Julian Cassell's DIY Blog

Choosing a lawnmower for your garden can be a tricky decision because of the vast array of models on the market. Before making that decision, take a little time to understand the different options, according to the method by which they actually cut the grass. Also, lawnmowers may be manually powered, petrol powered, electrically powered by cable connection to an electrical socket, or even by rechargaeable battery.

Rotary lawnmower

A rotary lawnmower is the classic multipurpose option, characterised by a horizontal rotating blade. Also in this ‘family’ are hover mowers, which are similar to a standard rotary mower except that it floats on a cushion of air created by the rotating blade – consequentially, they have no wheels.

Deciding between a classic rotary, or hover mower is one of those decisions that tends to come into the ‘either you love hover mowers, or you hate them’ category . Personally I always feel you get a better cut from the traditional rotary models, but other people find the hover option ideal for them. Smaller hover models are incredibly light and easy to hang on a wall in the shed – also a good choice for uneven or undulating lawns.

Cylinder lawnmower

Cylinder lawnmowers provide the closest, most even cut and are characterised by a horizontally mounted cylinder with cutting blades.

I always feel that these lawnmowers really are for the lawn enthusiast, but if you have a small garden, the model shown to the left here is totally hand powered, and therefore no need for petrol or electrical hook up – surely therefore one of the ‘greenest’ options out there?

Cylinder mowers are also only really suitable for level, flat lawns – it just won’t cope with any unevenness or undulations, so don’t think that buying a cylinder mower will automatically give you a beautifully close cut bowling green of a lawn.

Strimmer

Not technically a lawnmower, a strimmer makes cutting edges that are inaccessible to the lawnmower an easy job -certainly in comparison to using hand-held shears.

Although technology keeps marching forward, I still don’t think that rechargeable batteries provide the necessary power for most lawnmowers, but with a strimmer, as shown in the model to the right, it’s a perfect adaptation.

Other lawnmower considerations

Lawnmowers may be self-propelled, so that you literally only have to guide or steer them rather than push them around the garden. Although self-propelled mowers will be more expensive than those that you have to push, it is an option worth considering if you have a large, or sloping lawn.

Of course for extra large gardens you could think about a ride on mower but you will be entering a different league in terms of price, as well as storage considerations.

All the big outlets have good lawnmower selections, so it is definitely worth trying such stores as B&Q, Screwfix, and Amazon to do a bit of a price comparison. Also for some reason, lawnmowers are an item that purchasers like to review. For example, some of the models on Amazon have literally hundreds of reviews, so you can get a very good idea of personal experiences with different types of lawnmower.

Laying turf is the quick way of creating a lawn, and your next option if you don’t want to go down the lawn seeding route. Laying turf will be a more expensive option to seeding, but many people feel that is a price worth paying for such an instant result. Good preparation of the soil is still vital for laying turf and the sequence below picks out the main principles you should look to follow. read more »

Lawn care and maintenance is a subject that most of us start to think about in early spring, and the autumn, as these are the optimum times for seasonal work to be carried out on your lawn. The following post provides a number of points you need to take into account for some simple but effective lawn care. Maintaining a lawn really doesn’t need to be a full time occupation, so try following these few principles to make your lawn look better than ever. read more »