Decent Lawnmower
Discussion
Decided I want to start cutting my own lawn. It's about an acre in total, lawn to the side and rear lawn on 3 levels so there are steps.
I want a decent ride-on that will do stripes, does that exist? Can I get a ramp to take it up and down steps?
Only picture I have of the steps from particulars 3 years ago.
Advice appreciated! It's costing £150 a week at the moment and that just seems a bit silly given I can do it myself and earn myself a couple of hours peace at the same time.
I want a decent ride-on that will do stripes, does that exist? Can I get a ramp to take it up and down steps?
Only picture I have of the steps from particulars 3 years ago.
Advice appreciated! It's costing £150 a week at the moment and that just seems a bit silly given I can do it myself and earn myself a couple of hours peace at the same time.
Is there a way to drive a ride-on from one bit to another without going down steps (i.e. is there also a slope elsewhere to go between levels)?
What sort of mower are the pros you are paying currently use?
Ride on mowers will be less suitable if you have lots of corners to get into etc, whereas are good for large open areas, so depends what the whole lawn looks like really.
Otherwise a large-diameter self-propelling non-ride on might be a better option. Lots of good makes out there, but pros often use Hayters. I've actually got three different mowers which I use for different areas, which might sounds excessive, but different areas suit different mowers.
- a relatively light electric one which I can lift up onto some terraced lawn areas and good for tight spaces (non self propelled makes this easier),
- an Atco petrol cylinder mower which I use for for the flatter more formal bits of lawn; this one can cut super short - much closer cut than a rotary type blade and gives a fantastic bowling-green type finish.
- a hand push cylinder mower, for areas which I want short but are inaccessible to the big petrol one which is too heavy to lift.
What sort of mower are the pros you are paying currently use?
Ride on mowers will be less suitable if you have lots of corners to get into etc, whereas are good for large open areas, so depends what the whole lawn looks like really.
Otherwise a large-diameter self-propelling non-ride on might be a better option. Lots of good makes out there, but pros often use Hayters. I've actually got three different mowers which I use for different areas, which might sounds excessive, but different areas suit different mowers.
- a relatively light electric one which I can lift up onto some terraced lawn areas and good for tight spaces (non self propelled makes this easier),
- an Atco petrol cylinder mower which I use for for the flatter more formal bits of lawn; this one can cut super short - much closer cut than a rotary type blade and gives a fantastic bowling-green type finish.
- a hand push cylinder mower, for areas which I want short but are inaccessible to the big petrol one which is too heavy to lift.
Thats really not a helpful picture in determining suitability for a ride on. On that glance I would say not and you would be better with a decent self propelled. We have just over half an acre and a it takes about 45-60 minutes to do once a week or every other week depending on the weather. That's split over 3 lawns (2 large, 1 small).
AB said:
Decided I want to start cutting my own lawn. It's about an acre in total, lawn to the side and rear lawn on 3 levels so there are steps.
I want a decent ride-on that will do stripes, does that exist? Can I get a ramp to take it up and down steps?
Only picture I have of the steps from particulars 3 years ago.
Advice appreciated! It's costing £150 a week at the moment and that just seems a bit silly given I can do it myself and earn myself a couple of hours peace at the same time.
I'd split the work over two non sit on mowers. My previous house had multiple lawns and by far the best solution was multiple mowers. My grandparents had lawns on differing levels and used a sit on for the lower orchard and the top lawn, which had originally been set as an ornamental croquet lawn was done with an old roller mower to look pretty. I want a decent ride-on that will do stripes, does that exist? Can I get a ramp to take it up and down steps?
Only picture I have of the steps from particulars 3 years ago.
Advice appreciated! It's costing £150 a week at the moment and that just seems a bit silly given I can do it myself and earn myself a couple of hours peace at the same time.
Have one heavy one with rollers to do the top, ornamental lawn with stripes and then a wheeled one with a mulch plug for the sides and lower lawns and easy to just carry between the levels.
I'm not against a robot mower, but I am kind of keen on the stripes, can they do them? This picture doesn't show them really and again taken from particulars. I also don't mind physically moving the robot to the different levels, there's no way of getting up and down without the steps.
I'm not against a manual mower either, I just thought a ride on might be a bit of fun.
