Unless you’re willing to invest in a goat, a lawnmower is the single most essential purchase for the upkeep of a tidy lawn. In a crowded market, it can be difficult to know what lawnmower is best, and how to keep it working in the best possible condition. Rather than thinking of a lawnmower as something quietly rusting in a garden shed, it’s better to think of a lawnmower as an essential part of your garden. This way you’ll get years of service out of your lawnmower, as well as keep your lawn looking at its best.
This guide will show you what the lawnmower is and where it comes from, as well as helping you to pick the right machine for your garden. We’ll take you through some basic information about mower engines and some handy repair tips, as well as important lawnmower safety. This guide also includes a guide about the best time and ways to use your lawnmower so you can get the most use of your investment.
Britain buys over a million mowers every year. That’s a lot of lawns! A modern lawn can roughly be described as any area of closely-cropped grass around a domestic property, although the first recorded lawn belonged to Pliny the Younger in 62AD. Originally, all lawns were cropped with scythes in much the same way that all other plants were. The invention of the lawnmower, like all good ideas, was an accident. Edwin Budding was originally aiming to create a machine to cut the bobbly bits off industrial levels of cloth; Budding realised that his invention of a revolving cylinder blade over a stationary fixed blade could also cut grass in a straight and neat line. This basic design is still used today for all lawnmowers.
Originally all lawnmowers were manual rotary systems to be pushed along, or pulled along by horses in cases of larger areas. After the invention of the internal combustion engine, the addition of a small gasoline engine to lawnmowers became common. Now it is possible to get a wide variety of lawnmowers for a variety of different gardens; the ride-on mower, the mechanised mower, the Flymo, and even a robot mower.
What lawnmower should I buy?
When Edward Budding invented his new contraption, he faced ridicule and doubt as no one could understand the point of having a machine to cut lawns. (That, of course, was what servants with a scythe were for.) He probably never thought was nearly 100 years of there would be thousands of lawnmower types available, many with unique selling points and different approaches to what is, essentially, all the same job.
Yet each lawn is different and like most things it’s essential to have the right tools for the job. The things you need to consider are:
The size of your lawn
The type of power
The finish required
The method for grass collection
The size of your lawn is the first and most important consideration. A large ride-on lawnmower designed for football pitches wouldn’t be much good for a small terrace back garden; alternatively a small rotary mower wouldn’t be much use in the grounds of a castle.
The size of your lawn is one of the main concerns which you should bear in mind when picking the power source for your mower. A lawnmower doesn’t necessarily need to be powered by an engine; a small hand-powered rotary blade can be just as effective in small spaces, particularly when keeping in mind the time to tune and maintain an engine. However, for a larger garden with good power access an electric engine might be exactly the right solution, or a small petrol engine if the power cable for an electric motor is likely to be run over!
The finish required is a more technical question. Many people just require the grass to be cut neatly in a quickest and most efficient way possible. At such, a traditional four-wheel rotary mower would be the best machine for you. However, if you’re dedicated to a bowling green type of lawn, you’ll require a heavier mower, with a cylinder-shaped lawn mower and a heavier roller.
You also need to consider a method for collecting grass. Many modern lawnmowers have a grassbox to collect the grass as you go along, rather than having to rake the lawn once you’ve finished mowing. A grassbox, though, can be cumbersome and cause mowing to take longer. It’s a case of what you prefer to do in your garden! An alternative is the newer grassboxes which mulch your freshly cut grass, taking up less space and making life easier when it comes to tipping out the grass cuttings onto your compost heap. Again, it depends on what one you prefer and fits in best to your garden and your lifestyle.
