Large Lawn - Best Way to Mow

donglemouse

I have a rather large lawn at my new house, at an estimate i would say its half an acre (based on the fact i know how big the plot is and then estimating the % that's grass rather than house/concrete drive)

Is it really feasible to avoid the cost of the sit on lawnmower some people insist i need? - i have tried doing it with a non-sit on mower but reckon it took 4-5hrs, due to the frequent emptying/disposal of grass needed

so the question is what's the best way to deal with a large lawn?

one option i had considered was doing the maths to see if it was actually cheaper to pay for someone to come in and do it rather than buying/servicing a sit on mower which appears to be a might expensive beast just to use for myself

[i suppose the flip side might be to set up a second business mowing all the lawns in the area! seeing as i would have shelled out for the pricey mower]

i am not expert in these matters so any feedback is welcome

JulianF_2

If you live near a golf club, or are a member, how about giving the green keeper a few quid to do the business?? Same goes for the council employees who look after the verges - they have transport, too, and I'm sure they'd be able to do it in no time if you gave them a suitable bung. And they all have their 'own' equipment!

Gotta be worth asking I would've thought!

Debt_Free_Chick

Sheep! baaaaaaaa :j

It's a semi-serious suggestion, but it depends on your location and the availability of sheep locally. Also, your garden would need to stock proofed and you have to consider whether they would damage any precious plants, too!

I guess this is a time/convenience vs cost option. Don't forget with the mower that you have service and maintanence costs to factor in, plus the cost of fuel - all more expensive, at a guess, with a petrol sit-on.

Could you do a "trade" with a neighbour? He does your lawn and you do something in return? Would save on the outlay & maintenance of a mower

donglemouse

hey any suggestion is good - but sheep are out as there's a clause in the planning permission about not keeping livestock

the location is remote so sharing with a neighbour isn't really an option as i don't have any- hence my semi-serious suggestion i should set up a business mowing lawns in the area to get some use from the mower!

i have ascertained the going rate for a sneaky mow cash in hand would be about £25 a shot courtesy of the local public sector workers

would appreciate it if anyone has any thoughts about the costs of mowers inc servicing so i can do the comparison on cost - there seems a massive range in cost between mowers and i am clueless as to the specs i need and which are surplus

andyfr_2

I'm in a very similar situation myself. We have an acre of garden out in the sticks in the Scottish Highlands. I have been gradually landscaping it and am about to seed part of it so am looking for a good mower.

I already have a compact tractor and I could put a mower deck on that but am not going to. Several reasons for this, first there are a lot of slopes, the tractor has ag tyres and would churn up the ground plus I would have to take off other attachments which would be a pain.

I thought about a ride on but with the slopes I wouldn't feel too safe so had a wander round to a dealer yesterday. From what I found out I would say that a 21" 6HP rear wheel powered walk behind is the way to go. The John Deere range are very good and could do a garden of this size as it has a large grass collector. These are used by the councils so are easily up to the job. They aren't cheap though at around £600 - £900.

What size of mower did you borrow and was it a small grass collector?

Andyfr

donglemouse

the thing i borrowed was a petrol mower non sit in type so i would imagine the grass box was much much smaller than a tractor type thing has

andyfr_2

The walk behind mowers have grass boxes which vary in size from 35 ltr to 80 ltr so can make a big difference between the two. Also you can get one which can mulch as well so you don't pick up the clippings at all, they are clipped much smaller and put back down on the lawn so that the nutrients are fed back in.

At the end of the day it depends whether you like mowing. If not it would probably be better to get someone to do it for you.