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Mowing the edges

vr2614vr2614 Posts: 3
in The potting shed
This seems to be an impossible task with the typical mower.  if one tries to approach the edge, the wheels make a valley and if this is really close to the edge the cutting deck ceases to be flat. And if that valley is several centimetres inside the lawn, it allows the grass to grow longer. 
And if one has to turn, the typical length of a mower plus driver is some 2 metres, so on a tight turn the driver is walking in the flower bed.

Posts

  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 28,818
    Install a mowing strip?  Bricks, pavers, railway sleepers........
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 20,942
    I cut the edges with grass shears.
    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 50,224
    Hmm - could be an advert coming....
    However, the way to make edging easier is a mowing strip as suggested. For large areas where it may not be practical to install edging because of cost, I just used to keep the mower slightly over the edge with the weight on the other [grass] side, then used edging shears for any bits that get missed. Fairly simple. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • vr2614vr2614 Posts: 3
    Thank you  all. Only FairyGirl seems to attack the real problem which is that there is not a mower on the market which does a good job. The other ideas are perhaps good for a small garden, but I have some 170 metres of grass along edges to cut each week. The real problem is on a convex curve where one can not get behind the mower. Does anyone know of a mower where the wheels have a smaller width than the cutting disk? Actually I use a Grizzly hover mower, but the cable makes it work hard. (It takes me 1h30 every week just for the edges without the vertical cut of the edges/flower beds.) The new Flymo is too heavy. The mower makers seem not to understand that there is a difference between cutting a golf green and cutting the home lawn. I have done both....
  • madpenguinmadpenguin Posts: 2,466
    Strimmer for the edges?
    “Every day is ordinary, until it isn't.” - Bernard Cornwell-Death of Kings
  • steveTusteveTu Posts: 2,587
    Don't they simply do a thing like a strimmer with interchangeable heads that you can use? I thought I'd seen something advertised in those '...over 50s magazines...' that regularly drop through your (my) letterbox each week ... Let me google (other blah blah )...
    akin to this (taken from Amazon - other online outlets are available)


    ...not a recommendation or a sales pitch, just an eg...

    UK - South Coast Retirement Campus (East)
  • LiriodendronLiriodendron Posts: 7,941
    Our elderly Bosch Rotak rotary mower has a rear roller, which keeps the mower horizontal even when it's hanging slightly over the lawn edge, providing you're mowing parallel with the edge, not across it.  (Other mowers with a roller will be similar, I'm sure.)  It works on convex curves but not if they're very tight.  And turning at the end of the strip requires forward planning, so that the bit you can't mow without standing in the flower bed can be cut at right angles, at the end...
    "The one who plants trees, knowing that he will never sit in their shade, has at least started to understand the meaning of life."  Rabindranath Tagore
  • CloggieCloggie Posts: 1,455
    If you're thinking about a new mower then one with a roller at the back works for me, it allows you to " hang" over the edge.  I cut the edges with a pair of grass shears then try and "hoover" up the bits while I cut the edge.  Variable results but breaks the back of it!  Overhanging plants like geraniums are good too.
  • SkandiSkandi Posts: 1,619
    I have a standard petrol mower, the cut goes right to the edge of wheels so I can cut right up to walls and edges etc. It's not a make you get in the UK though I think (Texas). If for some reason I need to go a bit further, say the grass is lying down I tend to run over the edge with the front wheels and "bounce" the mower to get the hiding grass.
  • vr2614vr2614 Posts: 3
    Thank you Liriodendrum for the good idea. I have looked at the Rotak 32 LI but neither the roller nor the wheels are motorised  which surprised me for it is a very expensive machine to have if it is work intensive. ( My garden is terraced on a rocky slope and already, it is hard work to push the Grizzly uphill.) Thank you all for your comments but the so called trimmer does a non-professional looking job  and unfortunately it shows... The lawn is the centre piece of a flower garden and should be treated as such. With the advance in technology, I am a little surprised that Bosch have not incorporated a little hi-tec with their latest models. A brushless motor as seen on scooters or skate boards would be a start and three motorised wheels would  be ideal for manoeuvring,  
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