OV9

Well the old Honda has departed us. No longer fit for service she was a year shy of her silver jubilee. 24 years on the frontlines had taken a toll on her chassis leaving it physically twisted. The engine was separated and the rest of her given a Viking send off. A 21 gun salute ensued. What remained was deposited at the front garden for the scrap angels to collect.
Flags at half mast until Monday.

After the shenanigans when my ride-on was delivered back from service with the collector chute not mounted correctly leading to the insides filling up with cut grass, yesterday was my first full mow with it this season. And only on about the fourth or fifth pass did I notice that I’d not put the mulching plug in so there was a beautiful plume of grass clippings soaring high in the air behind me My own fault this time. I’d been cutting on the highest setting because of the quite long uneven growth over winter and was surprised it didn’t seem to be struggling. It was leaving a really nice finish so I actually left it out and finished the lawn, trying to make sure I wasn’t aiming the plume of clippings at the drive. I think I’ll get a rear discharge chute (which directs the clippings down at the ground) because I think mulching would have left a poor finish and collecting - my only other option currently - would have been a pain.

OK Lawn experts - some advice.

I'm about to give ours it's first cut of the year before aerating and treating the moss. Is it better to mulch the clippings and leave them or is it better to collect them for this first cut ??

Cheers in advance

dinny_g wrote: Wed Mar 11, 2026 10:32 am OK Lawn experts - some advice.

I'm about to give ours it's first cut of the year before aerating and treating the moss. Is it better to mulch the clippings and leave them or is it better to collect them for this first cut ??

Cheers in advance

Where is the other Tim when you need him?

I’d collect, but I don’t have any scientific reason for that.

I may have to also start contributing to this thread. I'll have actual grass that needs cutting soon for the first time since renting a flat in Hammersmith the best part of two decades ago. Thing is its not huge so I'm not sure it justifies a petrol mower, however, the faff of tangled cables with an electric version does not appeal.

This thread may be for you GG - robot mowers

viewtopic.php?p=250422&hilit=robot+mowers#p250422

There are battery powered mowers these days too...

dinny_g wrote: Wed Mar 11, 2026 10:32 am OK Lawn experts - some advice.

I'm about to give ours it's first cut of the year before aerating and treating the moss. Is it better to mulch the clippings and leave them or is it better to collect them for this first cut ??

Cheers in advance

Collect them for the first cut would be my suggestion. Indeed, you should probably collect them all the time unless the grass is quite dry. I don't take my own advice but mulching the winter growth is a recipe for clogs and a trail of lumps and thick lush clumps.

Yeah, that was sort of my thought process. I was just looking for someone to tell me I can be lazy...

Just call it rewilding instead of lazy and then people are impressed.

- Just cut it and I think it might be time to just embrace the moss (like the Japanese) and try to kill back the grass...

It was bad last Autumn but the piss wet Jan and Feb have made it appallingly bad

GG. wrote: Wed Mar 11, 2026 10:58 am I may have to also start contributing to this thread. I'll have actual grass that needs cutting soon for the first time since renting a flat in Hammersmith the best part of two decades ago. Thing is its not huge so I'm not sure it justifies a petrol mower, however, the faff of tangled cables with an electric version does not appeal.

So this is now a bank holiday weekend job and I need to get tooled up

As much as I like petrol powered devices over electric, I'm thinking that on account of the grass area of the garden being reasonably small and the need to lug it between front and back over gravel (and back into the garage across gravel as for some reason the area behind the garage is gravelled ), that an electric mower is the sensible option.

Is defaulting to a Bosch Rotak of some flavour a decent idea and does anyone use cordless varieties?

If it’s a small grass area, then electric may indeed be the answer, but corded is a PITA to juggle - which may be tolerable if it’s genuinely petite and you don’t need to be changing your plug-in location constantly.

Never used cordless electic, but I assume they aren’t at the same powah levels of corded (?)

How big is the lawn? I’d not want to use a corded mower if I could avoid it. A robot mower may be a good idea too, since I imagine you’d rather enjoy the garden than do gardening.

We've had a wheeled FlyMo (go figure...) for years and it hasn't really been trouble. Managing the lead is the most annoying bit, and in time the wire fails at the handle end, but cutting off a bit and redoing it fixes the issue.

However, you need a robot mower, because.

Further to my comments above - don’t immediately discount a compact petrol mower.

This is Mountfield’s cheapest self-propelled offering and is comparatively compact & light. Buy through Screwfix and it’s less than £250. For a while many of their models used Honda engines, but they all appear to be Stiga now. But if it’s not doing a huge amount of work, that’s probably not an issue.

https://www.sgs-engineering.com/mountfi ... -lawnmower

According to the EA's floorplan - the rear garden is 25m W x 15m D however, having not paced it out, I'd say the actual lawn area at the rear taking into account patio and bedding / dead space is more like 15 x 7.5 so really not large. The small circular front garden is maybe 2/3 of that as well.

Maybe I need petrol for the back and robot for the front

You could probably get by with one robot for both, just make sure there's a hole for it to get through.

15x7.5m is about the same as the lawn at my old cottage and that didn't take long to mow. When I lived there I did it with a petrol Honda Izy which was effortless. When I rented it out I used an Aldi corded electric and it was not fun (avoiding the cord and took longer because it wasn't as wide) and left a worse finish. You won't be driven mad by a petrol mower but make sure it's self-propelled and I'd go a bit wider than Mik's link above: https://www.sgs-engineering.com/mountfi ... -lawnmower

ETA: actually it's my current Honda which is 53cm; the one I used to use was 46cm so https://www.sgs-engineering.com/mountfi ... -lawnmower - half the price of the equivalent Honda: https://www.gardenmachinerydirect.co.uk ... awn-mower/

I am tempted - the annoying thing is that there is a 6" lip and then a gravel section between back garden and garage and then gravel between garage and front garden so I think ultimately I'm going to end up lifting the thing up and down a lot. The petrol mowers don't really look like they have anywhere easy to grab them, presumably because they are heavy and therefore the manufacturer doesn't think you'd be doing that frequently.

No real need to lift them for a 6" lip : tip back to get the front wheels up, then use the handle at the back to roll it forwards / lift the rear up. If the front wheels slip on the gravel then a bit of rubber mat should prevent that?

My Mountune is pretty good - I've got the Honda engine in mine but the drive train for the powered-drive is pretty rudimentary - clutch is pretty much on/off. I'm sure a Honda would be nicer if you are happy to spend more.

Is your new place fenced off from the road at all GG - it looks from the pictures like is isn't.

I know its in a very nice area and everything but yoofs are yoofs so I wouldn't be comfortable leaving a robotic mower running around the front lawn "unprotected" . It's very likely to end up in the nearest body of water