March 20th, 2023 by Sarah Miles

Cutting the grass is unavoidable in the spring and summer unless you want an overgrown, uneven lawn with declining health (as cutting is a vital part of lawn maintenance and strong growth). Given that you’ll be doing it every few weeks throughout the warmer months, it makes sense to buy one that will suit your needs and make the job as easy as possible, within your budget of course.

When you start searching for one, it can be hard to understand all the features and work out which one you need so here is a run-down of the 10 terms you need to know about:

Rotary Lawnmower

This is a lawnmower that has a cutting machine with a single blade that rotates like a propeller. A very versatile lawnmower that can cope with most types of grass.

Hover Lawnmower

This is a type of rotary mower but rather than rolling across the grass, it hovers slightly above it. This makes it useful for uneven ground and for cutting around irregular shapes, such as curved borders. They tend to be cheaper than other mowers and are, therefore, not as robust so more suited to smaller gardens.

Cylinder Lawnmower

The cutting mechanism on a cylinder mower is a cylinder, mounted with a number of blades, that rotates and cuts against a single fixed blade. They tend to be more expensive than rotary mowers and are more suited to fine, well-manicured lawns.

Self-Propelled Lawnmower

Mowing the lawn can be quite a physically demanding task but a self-propelled mower effectively moves forward. All you have to do is steer it in the right direction. Great if you want to make the task easier. You can even set different speeds on some models.

Electric Lawnmower

Runs from mains electricity so you need a power source nearby and it has a cable. They tend to be cheaper than cordless or petrol mowers and are, therefore, the most common. You will need to manage the cable while mowing but they’re fine for small to medium gardens

Cordless Lawnmower

Powered by a rechargeable battery, these are free of the restrictions of a cable and so easier to manoeuvre around the garden. The convenience makes them a bit more expensive and if you have a large garden, you’ll need to make sure the battery has a long running time or that you have a spare.

Petrol Lawnmower

Runs on petrol so you need to be confident about handling and storing petrol plus they do require more general maintenance, including regular servicing and oil top-ups. That said, these are fast, powerful machines and will make short work of large gardens, plus there’s no cable to worry about.

Cutting Width

This is the size of the cutting blade. The larger the cutting width, the more it will cut in one rotation so if you have a large garden, go for a high cutting width.

Cutting Height

This indicates the length of grass it cuts to, and many will have several options. If you are cutting grass down from being quite long, you’ll want to cut it down using a couple of passes, rather than trying to cut straight to the desired length. You would need a machine with a variable cutting height to be able to do this.

Grass Collection Box

Some have them, some don’t. This is the box that collects all the cuttings as you mow so that you don’t have to sweep it all up at the end. The larger the box, the less frequently you’ll have to stop to empty it.