Cut the lawn today for the first time this year and probably not that unsurprisingly the lawnmower gave up with some puffs of smoke. It still runs but at much lower RPM. My guess is the coil has shorted. A new motor is £100, and given the mower is over 7 years old it’s not worth replacing. I never actually liked the mower that much.

Generally I’m struggling to keep the grass cut, mainly due to the limited overlap of the grass being dry (we’re in Scotland) and me being available. Storing it is another issue too. The one we have is a Bosch and it sort of folded up but not really very well. Things in the shed often got dumped on top of it. Did think about moving it out into a plastic box outside for easier access.

What’s the least fuss way of keeping on top of the grass? A certain type of mower, petrol, hover, battery? Get someone in to do it? A robotic mower?

I swear by Hayter mowers. My current mower was my grandfathers so god knows how old it is. Still starts first pull and appears to be a case of “just add occasional oil and fuel” to keep it alive.
I’ve only got a postage stamp of grass at the current house but can’t bring myself to sell the old thing.

I bought a cracking wee Husqvarna mower. Petrol, very mobile, fairly robust and folds down pretty neatly. Get it serviced every year and it’s on its fourth season. Use it for the house and site so probably an acre overall once a week in season and it’s never missed a beat.

Probably this one https://www.husqvarna.com/uk/lawn-mowers/lc140sp/.

Might be dirt in the carb…give it a good clean and it could run sweet.
Or it is Mother Nature kicking you in the groin for cutting your grass in May when we are being asked not to so biodiversity and nature can get a kickstart.

@DickBarton the broken mower is electric

Normally I do leave patches uncut but this was the first cut of the year so really needed hacking back…. just a bit too much for the Bosch to cope with

Should have strimmered it… tbh I’m like you just keep ramming the mower in.

See my post on what mower…

One of the better things I did with the garden shed was make a lawnmower shelf maybe 40-50cm off the floor. It means there’s storage underneath it for heavy things- think bags of sand- rather than it creating a giant void above it that isn’t useful.

Geese.

Or do what I’m doing and let it turn into a wildflower meadow*. Good for the insects, good for the soul, and so much easier to look after.
I’ve already got cowslips spreading, and bluebells are also starting to spread out as well. I did use long-handled shears a couple of weeks ago, just to get the longest stuff down, but apart from some clumps of cooch grass I want to keep under control, the rest will have a load of native grass added to it, to go with the wild flower seeds I collected and spread around, and I’m adding more native seeds as well. I have a gorse bush that’s flowering really well, and that seems to be attracting a lot of bees, I have a hawthorn that I dug up as a tiny seedling and is just about to flower for the first time as well.

*I say meadow, the whole lot of ‘lawn’ is about the size of my living room! Just not worth the hassle of trying to keep it short when wildflowers will be of much greater benefit for wildlife. It’ll let the hedgehogs have somewhere nice to play in too. 🦔

Ah…puffs of smoke made me think petrol…

nothing beats the smell of cut grass and petrol lawnmower. lovely.

One answer to the problem above was shit in the carburetor.
How often do I have to do that?

Robomower, mine comes out soon. It’ll then drive around for 4 months (not continually obviously) but saves me spending at least 90 minutes once a week mowing the lawn. Now i run a strimmer round the edge (20 minutes once a month, or when i’m strimming the meadow areas)

And the lawn always looks good.

I even upgraded the wheels to high traction versions so it can mow some of the gradients.

Just have to strim the worst of the lawn before the first run. Then gradually bring the cut height down from maximum (75mm on mine i think) to whatever you want the grass to be cut at.

That first couple of cuts of the year are a b’stard especially if it’s all still a bit damp. I went for the nuclear option and asked for ‘what do the Contractors use?’ at the local lawn mowerist emporium. Slight overkill but it (probably) won’t break with my use and it laughs off the first long cuts even when damp. Many £’s though so maybe not the most sensible option.

One answer to the problem above was shit in the carburetor.
How often do I have to do that?

