Plans for planting

[Nannysbees]

Don't you just hate those people who get the lawnmower out when yours is lurking at the back of the shed, menacing, buried under the gardening detritus you threw in there after the last cut in the autum and guaranteed not to start until at least the point where your arm is feeling like it's falling off.

I'll bet you even cleaned it, emptied the fuel out and had it serviced over the close season ....

Sadly, I'm a mere mortal ....

Did empty it before the winter, didn't clean it and it's on its last legs unfortunately. Annoying I have to call my husband to start it every time I empty the grass bucket as the damn thing won't start for me, but I do love mowing the lawn

 

[pargyle]

You should see our sit-on; half covered with a tarp one side of the workshop, totally covered in sawdust.

Obviously Stan needs another shed for the mower then he can descend to my level of mower storage !

 

[pargyle]

Did empty it before the winter, didn't clean it and it's on its last legs unfortunately. Annoying I have to call my husband to start it every time I empty the grass bucket as the damn thing won't start for me, but I do love mowing the lawn

All motor mowers have an in-built hatred of anyone who LIKES mowing lawns and they refuse to start until someone who loathes cutting grass has to come and start them .... when they start at the first pull.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Don't you just hate those people who get the lawnmower out when yours is lurking at the back of the shed

well, for once, this year ours wasn't buried at the back of the workshop, a combination of I haven't been able to use the shed because it's still stacked up with honey awaiting arrival of the new store shed so no room for pottering and the mower didn't end up being a handy place to stack thing on. And the fact that said mower had been in the menders since November with a split boss and the replacement has taken an age to come from the manufacturer.
Mower only arrived back a couple of weeks ago, cleaned, serviced and filled with fresh petrol, so as there was a nice afternoon earlier this week I took the opportunity to give the lawn a quick topping, giving plenty of air for the primroses and then the dandelions to flourish. Hopefully I won't have to do it again until the majority of the dandelions go over.

 

[pargyle]

well, for once, this year ours wasn't buried at the back of the workshop, a combination of I haven't been able to use the shed because it's still stacked up with honey awaiting arrival of the new store shed so no room for pottering and the mower didn't end up being a handy place to stack thing on. And the fact that said mower had been in the menders since November with a split boss and the replacement has taken an age to come from the manufacturer.
Mower only arrived back a couple of weeks ago, cleaned, serviced and filled with fresh petrol, so as there was a nice afternoon earlier this week I took the opportunity to give the lawn a quick topping, giving plenty of air for the primroses and then the dandelions to flourish. Hopefully I won't have to do it again until the majority of the dandelions go over.

 

[JamezF]

I Would love a sit on mower

They're not entirely all they're cracked up to be, to be honest. For large expanses of grass they're fine, but once you have any fiddly bits you end up having to use a normal mower to tidy up. Our first ride-on pretty much shook itself to pieces, so we took the cutting deck off and used it to drag a small trailer around until it finally gave up the ghost. The current one has been welded up more than once, though that may in part be due to my father-in-law rolling it several times.

I do most of my major mowing with a four foot topper on the mini tractor. That will quite happily mow small trees. It's even more awkward around "wiggly bits" though. We also have a Hayter rotary mower that must be about fifty years old and is still going strong(-ish). It's been through a number of engines and the main deck is mostly rivets and steel patches, but it just won't die

James

 

[JamezF]

Oh, I forgot... We also have a cylinder mower with a powered roller that drags the unexpecting victim along behind it. The cylinder swaps out for a scarifier that fills the grass collector up with moss in about thirty seconds flat on our lawns. I don't know if that one still works though.

James

 

[pargyle]

They're not entirely all they're cracked up to be, to be honest. For large expanses of grass they're fine, but once you have any fiddly bits you end up having to use a normal mower to tidy up. Our first ride-on pretty much shook itself to pieces, so we took the cutting deck off and used it to drag a small trailer around until it finally gave up the ghost. The current one has been welded up more than once, though that may in part be due to my father-in-law rolling it several times.

I do most of my major mowing with a four foot topper on the mini tractor. That will quite happily mow small trees. It's even more awkward around "wiggly bits" though. We also have a Hayter rotary mower that must be about fifty years old and is still going strong(-ish). It's been through a number of engines and the main deck is mostly rivets and steel patches, but it just won't die

James

Mine is a Mounfield - one of the last with an aluminium deck... as our lawn grows lumps of flint the ones with the plastic decks are lucky to last one season. This one has done a few years now despite annual winter neglect and general mistreatment ...

