4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[Ms Marple]

Hi there. I am considering a sit on lawn mower in an attempt to cope with mowing our rather long lawn. Our house is on an approx 1 acre plot much of which is lawn. BUT it slopes and is quite boggy at times at the bottom( it leads to the canal). Just wondered whether anyone had advice on this type of machine.

[Lewis]

My uncle has 2 - I know!, they were there when they moved in though .

 

It needs fixing a but and I have asked, but Mom doesn't think it will fit down the side passage into the garden.

 

 

When they're new do they come in parts so they get go through the house etc?

[fluffyknickers]

Penguinmad has one - hopefully she will look at this when next on. x

[..lay a little egg for me]

We have one. What kind of info did you want? I'll tell you how we decided to get the one we have, so that may help...

 

We decided that we didn't have room for huge quantities of grass clippings as we already have 3 compost heaps just for the horse manure so we went for a machine that mulches rather than collects. This means that it cuts the grass into very small pieces that are forced down to the roots of the sward where they fertilize the grass and you don't get piles of grass clippings on the lawn. We wanted one that could be used to top the paddock at a stage, so we went for one that had a good range of cutting heights. We also wanted one with a tight turning circle so we could get around our various trees.

 

This lead us to decide on a Toro Wheelhorse model. We chose the size of cutter based on the width of the shed door where we would keep the machine, so we got a 38" deck.

 

What else would you like to know?

[Ms Marple]

Do they work on ground that can get boggy or are they too heavy?

Are they ok on slopes?

What size engine is needed?

Thanks

[..lay a little egg for me]

They are very heavy so I would not recommend boggy ground, even if they did not get bogged down, they would leave unsightly tyre tracks.

 

They are OK on slopes if not too steep and if you don't try to drive sideways along the slope (i.e., go straight up or down).

 

Most have a similar size engine (about 12 hp) with the larger models (i.e. with the larger cutting blades) having bigger engines.

 

We bought our first one from eBay as a "proof of concept" purchase, for about £400. Then when we discovered it would be the right thing for us, we sold it and got a new one for about £2000 but as the eBay one was about 20 years old, we are hoping the new one will last quite a while for that money (fingers crossed).

[Phoebe]

they are really good fun - OH and I fight over who is to mow the paddock each fortnight....

[Milly]

We have a bright orange Husqvarna which is getting a bit elderly and seems to have things going wrong more and more often - for example the engine often won't turn over even though we had a new battery. But we got round that by getting a battery charger. The cutting belt came off last week but my husband managed to get it on using brute force (I know I couldn't have done it).

 

That said, we couldn't manage without it. Like you we have about an acre, of fairly rough ground, and there is no other way of keeping it under control. Mulching doesn't really work, as the grass is usually too lush to chop easily, but we usually just leave it lying and it disappears. (Or comes into the house stuck to your feet if it's wet).

 

The Huskie is good - we bought it because it was more affordable than the John Deere which I fancied and also because it would fit through the shed door, which is an important consideration.

 

But if anyone else has recommendations for other makes I would be interested to know.

 

Milly

[Chickpea]

Well at work we use both a little elderly John Deere and an Iseki SXG19. Would thoroughly recommend the Iseki, nice and easy to drive, and can cut in the wet too.

[Daphne]

we have a Lawnflite something or other for 0.25 acre of ex-pasture. Its very nifty round trees and shrubs, cuts well when its going and fits in the shed, but it doesn't work well if grass is wet and long and maybe we had the friday afternoon model and our local lawnmower agent/fixer is 100% useless but it causes us more stress than virtually anything else we own. Its had a succession of niggles (won't start or belt slips and it won't cut) and its got to the stage I can't/won't use it and OH has to do all the mowing. It cost £1k 4 years ago. Next time (!) I'd spend more money and hope for better luck.