We'll be moving house shortly and going from a lawn the size of a postage stamp to something around a quarter of an acre. Whilst my little Black and Decker electric mower has done me proud for the last few years I don't think it's going to be up to the job at the new place. I quite enjoy mowing the lawn but I hate the hassle of disposing of the cuttings so am thinking that a mulching mower is the way forward.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a mulching mower given the following

1. Must be petrol and self propelled with a decent width (21" or over)
2. Lawn is flat and square (although I will probably put in some borders and beds so the shape is likely to change)
3. Not bothered about stripes
4. We have a 10 year old daughter so lawn will be a 'family' type not some perfectly manicured bowling green
5. Budget around £500

Cheers

jmileman wrote..

We'll be moving house shortly and going from a lawn the size of a postage
stamp to something around a quarter of an acre. Whilst my little Black and
Decker electric mower has done me proud for the last few years I don't
think it's going to be up to the job at the new place. I quite enjoy mowing
the lawn but I hate the hassle of disposing of the cuttings so am thinking
that a mulching mower is the way forward.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a mulching mower given the
following

1. Must be petrol and self propelled with a decent width (21" or over)
2. Lawn is flat and square (although I will probably put in some borders
and beds so the shape is likely to change)
3. Not bothered about stripes
4. We have a 10 year old daughter so lawn will be a 'family' type not some
perfectly manicured bowling green
5. Budget around £500


If you intend to make beds in the lawn then you need a roller mower to ease
cutting the edges, a wheeled mower will simply fall down the edge and make a
mess.
Honda is a good make with excellent engines but the cheapest roller mower
they do in about £850.
Other names are Allett, Viking, but they either don't do what you want or
are 4x what you want to pay.
--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK

On Mon, 23 Jun 2014 01:15:08 -0700, jmileman wrote:

We'll be moving house shortly and going from a lawn the size of a
postage stamp to something around a quarter of an acre. Whilst my little
Black and Decker electric mower has done me proud for the last few years
I don't think it's going to be up to the job at the new place. I quite
enjoy mowing the lawn but I hate the hassle of disposing of the cuttings
so am thinking that a mulching mower is the way forward.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a mulching mower given the
following

1. Must be petrol and self propelled with a decent width (21" or over)
2. Lawn is flat and square (although I will probably put in some borders
and beds so the shape is likely to change)
3. Not bothered about stripes 4. We have a 10 year old daughter so lawn
will be a 'family' type not some perfectly manicured bowling green 5.
Budget around £500

Cheers

It is a while since I looked at this but I think you have to be prepared
to cut the lawn very regularly to be able to chop the grass down fine
enough to mulch in.

If you cut it every other day in the peak growing season I think almost
any mower will be able to mulch.

Cheers

Dave R

On Mon, 23 Jun 2014 01:15:08 -0700 (PDT),
wrote:

We'll be moving house shortly and going from a lawn the size of a
postage stamp to something around a quarter of an acre.
snip
I quite enjoy mowing the lawn but I hate the hassle of disposing of the cuttings ...

With a bit of space appearing I'm sure you can find a some where out
of the way to have a compost heap. Don't forget with a few borders
etc you'll have other plant material to get rid of and your own
compost heaps means you don't have to buy. OK pure grass cuttings do
have a habit of going anerobic but they will rot down, other plant
material, food waste etc will help to keep the heap aerobic. If you
want be keen you and turn it but we never bother. We have two bins
one in use for a couple of years the other "resting" before being
used and the use/resting swapped over.

1. Must be petrol and self propelled with a decent width (21" or over)

Do you need that width? We have an 18" and probably not far short of
your area to mow, it's fine.

5. Budget around £500

Compost heap and smaller non-mulching mower will leave the best part
of £300 for plants... I was also under the impression that it's best
to take the cuttings away so as not to provide nutrients for the
grass. The real gardeners in here will correct me on that I'm sure.
B-)

--
Cheers
Dave.

On Mon, 23 Jun 2014 12:32:17 +0000, David.WE.Roberts wrote:

It is a while since I looked at this but I think you have to be prepared
to cut the lawn very regularly to be able to chop the grass down fine
enough to mulch in.

