Very few gardeners have an unlimited budget, so when it comes to equipment you have some tricky decisions to make. For the key task of keeping your lawn in trim, will a lawnmower or a strimmer suit you best?
In general, a robust lawnmower will handle the areas of thick, long grass and larger lawns.
For specialist areas, such as a wild flower meadow, a strimmer is very useful. According to the BBC gardening magazine, a strimmer is ideal for cutting wildflower meadow grass at the end of summer once the wildflowers have seeded.
If you are undecided about which will suit your purposes, here is a quick guide.
The Good and Bad of Lawnmowers
Lawnmowers make sure that the grass is growing at the most healthy height – this keeps it thick and green and looking at its best. A blade on the underside rotates and slices off the grass as the mower moves.
They can be powered by petrol or electricity, and if they break down you can get genuine spare parts, including Mountfield spares, from suppliers such as https://www.diyspareparts.com/parts/mountfield/ to get them up and running again quickly.
If you really want to do your bit for the environment, you could get a push mower where you supply all the power! At the other end of the scale is the sit-on mower, which requires less effort but a bigger budget.
The down side is that lawnmowers are not so great at reaching the edges of lawns and can seem cumbersome in small areas. If you have a lot of obstacles, it can be hard to get around them without missing patches.
The Good and Bad of Strimmers
A strimmer is essentially a short hollow metal pole. At the end is a rotating head and cord made from plastic or nylon. Sometimes the string is replaced by a blade. An engine or motor makes the string/blade rotate at high speeds to slice off the grass. Strimmers are just what you need for a professionally manicured look.
Strimmers are light and portable and great for lawn edges and obstacles. They work well on areas of undergrowth such as nettles and brambles.
However, it would be hard going to mow an entire lawn with one. It would take a long time and would be too physically demanding.