, alloy deck so no rust
https://www.lawnflite.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=69I am on my second, the first one never got serviced in the ten years I had it and still sold for £150! And I only paid £300 for it secondhand.
If the grass is a bit long only cut half width passes, quicker to cut narrower passes than stopping to unclog it!
My lawnflite leaves the lawn looking like thisView attachment 138039Similar size here, use a Hayter Harrier bought from the dump, sorry recycling centre, about 20 years ago for a fiver I think. Has needed very few repairs over the years and still runs a treat. Don't use the self propulsion as I find pushing it is good exercise. I was astonished looking at the price of the modern ones, and by how poor the quality is compared to my 1960's one. Biggest shock was the price Hayter wanted for front wheel bearings for it. Ended up getting some much better quality race bearings and machining the wheels out to suit on the lathe.

 

[gmgmgm]

Robot mower? I have a robot doing the main area (>1500 sqm), a Makita cordless mower (17"?) and a ride-on. All get used, depending upon the area I want to cut. Cordless mowers are brilliant for smaller areas, where a robot mower doesn't cover.

I don't collect any of the clippings which saves a lot of time. If it's really long I get out the tractor and flail, which gives a wonderful quality of cut.

I think it comes down to how much you value stripes and your time!

 

[Jacob]

Save yourself a lot of effort with just 3 cuts a year!
Here's typical snap of my no-mow May lawn, before it was mowed last week. A highish cut and take cuttings off to reduce fertility. It'll all grow back.
Full of self set wild flowers, looks good, bees love it.
Dandelions, Clover, lesser stitchwort, eggs n bacon, ragwort (for the cinnabar moths). plantain, knapweed, buttercups, daisies, black medick, pig nut, lots of moss (very nice underfoot), many others.
Easily identified if you google "lawn weeds"

 

[dickm]

Save yourself a lot of effort with just 3 cuts a year!
Here's typical snap of my no-mow May lawn, before it was mowed last week. A highish cut and take cuttings off to reduce fertility. It'll all grow back.
Full of self set wild flowers, looks good, bees love it.
Dandelions, Clover, lesser stitchwort, eggs n bacon, ragwort (for the cinnabar moths). plantain, knapweed, buttercups, daisies, black medick, pig nut, lots of moss (very nice underfoot), many others.
Easily identified if you google "lawn weeds"

View attachment 138055

Brilliant. Well done Jacob.
I've been vainly trying to persuade our local community council to adopt a similar approach, but they have a "suburban garden" mindset which insists communal grass must be clipped to 20mm every week and flowers must be planted in regular lines in separate beds. Looks totally out of place in a small, very rural village, THEN they complain it's too much work! On top of which there is the petrolhead with a ride-on mower who drives along the roadside verges about a mile either side of his entrance, shaving off any flower which dares to show its head. Including the verge outside my house which I'd just sown and planted with a wildflower mix. Crazy, but he clearly believes pumping out petrol fumes is a public service.

 

[gregmcateer]

I've just today used a rotovator/tiller/cultivator (*delete as you wish), to prep our little front garden for sowing meadow grass and flowers mix. Hopefully end up with a beautiful, VERY low maintenence area that the insects love.

 

[recipio]

If you have a large single lawn a robot mower is amazing. Silent yet effective they rely on taking a mm or so off but can be working away 10 hours per day. Expensive to set up certainly but it's like getting a pet. They are controlled via an app on the phone and need no maintenance - just change the blades every few weeks. The time they free up is very gratifying.

 

[Jacob]

I've just today used a rotovator/tiller/cultivator (*delete as you wish), to prep our little front garden for sowing meadow grass and flowers mix. Hopefully end up with a beautiful, VERY low maintenence area that the insects love.

Didn't have to do anything to mine - it was originally a hard surface of infertile limestone chippings (ex chapel school playground) which over the years had been invaded and just grass, nettles etc. Just mowed it for a few years and everything in the "lawn" is self set. Low fertility is key - and learning to like dandelions!
The soil is only about 2" deep and very well drained.