The Lawn Mower

1/ Blades - rotary or reel?

The traditional reel mower will give you the finest of finishes on a quality lawn, these are what are used at Wimbledon and on bowling greens and other professional sports pitches. The height is adjustable (within narrow limits) though it is not suitable for long or rough grass. It does the job it is designed for well. That job is the neat trimming of a well-maintained lawn at frequent intervals.

Rotary mowers are more versatile in that they can more easily cope with longer and rougher grass (so should you leave the lawn longer than you ought between cuts, it won't be such a battle to deal with). They are perhaps a better all round solution for most people who use their lawns and want it to look neat and tidy rather than be a show-piece. That is not to say that a fine finish is not achievable with any of these machines.

It should be acknowledged that a high quality lawn is not simply the result of the correct mower. The highest quality of finish is the result of thorough soil preparation, leveling and firming followed by a programme of ongoing seasonal maintenance. The mower and cutting the grass are simply elements of that ongoing maintenance. This guide is intended for the majority of people who want a neat-looking serviceable lawn.  

Stripes are the result of having a rear roller, rather than a choice of rotary or reel

3/ Power source

Electrically operated mowers are cleaner, usually cheaper to purchase than the equivalent gas-powered version, are lighter and can be more convenient. Their main disadvantage comes from the trailing flex which can get tangled around plant / containers etc. and poses a hazard in its own right if cut by the mower. Electric mowers should always be used with an RCD and should not be used on wet grass.

RCD - Residual Current Device. A safety device designed to cut the current. Available either as a plug that is wired to the mower and then can be left permanently attached - far and away the best solution or as an adaptor that plugs into the mains socket and then mower plug is plugged into this. This device cuts the current if there is any short circuit from a cut cable or moisture infiltration.

Electric mowers are best suited to smaller garden as then the flex does not need to be so long, they are also less likely to overheat than if used over an extensive area. If your lawn is larger than about 140 square meters, then you ought to consider a gas version as the amount of cable starts to get unwieldy.

Gas Lawnmowers require more maintenance and are more expensive to purchase than electrically powered ones. They can be more powerful however and are unencumbered by a cable making them much more convenient to use once up and running. There really is no alternative for the larger garden than a gas mower and the lack of a cable is a great convenience in smaller gardens.

Battery Power. Seemingly the ideal answer, all the advantages of an electric mower without the disadvantages of the cable. The drawback is one of a lack of power, both brute force to cut the grass and also of running time before the next re-charge. Battery powered mowers do have their place for particular circumstances, but until the technology develops they won’t be replacing gas or mains electric machines for a while yet.

4/ Hover, Roller or Wheels?

Hover Mowers are good utility rotary mowers. They are simple in design making them fairly cheap and easy to manoeuvre as they float on a cushion of air. As they don’t usually have wheels they have to be carried so limiting the size. Larger gas versions are available which do have 2 back wheels to help move them when stopped. These tend to be very large and used for extensive areas of rough grass. Hover mowers can’t usually cut very close but give a very acceptable finish if not the highest of quality. They are not sometimes reckoned to not be easy to use on slopes and banks, though I find them no better or worse than anything else I've used in these conditions - you do need to be fairly strong I suppose to pull them around. 

Rollers. Powered reel mowers almost always have a large rear roller, which may be power-driven, whereas non-hover rotary mowers may have a rear roller or wheels. The advantage of a roller is that it helps to level out the ground somewhat and produces “stripes” on the lawn.  They can also allow mowing right up to the edge of beds and borders. Cut a “lip” is where the soil meets the lawn so that part of the mower blade can over-hang the soil. The roller keeps the machine level and stable and reduces the amount of work with shears or strimmer needed. On the other hand, rollers decrease manoeuvrability and can make the machine heavier, particularly the large metal rollers on reel models.

Wheels. 4 independent wheels give high manoeuvrability. If your lawn has lots of beds and/or borders, or if there are trees planted into the lawn, then a 4-wheeled mower will allow you to easily cut around them. The mower is unlikely to be powered however so you will need to do the pushing. This style is also very good for long and rough grass when raised to the maximum height, the lack of a rear roller means that the grass is not flattened and so can be easily cut.

So called "4 x 4" mowers have become popular recently with 4 independent wheels that each swivel through 360 degrees. These are best seen as an alternative to a hover mower.

5/ To collect or not to collect?

A mower may or may not come with a grass collection box, if it does, it should be also be possible to run the mower without collecting the grass.

If you do collect the clippings while mowing, the lawn will look neater and cleaner afterwards and you won’t have clippings sticking to your shoes and dropping off in the house. You will of course have to dispose of the clippings somehow.

Alternatively mow the lawn without a collection box and the grass cuttings end up on the lawn. Not as tidy, but at least you don’t have to deal with them. They soon dry up, especially in the summer and especially if you are mowing fairly frequently so that the grass is not very long. So even if your mower doesn’t have grass collection, you don’t need top rake up all of the clippings.  

This has the extra advantage that the nutrients in the grass clippings are re-cycled into the turf rather than being taken away and lost to the lawn.

Another solution is a mulching mower. This drops the cuttings, but before this the blades cut them up extra finely before being blown down into the lawn. No clippings to deal with, nutrients are recycled and a neat and tidy finish. Currently, these are somewhat more expensive than the non-mulching equivalent.

Having said all of that........... if you really want the finest quality lawn, then you will have to collect the clippings so as not to spread weed seeds or allow moss and thatch to build up. If you collect, you will also have to feed.

Other things to consider