When you're choosing your lawnmower, the biggest influencing factors are the size, shape and turf type of your lawn. You'll also need to think about how much time you want to spend keeping your grass looking its best! Here are some hints to help you buy what's right for you.
Which type of lawnmower?
There are three basic types of lawnmowers:
Cylinder lawnmowers
With the cylinder design, you can get electric lawnmowers, petrol-powered ones or simple hand-pushed models. The blades rotate vertically like a cylinder against a bottom blade and this gives a scissor-like cut for a well-manicured lawn. Cylinder mowers are perfect for level lawns where you're after a really fine, short cut. They come with a variety of cutting widths, rollers for a striped effect and a detachable grass collection box.
Rotary lawnmowers
These mowers are extremely versatile and cope with most types of lawn, rougher grassy areas and difficult, sloping banks. You can choose from electric rotary lawnmowers or petrol-driven models. And there are manual push or self-propelled versions too.
If you have a big area to cut or you have difficulty pushing a lawnmower, then a self-propelled model is definitely worth checking out. (They can be slightly more expensive.)
On a rotary lawnmower the blades rotate horizontally at the selected cutting height. The grass is thrown out at the back into a collection box. If you don't want to collect the clippings, simply take off the box.
Hover lawnmowers
These rotary lawnmowers literally hover over the surface of the grass. They don't usually have wheels, but some models now have rear wheels to make it easier to move them into position for mowing. The handle folds so you can hang the mower from a shed or garage wall - usefully saving you space.
Hover lawnmowers are great for small and medium gardens. Bigger models should happily handle larger lawns. Some models come with an integrated grass collection box. If you simply want to keep your lawn neat and tidy, then hover lawnmowers do the trick. But they're not the best choice for a really high-quality cut.
How big is your lawn?
The size of your lawn is important when deciding whether you need a petrol lawnmower or an electric one. Electric lawnmowers are great for smaller lawns. Light and manoeuvrable, they're easy to handle and the electric cable shouldn't cause you any problems.
If you have a medium-sized lawn an electric lawnmower is still fine, but you might prefer a smaller petrol lawnmower. For starters, there won't be a trailing cable to worry about. And petrol lawnmowers have that extra power to give a great cutting performance. They'll still be light and easy to handle, too.
If you have a large lawn, you'll want to get the mowing done as quickly as possible. That's when a more powerful petrol lawnmower really comes into its own. It will cope extremely well with a big expanse of grass without overheating.
Petrol lawnmowers save you time in other ways too. You'll appreciate their wider grass cutting blades and bigger grass collection boxes! Many are self-propelled - that's a huge help when you have a big area to cut.
|
Size of lawn |
sq m |
Power |
Cutting width |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Small |
up to 100 |
electric |
300mm |
|
Medium |
100-250 |
electric/petrol |
350mm-400mm |
|
Small |
250plus |
petrol |
400mm plus |
What type of lawn do you have?
Grass
What type of grass have you got? A lawn with really fine ornamental turf needs frequent cuts to keep the grass short and looking its best. A cylinder mower is just right for this job.
But most family homes have lawns made up of a mixture of ryegrass and a generous growth of weeds and sometimes moss! This kind of lawn gets plenty of wear and tear and needs cutting at least once a week. You're better off with a rotary lawnmower here. More versatile than cylinder lawnmowers, rotary mowers can cope with longer grass if you miss the weekly cut. If you have a petrol lawnmower, it'll handle damp grass when the weather is wet.
Rotary mowers are great on rough grass too - paddocks, orchards or a naturalised bank where you only need to cut once every few weeks. Choose a four-wheel model. It does better on rough grass than a model with a back roller.
Shape
Look at the shape of your lawn. Do you have curving edges and border paths? Is the surface undulating with gentle slopes and grassy banks? Have you planted trees and shrubs in your lawn? If your answer is yes, then go for a hover lawnmower. They're extremely lightweight and float over the grass. They're also easy to handle, even in small areas and between flowerbeds.
