Lawn partners top tips

Lawn Mowers

For general ease, convenience and good results on your average size lawn we nearly always recommend a petrol rotary type mower with grass collection. As the lawn size increases you will need to consider buying a larger machine with a bigger cutting width. Petrol rotary mowers generally range from 16 inch (41cm) up to 22 inch (56cm) blade size.

The smaller the machine the lighter and more manoeuvreable it will be, but at the expense of time taken to cut the grass. The larger rotary machines tend to be self-propelled. You also have the choice of either four-wheeled or rear roller types. The decision here is down to personal choice. The rear roller type is generally more expensive but gives the striped finish which looks good. It also has the benefit of being able to get right up to the edge of flower beds.

As with any significant purchase you generally get what you pay for and we would not recommend any of the budget machines on the market for under £200. Better to spend a little more and opt for one of the better makes such as Honda or Hayter. The Honda Izy range offers great value for money. We’d also recommend the old style Honda mowers now made under licence and branded LawnFlite and Asuka.

Serviced annually a good quality mower will last for many years.

The exceptions to this general rule of thumb where we’d recommend other types of lawn mowers are:

• for small lawns (<50m2), an electric powered rotary mower is going to be perfectly adequate provided you are able to adjust the blade height and have the facility to collect the clippings.
  
• for large lawns (>750m2), a ride-on mower might be better suited to the job, however it's worth bearing in mind that ride-on’s are not generally good for unusual shaped lawns with lots of curves and borders. They do make light work of regular shaped areas. The finish achieved with ride-on’s is not as good as you’d get with a good quality petrol rotary pedestrian mower.
  
• for lawn areas with steep banks, the best bet is likely to be a petrol-driven hover mower.
  
• for a top quality finish there is nothing that can beat a petrol cylinder mower, however they cannot cope with long grass, are not good on anything but the flattest lawn and the blades are expensive to maintain.

In reality most customers with very large gardens will not have a single machine that performs all of their lawn cutting tasks but will have a selection of different types to suit the different terrains which are likely to exist.