 

[JamezF]

I think our current one is also a Mountfield. I didn't realise they had plastic decks now. Such a thing wouldn't last a single cut here.

James

 

[Erichalfbee]

I Would love a sit on mower

We have two and a half acres to mow. It makes sense

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I think our current one is also a Mountfield. I didn't realise they had plastic decks now

they don't, although Mountfields now are not a patch on the old ones. Mines a Mountfield, third one for me, should have been number two but let's not discuss the almost buried pick head that the roofer once left on the lawn! the man who does machine repairs for me said that bosses splitting is now a regular thing (second replacement for me now) and the self propelling ones have got no guts at all and the belts soon go. I think the problem is the engines have got plenty of power which means the rest quickly breaks under any pressure!

 

[JamezF]

Our first one was a Hayter. The belts used to break on that for a pastime. The impression I had was that it had been designed to very poor tolerances, so if there were any slack in any of the belts whatsoever, it would end up wearing on some other part of the bodywork, for example.

Hideously cheap metal being used for castings seems to be another problem. Probably not intended for outdoor use, let alone anywhere it might come into contact with grass clippings.

Considering that it's been rolled at least three times and that my father-in-law has removed most of the safety mechanisms and guards, the Mountfield is actually not doing that badly. Ours does have stupidly small front wheels though and grass that is at all damp struggles to get up the chute into the collector.

James

 

[pargyle]

they don't, although Mountfields now are not a patch on the old ones. Mines a Mountfield, third one for me, should have been number two but let's not discuss the almost buried pick head that the roofer once left on the lawn! the man who does machine repairs for me said that bosses splitting is now a regular thing (second replacement for me now) and the self propelling ones have got no guts at all and the belts soon go. I think the problem is the engines have got plenty of power which means the rest quickly breaks under any pressure!

Oh yes they do ... My neighbour bought the big cordless one last year and it's a polyproplyene deck on it ... it already has great chunks out of it where the flints kick up .... I did assume that they had changed all models to plastic but it seems the petrol ones still have metal decks - albeit thin pressed steel ones as opposed to the heavy duty aluminium deck on mine.

https://www.mountfieldlawnmowers.co.uk/294426063-m21-princess-42-li-kit.html

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

the petrol ones still have metal decks - albeit thin pressed steel one as opposed to the heavy duty aluminium

sorry, thought you were talking about lawnmowers not sewing machines and any blade under 50cm only good for pocket handkerchief lawns, yes, they've been pressed steel for years now, my last mower was scrapped for the sole reason that the bulkhead on the deck had gone and the rest wasn't looking good, combined with the fact that the whole mower needed an overhaul it was cheaper to scrap and replace. Mountfields are fast moving to be lower end machines now with the Honda and Yamahas securing the top end (and prices!)

 

[pargyle]

sorry, thought you were talking about lawnmowers not sewing machines and any blade under 50cm only good for pocket handkerchief lawns, yes, they've been pressed steel for years now, my last mower was scrapped for the sole reason that the bulkhead on the deck had gone and the rest wasn't looking good, combined with the fact that the whole mower needed an overhaul it was cheaper to scrap and replace. Mountfields are fast moving to be lower end machines now with the Honda and Yamahas securing the top end (and prices!)

Yes ... it's a pity ... both Mountfield and Hayter used to be top end machines but they seem, now, to be built down to a price point - although the equivalent of my SP55 at just a tad less than £900 RRP it's not exactly a cheap mower ...

I think the Honda is very much the Rolls Royce of mowers these days ... the motors are bomb proof and they are really well built - but the equivalent size to the Mountfield is nearly £1500 and even that one has a Resin reinforced deck ! If you want one with an aluminium deck ... nearer £2000....

 

[JamezF]

I think the Honda is very much the Rolls Royce of mowers these days ... the motors are bomb proof and they are really well built - but the equivalent size to the Mountfield is nearly £1500 and even that one has a Resin reinforced deck ! If you want one with an aluminium deck ... nearer £2000....

I think I'd probably just buy some sheep

James

 

[pargyle]

I think I'd probably just buy some sheep

James

With what grows in my garden it would have to be goats I think !

 

[JamezF]

With what grows in my garden it would have to be goats I think !

They're all edible

James

 

[Curly green finger's]

You should see our sit-on; half covered with a tarp one side of the workshop, totally covered in sawdust.

I've resorted to a styil electric because I've had enough of the petrol mower that I've had for 20+ years, petrol mowers are over rated.

 

[Curly green finger's]

Be careful pucking on the devil, that's not going to cool him down!