My neighbour bought a Jonsered mulching mower this year, (ride on), in
particular because it's low and easy to climb on and off when you're
having trouble with the legs. He only gets around about once a week - 10
days, but it looks good. I had thought you'd have to go much more
frequently.

Didn't reply earlier as this his is a dearer machine than the OP is
looking for.

--
Gardening in Lower Normandy

On Monday, June 23, 2014 9:15:08 AM UTC+1, wrote:

Does anyone have any recommendations for a mulching mower given the following

Don't buy a John Deere. I paid £700 for one that has never been any good..

I'm not allowed a mulching mower 'cos the dogs will tread the clippings into the house. I have to collect my cuttings. They rot down eventually. Other people round by 'ere pay the council £35 to have a green wheely bin emptied every couple of weeks in the summer. You cn put the clippings in them.

On Monday, June 23, 2014 12:41:59 PM UTC+1, Bob Hobden wrote:
Other names are Allett, Viking, but they either don't do what you want or
are 4x what you want to pay.

Try the local saleroom first. People tend to die before their mowers do. You can often pick up something perfectly good for £30.

On Mon, 23 Jun 2014 12:55:18 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

Other people round by 'ere pay the council £35 to have a green wheely
bin emptied every couple of weeks in the summer.

PAY! Surely disposal of household waste is a cost than comes out of
your Council Tax. The only waste disposal we might(*) have to pay
extra for is "bulky items".

(*) Amazing how well "bulky items" come apart to fit into the
ordinary bin bag. Couple of single divan beds and sofas have gone
that way.

--
Cheers
Dave.

On Mon, 23 Jun 2014 21:16:01 +0100 (BST), "Dave Liquorice"
wrote:

Other people round by 'ere pay the council £35 to have a green wheely
bin emptied every couple of weeks in the summer.

PAY! Surely disposal of household waste is a cost than comes out of
your Council Tax. The only waste disposal we might(*) have to pay
extra for is "bulky items".

Wiltshire Council is about to start a consultation on 3 options for a
change to 'green bin' garden waste collections, which are currently
free. Option 1 - no green bin collections Dec/Jan/Feb
Option 2 - no green bin collections November to March inclusive
Option 3 - to charge - the website previously mentioned £35/wheelie
bin, but the amount has been written out.

----

Gardening on Wilts/Somerset border
on slightly alkaline clay underlying soil worked for many decades.

On Monday, June 23, 2014 9:16:01 PM UTC+1, Dave Liquorice wrote:

Other people round by 'ere pay the council £35 to have a green wheely
bin emptied every couple of weeks in the summer.

PAY! Surely disposal of household waste is a cost than comes out of
your Council Tax. The only waste disposal we might(*) have to pay
extra for is "bulky items".

in South Kesteven Household waste is limited to one black landfill wheely bin per fortnight, and one grey recycling bin ditto. We are allowed overspill boxes on the recycling day, because they get a bung from the government the more stuff the "recycle". The limit on the black landful bin is absolute: if the lid is even slightly raised they won't take it at all.

Garden waste has never been permitted, even back in the halcyon days of the 1950s and Kesteven County council.

The green recycling bins were introduced a few years ago, and the contents are allegedly shredded and composted, though glod alone knows where. When "austerity" was introduced they slapped on an annual charge for it.

There is a local dump which also takes compostable material as one of the sorting options. It has been closed for 3 days a week to save money.

Just as an aside, really ...
having used, for the last 3 years, a mulching mower (a ride-on, on a
large area of grass, as opposed to a lawn), I personally would never buy
a mulcher now.

As I've said before here (I think): it's a great idea for climates where
there are regular long, warm, dry periods, but in this damp country
(especially here Oop North) the clippings do not mulch properly, and --
basically -- make a bloody mess!

But hey: maybe you live in the South East where they get the best of
British summers (as well)!

