How do you mow your lawn?

[jnb]

Only I ask as my new house has a much larger garden than the old one (about 35 - 40m from the back door to the back fence. So I decided to get a petrol mower as I don't want to be constantly mowing over 50m of power cable)

When I was shopping around I saw recommendations ranging from sites which reckoned that a push mower was quite adequate for anything up to half an acre to sites which recommended self propelled petrol mowers for anything over handkerchief size.

[buzfuz8149]

Having now gone to a postage stamp sized lawn - I use a push mower most of the time it is quicker and I personally think it it is a better cut, unfortunately being an old fogey I now need to keep an electric mower on standby for times of super growth, I used to do all the lawns (when a little younger with a monster pusher with an enormous roller) the stripes in the the lawns were the envy of the neighbours, alas old age has crept on and the lawn is still immaculate but much smaller. What more can I say.

[Cotham Marble]

For the 'evils' or otherwise of petrol mowers - this thread is worth a read: http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/fo...wn-mowers.html

A consideration, particularly if wet summers and/or mild and wet autumns/winters were to become the norm is that a heavier mower may be less usable that a lighter electric or hover version.

I only have a very small area of grass which is on a slope and on clay subsoil, when my very ancient push mower finally siezed for good I acquired a very cheap strimmer and do the whole are with that - it gives a far better finish than the push mower did.

If faced with a larger area of lawn my concern would be to minimise environmental impact, and while that would probably come down to the respective energy outputs of any power mower I might have to use (being a bit of crock) the various inputs to the lawn that different management approaches involve would also be part of my calculations. Actually I can't imagine having a large lawn area - I'd want to fill it with perennials.

CM

[galanthus]

half of mine is full of rubble due to current building work the other half is occupied by lots of little froglets Hence an excuse not to mow this summer and a fab opportunity to allow native wildflowers to pop up and photograph them; every cloud ....

[maria-gilbert]

I keep Guinea Pigs and just keep moving them around!

[Tormentil]

Infrequently.

[rlchew]

I don't .... I live in a second floor flat

Richard

[jnb]

Originally Posted by Cotham Marble

If faced with a larger area of lawn my concern would be to minimise environmental impact, and while that would probably come down to the respective energy outputs of any power mower I might have to use

Which is fair enough, but realistically the power consumption of any lawnmower in use may well be far less than the power consumption involved in it's production

Originally Posted by Cotham Marble

Actually I can't imagine having a large lawn area - I'd want to fill it with perennials.CM

I'd prefer to divide it up between meadow / fruit / veg but it's not my choice alone and dull as it might be there are practical reasons to have just lawn and borders.

[Ollie]

I don't.
we dug ours up several years ago, mind you it was only very small and took longer to get the mower out and put it away than it took to cut it. We gravelled it and put lots of containers on it with plants in so we still get butterflies insects etc.

Downside is we have to water regularly in summer, well up to this summer anyway.
Roger

[nightshade]

The planted borders have caught up with the lawn,so a small electric mower is fine
(set high )some areas get the shears or strimmer