In The Garden
| NORTH YORKSHIRE |  | | | CLEVELAND | | | COUNTY DURHAM | | |
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Plethora of choice in the matter of mowing the lawn
AS THE weather warms up,
gardeners will be setting
lawnmower blades high to
give their grass the first cut
of the season. But if your mower is
past its best, what is the best new
option?
There are many mowers on the
market, but do you need a rotary
or a cylinder, an electric or a
petrol? There are even robotic
types which claim to do the job
for you.
Electric mowers are fine if you
have a mains electric socket
handy and enough cable needed
to cover the ground. They also
tend to be cheaper and are easy to
use. The disadvantage is that the
trailing cable can be a nuisance as
you must be careful not to run
over it and it can restrict your mobility
in a large garden.
Make sure you use a residual current
device, so that the current is
switched off automatically if there
is a fault or an accident.
You may be better off with a petrol
motor if you want the freedom to
cover a lot of ground, though they
are heavier. But this means that
the roller (if you have one) will
produce stripes on the lawn. Remember,
though, to take the
mower off the lawn for refuelling,
as spilled petrol will kill the grass.
Cylinder mowers have a series of
moving blades fixed around a
cylinder, passing over a fixed bottom
blade to create a scissor-like
cut. Efficiency is determined by
the number of blades on the
cylinder and how fast they rotate.
These mowers tend to give the
cleanest cuts and are ideal for
maintaining top quality lawns but
are generally unsuitable for long,
coarse or wiry grass. They are
quiet, so you won't annoy the
neighbours, and will keep you fit
while pulling and pushing the machine
over a small lawn.
With rotary mowers, a blade or
blades rotate horizontally, supported
either by wheels or, in the
case of hover mowers, by riding
on a cushion of air. They are more
suitable for longer, rougher grass
areas and slopes, and are not designed
for straight-line mowing
and won't stripe your lawn.
I would personally go for a mower
with a grass collection box, as
leaving clippings on the lawn is
messy, they are often trodden into
the house and clumps of clippings
left on the lawn cut off light and
air.
Today you can buy mulch mowers,
which chop the clippings into
tiny pieces and blast them firmly
down the lawn, where they will rot
down to feed the grass and conserve
moisture, though they still
leave you with the irritation of
treading grass into the house.
It may be wise to leave the first
and last clippings of the season on
the lawn as the grass can benefit
from the nutrients, shade and
moisture provided by the clippings
without too many clogging
problems.
However, if you do this constantly,
it can lead to thatch, a thick layer
of dead grass and weeds which
can hinder a lawn's growth and
lead to other problems including
bad drainage and moss.
Jobs this week
❃ Plant early, second early and
maincrop potatoes.
❃ Start dahlia tubers into growth
in a warm greenhouse and take
cuttings from those already producing
shoots.
❃ Repot houseplants and give
them a week or two in the greenhouse
to convalesce.
❃ Plant out autumn-sown sweet
peas
12:17pm Friday 18th April 2008
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