Every Turdsday.

First cut of the year and killing the lawnmower is better than first cut of the year and killing the lawn 😊

better than first cut of the year and killing the lawn

That could still happen….

Lots of the newer cordless ones have double folding handles so the mower ends up close to the main body size only and/or can then stand up on end. I have a medium sized einhell and the handle double folds, but it doesn’t stand upright. I suppose a hook on the wall would get over that though.
Have you got batteries/other tools already? If yes, then try and get a bare mower and save on buying more batteries.

Robomower

Can’t decide if this is exactly what I need or complete overkill. The area of grass is quite small, but still reasonably large for a new build.

There are a couple of kids slides and other toys on the grass but these can be moved off.

Have you got batteries/other tools already?

Worx and Makita, but the Makita are some random version not LXT.
I have a Flymo battery strimmer but rarely use it because I forget to charge it or it’s flat when the window of opportunity arises. This puts me off a battery mower, plus they are more expensive

Newbuild – nice new flat grass area? A push mower then? No power issues, always ready to go when you get a dry opportunity.

Newbuild – nice new flat grass area?

Haha, only in the brochure. It has a slight slope, is lumpy and either boggy or rock solid due it being clay underneath

Also it is 7 years old, but still a “new build” for garden size comparison

First cut of the year and killing the lawnmower is better than first cut of the year and killing the lawn 😊

Those of us desperately trying to outcompete whatever nature intended for our “lawn” prefer to call it scarifying.

But yes, it looks very dead at the moment.

Can’t decide if this is exactly what I need or complete overkill. The area of grass is quite small, but still reasonably large for a new build.

They’re *extremely* common round here even on relatively small gardens, mines the smallest mower i could get that would a) climb the gradients and b) handle the area (about 350-400sqm).
Main reason for popularity is bad weather, it’ll do the mowing at 9 am on a tuesday if the weather is good, rather than me not being able to do it because it’s raining all weekend, or i’m busy doing fun stuff. And also, the growing season is short and hard. Normally have to cut weekly, on a good year i might need to do it twice a week for the middle few weeks of the season.
Garden is lumpy and slopey, but it manages ok. Gets stuck on occasion. But hopefully new wheels will help (the outgoing wheels were the stock ones and nearly 5 years old).

There are a couple of kids slides and other toys on the grass but these can be moved off.

Much of it will be visible to the mower, even the cheap ones will bump into it and drive round.

I’ve been using, funnily enough, the smallest mains corded electric bosch for many moons now. Only gotcha really is a small grass box. Maintenance consists of spray of WD40 every so often. Our lawn is around 100 sq m.

My cheap Bosch corded mower is probably on it’s last legs and when it does finally die I’ll probably get a Ryobi cordless one.

I keep telling myself that I’ll cut the grass more often if I don’t have to faff around with extension cables, and unplugging/plugging to do the front.

I think that’s karma for breaking the no-mow-May taboo 😉

I’ll send our dogs round, you won’t have a lawn to worry about!

I got a cheapolo Macallister corded rotary mower from B und Q about 5 years ago. It does the job. A wheel did fall off it, but that was fixed with a 10p star washer.

I think that’s karma for breaking the no-mow-May taboo

Nah, it’s because…

@mert has the lawn been better as a result of the regular cutting/mulching?

Oh yes, it kills the moss quite effectively and the grass always looks good.
The endless driving around *seems* to be good for the soil too. As is chopping and dumping the cut grass.

Only issue is if we have a few warm wet days, the grass all grows and the mower needs three or four complete runs to make sure everything gets cut, mainly due to the shape and slope.

So it looks a bit odd for a while. Starts off with tracks at my preferred cut height, and everything else is longer, then towards the end, you have a few uncut patches sticking up higher…

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@dmorts, I’ve got a 7 year old Honda Izzy 416 or (466?) for sale if you’re anywhere near SW Surrey/ Hant/West Sussex. Push it yerbloodyself job. Oil, filter, spark plug changed last year. Starts first pull.