I'm not against a manual mower either, I just thought a ride on might be a bit of fun.
I was on the Stratford canal last year and all the medium to large houses had robots pottering around.
Stripes are just due to the direction the blades of grass lie in, achieved by a roller on the back of the mower pushing them over. Without that, you can put stripes in with a stiff broom after cutting if you want the effect.
Stripes are just due to the direction the blades of grass lie in, achieved by a roller on the back of the mower pushing them over. Without that, you can put stripes in with a stiff broom after cutting if you want the effect.
I've not had a good experience with robomowers. Even when they don't need rescuing, you don't get stripes and you do end up with lots of little bits of grass everywhere as they don't collect.
I'd go with a lightweight Bosch cordless mower and 3 batteries. I've had the top of the range models, but they're a pain to lift up and down steps.
Here's what I've currently got after spending £1000s over the years.
https://www.powertoolworld.co.uk/bosch-green-06008...
It'll give you stripes and you can do all your lawns in under an hour, once a week. Maybe have a couple of strategically placed green bins/ compost heaps to save the back and forth with the grass collector.
I'd go with a lightweight Bosch cordless mower and 3 batteries. I've had the top of the range models, but they're a pain to lift up and down steps.
Here's what I've currently got after spending £1000s over the years.
https://www.powertoolworld.co.uk/bosch-green-06008...
It'll give you stripes and you can do all your lawns in under an hour, once a week. Maybe have a couple of strategically placed green bins/ compost heaps to save the back and forth with the grass collector.
AB said:
I'm not against a robot mower, but I am kind of keen on the stripes, can they do them? This picture doesn't show them really and again taken from particulars. I also don't mind physically moving the robot to the different levels, there's no way of getting up and down without the steps.
I'm not against a manual mower either, I just thought a ride on might be a bit of fun.
Yes some of them can:I'm not against a manual mower either, I just thought a ride on might be a bit of fun.
https://forums-images.pistonheads.com/84245/202505...
See this mega-thread:
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
One of the OPs original points was cutting the grass themselves would get a few hours peace. A robot won’t achieve that!
Our Hayter mower has been very reliable over the 20 plus years we have had it. If those steps are the only way between levels then mowers are only going between levels by being lifted. So a ride on is not an option!
Stripes are created by the mower having a roller. Electric and battery mowers are the lightest however this is PH so you need a petrol mower.
The OP should postpone the request for mower advice and instead post a question as to how to turn the steps in to a slope.
Our Hayter mower has been very reliable over the 20 plus years we have had it. If those steps are the only way between levels then mowers are only going between levels by being lifted. So a ride on is not an option!
Stripes are created by the mower having a roller. Electric and battery mowers are the lightest however this is PH so you need a petrol mower.
The OP should postpone the request for mower advice and instead post a question as to how to turn the steps in to a slope.
Chrisgr31 said:
One of the OPs original points was cutting the grass themselves would get a few hours peace. A robot won t achieve that!
Yeah, I would prefer to do it myself. Thanks for the suggestions so far, I'll take a look. Battery powered would be easier I think, I'd be that guy cutting through cables and it's quite a distance top to bottom.Wanting to do it yourself might get stale quite quickly?
We find the number of dry days when we're not doing something else is quite small.
We go away for a week, we come back to a lawn that looks wild.
There is always plenty else to do if you want an hour or two quiet time in the garden.
And I don't want to be the pillock who's driving his lawn tractor for an hour when everyone else in the area is thinking it's time to relax.
We find the number of dry days when we're not doing something else is quite small.
We go away for a week, we come back to a lawn that looks wild.
There is always plenty else to do if you want an hour or two quiet time in the garden.
And I don't want to be the pillock who's driving his lawn tractor for an hour when everyone else in the area is thinking it's time to relax.
Alickadoo said:
Who has been mowing it up till now and how did they do it?
We had the guy who came with the house, he'd been doing it 40 years, had his own shed and everything 
£60 a week and spent a week here every 6 months for a full on hedge/tree everything cut. Absolute bargain but he's probably getting on for 80 and had enough.
Since then we've had a few try and not be able to cope with everything we wanted doing, certainly nowhere near what we were paying. So my idea was to do the easy stuff myself and leave the high and complicated stuff to the professionals.
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