The Great Big Lawnmower Thread

Fair amount of mower for €299, electric start nice, but crucially it has a pull start for when the electric let's you down. It says 'optional' on the self propelled, I'm presuming it means you can push or power drive, and not that there are two versions to buy. Is the deck plastic? Looks it on the images. The wheels are really fragile looking too.

This Webb 46cm self drive is a more robust looking machine. No electric start, but a steel deck, more rigid looking wheels, €300, and 10% off if its your first purchase from the Co op superstores, of which there are plenty in the Limerick area. Have a look, solid brand name and €270 with the discount.

https://www.coopsuperstores.ie/products/webb-classic-46cm-self-propelled-141cc-petrol-lawnmower-1776942

Spent a few hours cleaning up winter windfall twigs, leaves and branches prior to first mowing (about half the 2.6 acre site in grass, an acre of trees provides the debris), but after walking it I realised the mostly peat ground is sodden still, I could almost sink if standing on one foot in spots, (admittedly, partly due to my slightly large 113kg frame). No point in compacting mushy ground with the ride on wheels, though the mower has the larger baloon tyres. Not much growth anyway, so no rush, even if it looks like shyt. Wander up to one of those CoOp stores, they've a decent selection of mowers.

They're formulated differently, I recall reading the granular for spreading has some hydration present. Also, granular take longer to dissolve when it lands on the moss, and remains active longer. 4 weeks it says on some articles. The soluble ones action is more short term, often just blackening the moss enough to give the grass a head start to push through,

I've avoided liquid moss treatments, I once tried the one called Zero that was heavily pushed on the gardening slot on RTE radio, bought a large expensive 20l drum for just one spraying, and it only stained the moss in some spots. Not surprising, as it's already heavily diluted, something like 94% water in the drum, so after mixing it further in a small lawn tractor mounted sprayer, it seemed terribly dilute.

By September, you'll see the moss reappear even with the granular, especially when grass growth falls back, and even more so if you live in the middle of the fupin bog of Allen, where moss rules.. You can reapply a dressing in late Autumn to knock it back for the winter, if you have the inclination and the time.

The soluble type is different, the granules will dissolve, but as you've found they have enough coarse matter to create a blockage, sludge like I'm guessing if a rain damaged bag of sufate i had is anything to go by. The dry stuff is quite fine, it works well in that little push broadcaster that @bamayang has, but requires thorough cleaning before putting away, as the finer powder residue will harden over time. I've got one of those to do some steep embankments, otherwise I've a towed spreader that can take a full 20kg bag. I usually buy a 50kg of agricultural fertiliser, say 7-6-17+fe, and mix a portion of it with the sulfate in the hopper. The bigger granules help to keep it flowing, and also ensure a good wide spread as they leave the spinner like bullets. Only one place left near me that sells farm fertiliser in 50k bags anymore, its all big bulk bags now. The little bags of granular fertiliser in the likes of woodies would rob you, they're ok for a small area up to 1000m²

Autumn and winter spreading is ideal on a youtube video, but reality bites in December, the garden can just look after itself, I'll watch the sport on the telly!

Just fixed that