Advice on garden equipment please

Missconduct

Hi there,

We have a large garden (about a third of an acre) which has a fair amount of lawn and also lots of shrubs, bushes and trees around the edge (and a hedge at the front). The lawn has grass which is about a foot high, maybe more, with weeds/plants growing in it too (yarrow and butterclup for example) which are a couple of feet high in places. We clearly need to buy a heavy duty lawnmower (we only have a little flymo type) and perhaps a petrol strimmer to get the tall grass and weeds down unless there are lawnmowers which can cope with that.

Can anyone please suggest what we are likely to need, including, if possible any makes and models as I've been looking online at, for example, Stihl petrol strimmers, but there are so many models, I'm lost.

Any help/advice welcomed please as we have a lot to learn about gardening. There is also a large patio with a LOT of weeds growing up out of it and we are wondering what to do about that. We are not willing to use chemical weedkillers.

Many thanks in advance and apologies if this is in the wrong forum.

tired_dad

similar situation to you last year, moving into a huge garden with lots of beds/hedge/grass.

The most useful thing was the mower.

Do not scrimp. Regular stores don't see what you need. Seek out a Hayer Harrier 48. Reliable, nice stripes and works quickly. New ones have quick start which is fantastic but the aficionado's frown on this.

Also I strongly recommend the Stihl Kombi system. The build quality on everything but the smallest unit is really good. Get the strimmer, hedge cutter and blower attachments. All worth every penny.

I use pathclear on the patio. Without chemicals I would have thought you will need to learn to love the weeds.

tired_dad

PS this is all v costly but the pro stuff lasts a lifetime if looked after so in the long term will cost less than cheaper stuff.

Also if money is too tight to mention, ebay is a good source of cheap stihl stuff.

Poppy9

We have a large garden and have recently cleared a section of garden of brambles, weeds etc.

Re the strimmer - hire a heavy duty one to cut down the long grass and you can then buy a cheaper one for just maintaining when when grass under control. I find strimming backbreaking so I look for light ones.

We changed to a petrol mower a few years ago and best thing ever, now I've got the knack of starting it. Does need maintenance though unlike electric which you just plug in and off it goes!

We have a wired electric hedge trimmer - cordless would be better but bought it years ago and it does the job.

Love, love my million year guarantee heavy duty loppers! Brilliant for cutting branches off trees. Long reach and cut quickly and cleanly.

We also have an electric chainsaw which we used to cut down trees, it was great for the job but we should have probably hired !

Garden vac/blower - we never use after first novelty. It's surprisingly heavy.

Electric scarifier. Bought for a fiver in Argos years ago and great for getting up moss from lawn (well I say lawn but it's really just a green area that's been batter by swings, slides, paddling pools and balls).

I use chemical weedkiller on path don't know of non chemical alternative sorry.

DCFC79

I dont know how big a third of an acre is but i imagine its big, could you not rent the equipment say over a weekend or rent the mower to get the grass so you can do it yourself with the flymo.

amcluesent

Best bet would be to rent a sickle-bar mower (power scythe) to cut down the grass/weeds to start with then keep it under control with the flymo. TBH, with that rough grass and weeds it's never going to be lawn, you may consider lifting a returfing.

Missconduct

Wow, thank you all very much, that's very helpful!

I had considered hiring a heavy duty strimmer but my concern is that we'd have to do it very quickly then otherwise it will get very expensive and I really need to do it in short bursts otherwise it will be too much physically, I think.

Lots for us to think about there and I'm sure we'll come up with other questions but will look into the things you all mention first. Many thanks once again.

Think we need to stick to petrol driven too as electrical wires won't stretch far enough.