Sit back and enjoy cutting your grass.

So your grass covers too much area for your small mower and you want to ride in style whilst you cut the lawn, then a ‘ride on mower’ may be what you need.

Ride On Mower Tips

• Do you plan to cut & collect the grass or just have built in mulching that then distributes it back onto the grass. I would go for one of the hybrids so you can collect long grass at the beginning of the season then turn on mulching to reduce the trips to the compost heap.
• Ride on mowers are available from Argos at below £1,000, better mowers can be good value around £4,000 but larger more professional models go up to £10,000+. Equate your budget to the amount of work to be done – you don’t need a sledge hammer to crack a nut nor should you send a boy to do a man’s job (these metaphors need mulching).
• From the large variety of models available make sure you can mount the machine, drive in comfort and feel safe.
• You can save money buying secondhand. Try retailers who have a good trade in policy and a large throughput.

What you get for your Money

• Blades can be 56 inches wide but 36 inches is common on mid priced mowers. I like the types where the blades are set so they cut over the edge of the grass but if you have a lot of border plants you may want one that follows the wheels.

• Cutting height settings can vary but do you need 10 different ones? I think 6 settings is enough.
• Horsepower of the engine may be important if you have slopes and rough areas. The Argos machine is under powered at 6.5 hp but an expensive machine at 23hp may be more than you need.
• Rollers to create stripes often come as an extra.
• Motor bike  manufacturers are common suppliers including Honda and  Husqvarna but Kubota are often the choice of professionals (but then again the top of the range costs over £13,000 OK for a big landscape but OTT for a neat lawn.)

Mower Safety

• Do not mow across slopes mow up and down to reduce risk of tipping over.
• A mower is a powerful vehicle with cutting blades – take more care than you would in a car.
• Never assume anything about children they can get in the way very unexpectedly.
• Do not carry passengers or mess about when the engine is running.
• Focus on the job, do not get distracted