Lawn Mower

[fireflies]

How do I buy a good lawn mower that would last years?

[Luna]

The best way to find a good mower is to check your lawn. How big is it? If you've used a mower before, or own one and just want to replace it, you can find something that's similar. Pick a mower that'll work for you physically, or whoever will do the mowing. No sense in getting the latest one if it won't fit whoever will use it the most. Lastly, what can you afford and still keep it in a reasonable price? Try not to be taken by the store gimmicks of giving you the new-fangled features. Sometimes, the plain and straightforward ones work best.

[sakura]

I think that aside from buying a good mower from the start, it's also good to know the proper way of caring for your mower. A good quality and pricey lawn mower can last for a few months to a few years --- depending on how you're maintaining it.

Here's a very helpful guide on various kinds of mowers: Guide to Choosing and Using a Lawnmower

[fleurdelys]

Indeed. Maintenance is also a key to helping keep the mower in good condition. We have an old push mower that has been around for about five years and it still works great. It helps that our lawn is pretty small, but we try to keep the blades free from any debris after we use it and store is properly afterwards.

[gardengirl]

You can go completely green with your lawn mower and get some great exercise while you're at it. The reel lawn mowers on the market today are not your grand-daddy's old-fashioned push lawn mowers. They are light and quiet, easy to push and environmentally friendly. No more noise or smelly gas fumes. You also get natural mulch as you mow as the blades are like scissors, cutting the grass into very fine clippings. You don't even have to rake. And when you want to shred your leaves in the fall, you'll have all the equipment you need.

If you have a huge lawn, a manual mower might not work out so well. They do take longer and you may not have the time available.

Here are some tips I found online to get the best cut:

1. Walk at a steady pace.
2. Overlap the rows.
3. Don't let the grass get too high to begin with.
4. Experiment with getting the right grass height.

[honeylemon]

Buying lawn mower can be expensive, so be sure that you have selected the right one for your lawn. One friend of mine bought this Honda lawn mower 15 years ago. He doesn't have enough space for storing riding mower and he has this big lawn to deal with, that's why he bought it. According to him, he can finish mowing for about 1 hour and 15 minutes with bagging for the entire lawn. Sigh, it finally got broke 3 years ago and the newer version is rather slow.

[gardengirl]

Different kinds of mowers:

Reel mowers: only use a push reel mower with a small lawn. Otherwise, it will take hours of hard-on-the-back work.

Gas or Electric rotary mowers: These work well on larger lawns that you don't need to cut shorter than 2".

Mulching mowers: Mulch mowers do two jobs in one. They cut your grass and mulch the clippings as they go, making the clippings so small they almost disappear. You can get bags that clip onto the mower to gather the clippings.

Self propelled mower: These mowers almost propel themselves. They're great if you have a big lawn.

Riding mower: These are best if you have a really big lawn. They are fuelled by gas.

[honeylemon]

If you're buying a lawn mower for the first time, try to bring along a friend that already maintains a good lawn. The salesman might not tell you what's not good about their product while a friend would at least give some honest advice.

[rosiethumb]

are you really sure about buying a lawn mower? How big is your area?

I got a friend with a fruit orchard and he has no use for a lawnmower.

He maintains a flock of sheep to keep the grass down and gets a bonus of sheep manure for composting

[thegame]

One tip I would add is to get a lawn mower with adequate level raises if you have an uneven yard.

One more is to ensure a sharp blade and high horsepower for brushy areas. If you don't have a high HP and the grass is really thick, you'll be constantly starting and stopping.