Garden makeover!

[L Austin France]

@L Austin France - carry over from the weather thread Purists and ecolos look away now

Looks pretty neat to me. Great job
Trouble is I'd wreck it with my frontal cut Stiga ride on if it wasn't flat.

[Blaze]

We use the geotextile stuff to suppress weeds before digging over - it makes life much easier. We get wood chippings from our local tip - they do good quality compost too, all far cheaper by the trailer load than buying bags. Everything's been well-aged - all the local gardeners/paysagistes come here !

[Quiksilver]

@L Austin France - carry over from the weather thread Purists and ecolos look away now

Looks pretty neat to me. Great job
Trouble is I'd wreck it with my frontal cut Stiga ride on if it wasn't flat.

Thank you kind sir It does make it a longer job to go round the edges with a spade first and turn a spit back onto the border, but it gives you that 'gully' I was on about before. I have been pleasantly surprised by it not getting chewed up by mower blades, but I run parallel to the edge. Coming round to the idea of a frontal cut mower, though, every time I have to spend a couple of hours flat on my back under the ride-on

[L Austin France]

Coming round to the idea of a frontal cut mower, though, every time I have to spend a couple of hours flat on my back under the ride-on

Best garden tool I've ever bought. Flip the deck up, blast off the crap with a jet of compressed air which also dries the deck, undo one bolt for each blade when they need a touch up on the grindstone.
My Stiga Villa HST machine is 13 years old now with no work other than oil changes, two driven tyres, the odd belt & steering cable. Hydrostatic so no gears & rear wheel steering so turns on a centime.
Great for cutting under hedges etc.
I love the old gal.

[Hotrodder]

Coming round to the idea of a frontal cut mower, though, every time I have to spend a couple of hours flat on my back under the ride-on

Not being able to afford a front-cut machine with lifting blades I bought one of these.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/202462756706
I still have to kneel down to do the cleaning but it is a lot easier. (after removing the crank from the top of the screw and driving it with a rechargeable drill.)

[Quiksilver]

Thing is...I use the ride on just about every day as a work horse, usually with the trailer but also got a spreader, sprayer and roller. I suspect that frontals don't tow? Or collect! This time of year (normally ) I set it low and collect the seed heads of annual meadow grass, which is a right PITA. The only other 'grass' collection is in the chicken run where tap-rooted weeds proliferate. Off with their heads It's good to have the option...

[Blaze]

I can't remember when we bought our ride-on from Bricomarché, but it's at least 15 years old and has never let us down. It had a tough time at the old place. It doesn't have a catcher, but does have a mulching attachment. We don't have land like we used to but I'm glad we kept it - it saves a huge amount of time. A change of oil, belts and blades from time to time, it just keeps going. I don't think we've ever had to change the battery, which we always take out pver the winter.
We also have a Honda self-drive push mower which must be at least 30 years old now, and is still brilliant (they're not made like that today ....). It's only used for a small area by the house.

[L Austin France]

Thing is...I use the ride on just about every day as a work horse, usually with the trailer but also got a spreader, sprayer and roller. I suspect that frontals don't tow? Or collect! This time of year (normally ) I set it low and collect the seed heads of annual meadow grass, which is a right PITA. The only other 'grass' collection is in the chicken run where tap-rooted weeds proliferate. Off with their heads It's good to have the option...

Mine tows fine. I fitted it with a ball type hitch & it'll tow my road trailer loaded with 1.4 m3 logs no probs.
It doesn't collect as it's a mulching machine but against that, with the deck set high it whacks through brambles & ferns etc. I tow a lawn sweeper after the first annual cut(s) when the cuttings are just too long to leave. Once the grass is down to it's normal height you don't notice the cuttings which mulch down.
I had a 'collecting' machine which was a pita clogging up with wet/long grass so changed for this'un & never regretted it.

[L Austin France]

This is mower & sweeper ready to clean up this afternoon