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Lawn Mowers - Mulcher or not to Mulch

Cottage CompostCottage Compost Posts: 496
in Problem solving
About to buy a new house that has a large garden, roughly 3/4acre.  Not measured it for myself yet. But it is big and at the mo essentially grass and nothing else.  The current owner has been getting someone to cut it for her on a regular basis.

It will soon shrink with an added greenhouse, shed, pond and veg plots to start with so the amount of grass will reduce and i'll be deliberately adding an assortment of lawn weeds perennial wild flowers.  I have a list of 15 lawn perennial wild flowers, i'll probably reduce this down to just under 10 though.   Some will establish and do well, others will fail and disappear i'm sure.

So i won't be mowing the grass as often as some might.  I will be composting.

I will need a lawn mower sharpish to keep on top of things whilst the grass continues to grow this year and whilst i plan what i want to do, and where to put stuff etc this summer.

I've decided to get a self-propelled petrol mower but do i get a mulching mower or not?

Any suggestions and experiences welcome.   What should i stay away from?

Posts

  • ButtercupdaysButtercupdays Posts: 4,546
    A mulching mower chops the grass up small and dumps it back on the grass. I can do that with my mower just by taking the box off :)
    I would guess it works best if you cut little and often. In my large garden I can't do that, even though I don't mow it all, I have to do it in sections. If the weather is un-obliging, so the grass is too wet to mow, which happens often, then the grass gets very long and would make a real mess if returned to the ground. In a heatwave it might quickly shrivel, but more likely it would dry on top and then remain, damaging the grass underneath.
    So for me a collectimg mower makes more sense. I use an old nylon sheet to reduce the number of trips to the Heap and congratulate myself on the number of steps I must have achieved.
    I have no experience of petrol mowers, but find even my electric one difficult to manoeuvre on my, admittedly difficult, steeply sloping terrain. If your land is relatively flat and the layout not too complex, then your choices will be different from mine.
  • Nanny BeachNanny Beach Posts: 8,719
    I need pictures and have to tell you I am exceeding jealous. I used to have a mountfield.lot less garden and grass now, got an electric Bosch,and push Qualcast,I mow every 3 days and leave the clippings,too much green stuff for the compost bin
  • Cottage CompostCottage Compost Posts: 496
    I went for a petrol mower that would mulch, discharge or collect in a bag.

    Tried all three modes.  The Mulcher really does chop up very fine indeed and the clippings soon literally disappear within just a few hours.  When i discharge the grass back onto the lawn it cuts just once, and you can really see the difference, after a couple of days the clippings were visibly horrible so out came the mower to hoover up the clippings into the bag, sorted.  Cutting the grass with the bag on is fine, but the bag does fill up very fast indeed.

    At the mo with my very limited experience of mowing grass i've decided to mulch when cutting the grass and the perennial lawn flowers are flowering / seeding so that the seed is returned to the ground and cut the grass to the bag when there are no seeding lawn flowers.
  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 24,043
    Thank you for letting us know.
    I didn't see your post in May.
    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
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