How to choose the right lawn mower

What is the best lawn mower for your garden? When should I choose a petrol, battery or electric lawnmower? 

Petrol lawnmower

A petrol mower is a powerful machine suitable for larger lawns. The advantage is that a petrol mower does not need power and therefore no extension cable.

Battery mower

The main advantage of a battery-powered lawnmower is its freedom of movement. Since a battery-powered lawnmower does not have a cord, it also allows you to reach places where you have no power. Less noise, maintenance and no exhaust fumes. You can also use the battery you use in your mower for other battery garden tools of the same brand.

Electric mower

An electric mower less noise, maintenance and no exhaust fumes. Less strenuous than by hand and cheaper and more environmentally friendly than a machine with a petrol engine. An electric mower is suitable for most lawns. 

How big is your lawn?

• Small: < 200m² : hand mowers, electric mower or battery-powered mower.
• Medium: 200 – 400 m² : electric mower, battery-powered mower, petrol mower or robotic mower.
• Large: > 400 m² : electric mower, petrol mower, robotic mower or ride-on mower.

Is there a power supply in your garden?

This is useful to know when you choose an electric mower. 

When does your lawn mower need maintainance?

Your machine has another season on it. It is then customary to have your machine(s) back in tip-top order during the winter months. In this way you can face another mowing season without any problems. It is best to have such a winter service done by an approved business specialized in maintenance and repair of all brands of machines. During the winter, attention is given to the safety and proper functioning of your machine. Your machine will be thoroughly checked for defects and repaired where necessary. The oil is also changed, air filter cleaned (or replaced) and blades sharpened.

A well-maintained lawnmower is very important.

If you haven’t used your lawnmower much and it runs like sunshine and you get the last bit of petrol out of the machine, you can skip a year of maintenance. If you dont own a lawnmower yet, I recommend you check out: lawn mowers for sale. They offer some fine quality machines.

What is scarifying?

Scarifying is working the lawn with a knife roller or rake, which cuts into the top layer of the lawn.

Why scarify your lawn?

Over time, your lawn will become choked by a layer of grass clippings, moss, plant debris and weeds. As a result, moisture, nutrients and light can no longer penetrate the lawn. You have to break through this layer and remove it by scarifying it.

Scarifying can be done with a scarifying rake, but this is a tough job and therefore only suitable for small pieces of lawn. A scarifier (electric, battery or petrol) makes scarifying easier, especially if you attach a collection tray to the machine. Do not set the scarifier too deep so that you cut through the upper centimetres of the grass. You catch the moss or rake it off the lawn. Then go over it one more time in the other direction so that you have properly worked the entire lawn. For best results, rake the lawn once more with a strong grass rake to get rid of all the moss.

If there was a lot of pollution in the lawn, it now looks very bare. You don’t have to worry about that. Because the soil now gets a lot more light and air, the lawn will grow quickly again. Help this process by sowing grass and fertilizing it.

Some scarifiers are equipped with an aeration roller. Then use the machine more often to aerate the lawn. Especially on dense or heavy soil this is a nice extra application of the scarifier.

When to scarify?

Scarifying is done in the spring, approximately in April. Then the lawn grows rapidly and recovers quickly from scarifying. Scarifying is best done on a dry day, so that the waste does not stick. If, after a bad summer, the lawn has a lot of moss again, you can scarify, replant and fertilise in September.