We moved to a bigger house before Christmas so I’ve now got 200m2 rear lawn and about 100m2 to the front. Previously had a cheap rotary flymo which was fine but it was a much smaller garden.
Will a petrol powered lawnmower be “better” not having a cable to drag around does appeal but am ibooening myself to a world of maintenance pain keeping an engine serviced??
The grass is currently quite overgrown and (like the rest of the house),hasn’t seen much love and care in recent years so any lawn care tips greatly appreciated…

if you buy a decent engined mower – 2 stroke and itll not need much of nothing.

my suzuki engined allen mower is years and years old – once i ran it on normal petrol by accident – it stopped working – i put some 2 stroke in and turned it back over and it started again fine – other than sharpening the blade its had nothing done to it !

I’m a gardener and have a Honda Izy. Just pull the cord and go. Get it serviced in the winter, shouldn’t cost too much.

I have a petrol mower bought by my dad as a moving in present, I didn’t realise that a petrol is an ace bit of kit and much better than dragging a lead along behind you and having to whip it around to not mow over it

The roundy roundy twirly thing doesn’t like toes or fingers

The roundy roundy twirly thing doesn’t like toes or fingers

Au contraire! It will eat all of the fingers and toes that you give it.

Honda mowers for me at work (pro gardener) start first pull of the cord every time reliably. Have a go at taking grass box on and off and collapsing the handle if you need to for storage as some designs are a pain which can get irritating after a while.

Whatever the man uses works for me.

.if you buy a decent engined mower – 2 stroke and itll not need much of nothing.

I think the EC noise police have banned two stroke mowers. I bought a little used two stroke Flymo last year, it’s great (lightweight and works on steep banking), which four stroke don’t, or so I believe.

Avoid developing any kind of close relationship with a lawnmower–it only results in finding yourself mowing the lawn—week after week after week.
As an alternative, you can buy/rent a few goats. 😛

I’d also suggest a used Honda (HX or HY), or an Etesia Pro46 (there are usually a fair few of them about).

If it’s not an ornamental lawn forget a roller for stripes; you’ll get annoyed at unblocking the chute when it’s wet. I used a Viking 755 for my business just now, but the engine on my roller honda is better.

Yes, a petrol is so much easier, cuts faster, needs emptied less frequently, less hassle, and should last and last. If you’re not fussy you could even just use a mulch mower and forget all about collecting grass. Victa and snapper do good, cheap simple machines for this.

All my commercial mowers are Honda, I have 8, wouldn’t buy any other make. I change oil, plugs and filters twice a year and that’s it, never fail to start.

For residential users one should last a lifetime, expensive at first glance but you only need one.

Service yourself, dead easy see above.

Get a Honda. Sorted.

Honda Izy here – just waiting for summer so I can start up my brand new insurance replacement one!

I’d also say go for a roller one. It’s not what I’ve got, but it’s what I want!

I’m going to be controversial and say that the Tesco own brand Petrol mower are Great value for money. Petrol mowers tend to have a lot more cutting power than the same sized electric equivalent, the lack of a cable isn’t the only benefit.

Threads like this make me think a sabbatical is way overdue….

Arseholes on toast.

My McCullough petrol mower is Shit hot at mincing frogs !

Countax 4wd

Petrol for sure, more for the power than the lead. It’ll happily cut damp grass that an electric mower will bog down in.

My Honda is great. So simple I can fix it if it breaks, which it doesn’t. Apart from that time it got a bit of crap in the petrol tank and started using about a gallon a minute. It cut the grass fast during that minute though.

Also, think about your grass collection policy. A lawn that big is going to produce a lot of cut grass. How you deal with that is up to you but collecting it all is going to get boring really quickly.

Everything you could possibly want to know about lawnmowers here 😯

Also, 300m2 I wouldn’t worry about a powered drive…push will be fine and be more reliable.

Ok,well that sounds quite conclusively that Honda is the way to go. They are quite spendy tho. I could probably stretch to an izy41 non self propelled (entry level) are cheap Hondas still better than equivalent priced models from other manufacturers?

**** pushing it around if its a decent sized garden.

you do not need a professional mower for a garden (but ill admit ive used hondas for commercial purposes before and they are very good) but equally at my parents we had good service from a 140 quid self propelled mountfield with briggs and stratton engine – used it for 5 years then threw it away when the deck rotted through (which ime will happen to your honda) – we replaced it with the same. I only have the allen and the suffolk punch because my grandad retired and wanted rid of alot of kit.

what are those Mulching mowers like.
any good. or a waste of time

Agree with others, has to be a Honda mower, also use Honda generator, boat engine, motorbike, always start and minimal maintenance. The only down side of more budget Honda mowers is the steel decks rust through eventually if you don’t keep the underside cleaned off regularly and smeared with oil.

I’ve got a Honda (HRH536 I think) and whilst I’d happily recommend it, I’ve had a couple of issues.
Have to admit I do zero maintainance on it and it normally starts OK but when I pulled it out of hibernation last year it wasn’t interested. Took it to our local repair guy…. first problem – he was booked solid for about 4 weeks (peak season, so not unexpected). So by the time I got the mower back there were antelope grazing amongst the tall lush grass.
2nd problem – the bill. It was about £100 for new coil, new pull cord & service. Probably all stuff I could have done myself, but there’s only so many hours in the day. We had a similar bill a few years ago when it threw the blade, so it’s cost a few quid in maintainance over the years.

I guess the moral is you need a slighlty different mindset if you’ve been use to electric mowers in the past. Petrol will need some maintainance/repair over time, but you can minimise this by buying a quality brand like Honda. And as said above, for modest domestic use, a decend Honda should last a lifetime.

The only down side of more budget Honda mowers

Apart from the price of course.

I can also recommend Viking. Mulching mowers are great, if you cut the grass regularly they make a lawn more healthy plus they get the job done in half the time. You could zip round 300m2 in 15 mins. They sometimes leave some little clumps but no big deal at all.

I cut around 30 lawns a week and use a Viking. I can fit a much kit to it and probably mulch 40% of those. I’ve been doing it upwards of 4 years on some of those and the lawns look great and are healthy with minimal moss or weed issues.

I bought a pair of proper metal decked ‘industrial’ mowers, with newish engines on for £50 off eBay midwinter. They were mulching mowers and missing grass boxes. I used one and never got a grass box, used it to mulch all the time (we had rough lawn halfway up a hill in the Highlands.) The mate I gave mower 2 to bought a grass catcher box for £10 off a repair place. Both are still going strong after 3 years heavy use. I service mine myself, a simple job on the Bridge engine. Why pay more?

Stiga are a good alternative. Ours has a Honda engine, which are the best.
Ours has been reliable, serviced yearly and used on a semi-commercial basis.

Last year, we picked up a Makita branded one with 190cc Briggs & Stratton, 3 speed drive, 46cm blade, for £250.
Gave it its initial oil change (long life Audi oil), should probably change air filter & plug this year.