I don't think you've said how big your lawn(s) will be[1], but if
it/they will be quite big, I'd go for a self-drive mower that has a
large collection bin. And as I've definitely said here befo
"everybody says 'Go Honda'" (where 'everybody' means professional
gardeners that I've asked about mowers).

And I'd make a lovely big compost heap in a hidden corner of the garden:
very satisfying, compost, and a great, cheap, way to get rid of all
garden waste[2].

2p
John

[1] Well, you said 1/4 acre, but is that the garden, or the lawn itself?
[2] Except perennial weeds of course

"Bob Hobden" wrote in message
...
jmileman wrote..

We'll be moving house shortly and going from a lawn the size of a postage
stamp to something around a quarter of an acre. Whilst my little Black and
Decker electric mower has done me proud for the last few years I don't
think it's going to be up to the job at the new place. I quite enjoy
mowing the lawn but I hate the hassle of disposing of the cuttings so am
thinking that a mulching mower is the way forward.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a mulching mower given the
following

1. Must be petrol and self propelled with a decent width (21" or over)
2. Lawn is flat and square (although I will probably put in some borders
and beds so the shape is likely to change)
3. Not bothered about stripes
4. We have a 10 year old daughter so lawn will be a 'family' type not some
perfectly manicured bowling green
5. Budget around £500


If you intend to make beds in the lawn then you need a roller mower to
ease cutting the edges, a wheeled mower will simply fall down the edge and
make a mess.
Honda is a good make with excellent engines but the cheapest roller mower
they do in about £850.
Other names are Allett, Viking, but they either don't do what you want or
are 4x what you want to pay.
--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK


There are a few wheeled models with an offset rotor. I've got one. It
doesn't stop the mower falling off completely but it does help.

On Tue, 24 Jun 2014 02:09:14 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

Other people round by 'ere pay the council £35 to have a green
wheely
bin emptied every couple of weeks in the summer.

PAY! Surely disposal of household waste is a cost than comes out
of
your Council Tax. The only waste disposal we might(*) have to pay
extra for is "bulky items".

in South Kesteven Household waste is limited to one black landfill
wheely bin per fortnight,

Eden District. Weekly collection of the blue bag. aka ordinary
household waste. Fortnightly collection of the "green box",
paper/card, metal, glass & hard plastics. As that list covers nearly
everything we throw out the blue bag only goes out once a fortnight
and even then it's only half full consisting almost entirely of
plastic films of one sort or another. Garden waste is a green wheely
bin fortnighly through the summer, monthly in the winter (Dec, Jan,
Feb).

The limit on the black landful bin is absolute: if the lid is even
slightly raised they won't take it at all.

Don't have wheelie bins, except for the garden waste, slows the
collections down too much. If you blink when they collect the blue
back you'll miss 'em. Truck slows, operative jumps out next to bag,
truck carries on so back is by bag, operative lobs it in, leaves
another bag, jogs to front of truck and off they go. The wheels of
the truck barely stop moving. I'd say 10 to 20 seconds maximum, if it
was a wheelie bin it would still be being hooked on let alone lifted,
emtied, lowered, unhooked, abandoned.

There is a local dump which also takes compostable material as one of
the sorting options. It has been closed for 3 days a week to save
money.

Most of the Cumbria HWRC's are 0800 1800 7 days/week. The nearest
HWRC to us is in Northumberland, all their centers are 7 days/week
0800 1800 Nov - Mar 1930 Apr-Oct. The only days they are closed are
Christmas day and New Years day.

--
Cheers
Dave.

Thanks for the replys so far, just to give some feedback on what's been raised

1. Size of lawn is around 1/4 acre, total plot probably just over a 1/3

2. Did consider composting but even with a small lawn the amount of clippings generated seemed disproportionate to other material and think I would just end up with a slimey mess

3. Notts CC don't offer a garden waste service in the area I'm moving too. Surrey CC (where I am now) do do a garden waste collection but interestingly being Surrey it's double what others are charging at £70 pa

4. Have seen a Toro 20792 which seems like a possible. Only downside is that minimum cut height is 32mm which seems quite high. Don't know anything about Toro, are they a decent make ?

Cheers