RSSFinding an Appropriate Lawn Mower to Care for Your Grass Borders
Jan 22
Gardening ride on lawn mower, sgm Comments Off
From time to time my lawn mower goes over the edge of the grass border which results in large chunks of grass and earth being gouged out of my neat border edges.
Having the luxury of working for SGM which is a business that sells all types of lawnmower from pedestrian Flymos and rotary mowers to the largest of ride on lawn mowers I have the luxury of testing various types of machine both at home and work and as a result can provide the following thoughts.
Ride on Lawn Mowers
Due to their size and deck height a ride on lawn mower will rarely cause damage due to running off the turf and into the border. However their weight can sometimes cause turf at the edge of your lawn to become compressed which can lead to uneven patches.
Flymos
Flymo lawn mowers rarely damage borders. However sometimes you lose the cushion of air that your flymo rides on if you stray far off the edge of grass. This can cause the lawnmower to cut the grass very low. However it rarely causes any significant damage that is visible to the casual observer.
Rotary Mowers
Rotary mowers without roller can be very frustrating. Because they lack a rear roller and have four wheels, it is sometimes all too easy to allow one or more wheels to run off the grass and into the border resulting in large chunks of turf being damaged. Whilst rotary lawn mowers without a roller are great for general grass cutting and rough areas of lawn they can cause damage to borders if you are not careful.
By contrast rotary mowers that do have a rear roller do not have such a problem. From time to time you can have a slightly problem with damaging turf because you let the front wheels run off the grass and into the verge but in general this is little if any problem.
Cylinder Mowers
Cylinder mowers rarely cause damage because they have front and rear rollers. You can run then around the edge of any lawn with at times significant overlap without any real cause to worry about damage the edge of your lawn.
Conclusion
If you want to protect your lawn edges and want the best quality of cut buy a cylinder mower.
If you want a mower that will work in a wider range of conditions buy a rotary mower with a rear roller.
If your garden has slopes and difficult conditions buy a Flymo lawn mower.
And finally if you garden and budget is large enough to justify a ride on lawn mower buy a ride on and leave enough in your budget to also purchase a pedestrian mower with which you can do your edges.