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Howdy all. I’ve been maniacally researching lawn mowers online in preparation of purchasing a house next month. I’m hoping to hit the ground running and not be “that neighbor” who neglects his lawn. I spent my entire childhood behind a Snapper push mower. I’ve lived in apartments and townhomes almost all of my adult life so I have no mower yet. The property is not big by any stretch- .58 acres. Very flat. No landscaping… basically a rectangle of grass with a house sitting in the middle. There’s a shed for storage too. No gates/fences to have to get through.
If anyone could offer a suggestion as to what I should be looking for (riding,push,self propelled) as well as brand recommendations, I’m all ears. The driveway is fairly long, single car width- so I’m thinking about snow removal too- torn between a blower attachment for a rider or a separate snow blower machine.
I’m hoping to keep the mower at $2200 and under. Something about the rear engine Snapper makes me all warm and fuzzy- maybe nostalgia.
Thanks!

Welcome Aboard !

A self-propelled 21" walk-behind will cut that easily. You might want a small rider if there was some up and down that was too much to walk, or you did a lot of hauling where a small garden trailer would be handy. But any mower will need to be out of the weather, and so it also depends upon available storage facilities.

I've had really good luck with Troy-Bilt pull starts with the Honda engine. They come set up to bag, mulch, or throw out clippings. Drain the fuel every winter and change the engine oil once a year.... RELIGIOUSLY, and they'll last indefinitely. My last one has been going 12 years.

Welcome to the forum and congrats on your new place!

We love helping with the decision process
I'm going to move this thread over to our Mower & Equipment Buying & Pricing section to help get you started.

Born2Mow said:

Welcome Aboard !

A self-propelled 21" walk-behind will cut that easily. You might want a small rider if there was some up and down that was too much to walk, or you did a lot of hauling where a small garden trailer would be handy. But any mower will need to be out of the weather, and so it also depends upon available storage facilities.

I've had really good luck with Troy-Bilt pull starts with the Honda engine. They come set up to bag, mulch, or throw out clippings. Drain the fuel every winter and change the engine oil once a year.... RELIGIOUSLY, and they'll last indefinitely. My last one has been going 12 years.

Click to expand...

Thank you! I don’t think walking would be too much but I am going to be setting up a garden toward the back of the property and it seems that a ride on with a cart would be handy for taking supplies out there and bringing veg back to the house.
If I were to get something like a Cub Cadet CC30H would I also need a push mower for cutting along the neighbor’s fence line?

Catherine said:

Welcome to the forum and congrats on your new place!

We love helping with the decision process
I'm going to move this thread over to our Mower & Equipment Buying & Pricing section to help get you started.

Click to expand...

Thanks! I’m looking forward to hearing everyone’s input. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I can find something second hand.

New Wave Goodbye said:

Thank you! I don’t think walking would be too much but I am going to be setting up a garden toward the back of the property and it seems that a ride on with a cart would be handy for taking supplies out there and bringing veg back to the house.
If I were to get something like a Cub Cadet CC30H would I also need a push mower for cutting along the neighbor’s fence line?

Click to expand...

Perhaps you should rethink that idea.

Before automation & on every real farm ( 10,000 + acres ) I have been to, the kitchen garden is right by the kitchen door, then the flower garden then fruit trees then the grassed play areas and space for the cloths line.
My house has the flower / shrub garden in the front with some herbs along the pathways for picking between the car door & front door or letterbox & front door.
Take your time before you set to work with the shovel.
Take photos of your yard every day / week/ fortnight/ month for a full year to appreciate the amount & direction of sunlight.
Read up on the philosophy of permatculture in particular in the layout of a permaculture garden.
While some think of it as a fad, there is much common sense involved . Your garden can become your greatest asset looking after itself & feeding your family or a mill stone around you neck gobbleing up all of your spare time & cash then some more .
If the carrots are 100 yards away, you only walk all that way when you want carrots so fail to notice that the local wildlife has beaten you to it or some pest / disease has wiped out your entire crop or garden .

So for now get a walk behind with extra catchers so you can collect the clippings & start making compost .
I have up to 8 bins right behind where I park the truck so I remember to toss them daily .
The worm farm is right under the kitchen stairs so daily I remember to take the scraps bin down & toss it into the worm farm then leave the bin on the stairs so the next time I go up I take it with me . The rubbish bin is right next door to the worm farm for the same reason.

For the fence line get a load of used bricks and set then just above the soil level so you can mow over them.
It used to be called a mowing strip before we got conned into running grass right up to the fence line then spending hours with a line trimer doing what you could do with a mower in 2 minutes.
Just watch where ground water runs as you don't want to create a dam.
I have this at the house & am slowly doing it at the workshop
I cheat and run along the mow strip with Round Up about 3 times a year.
Same story around all of the garden beds although there I used driveway pavers which are 2" tall & I mow at 4" so can just mow strait over them then they get Round Up about twice a year.
Neighbour has gone "chemical free" so uses a steam wand to do the same thing but he has to do that almost every month spring through to winter.
Pavers were free as they are no longer in fashion down here and the local classified always have some one offering a free driveway full if you lift them yourself.
These will get a lot more common as we transition from 1 ton locally made cars to 2 ton SUV's now that the local car industry has closed down .

bertsmobile1 said:

For the fence line get a load of used bricks and set then just above the soil level so you can mow over them.
It used to be called a mowing strip before we got conned into running grass right up to the fence line then spending hours with a line trimer doing what you could do with a mower in 2 minutes.
Just watch where ground water runs as you don't want to create a dam.
I have this at the house & am slowly doing it at the workshop
I cheat and run along the mow strip with Round Up about 3 times a year.
Same story around all of the garden beds although there I used driveway pavers which are 2" tall & I mow at 4" so can just mow strait over them then they get Round Up about twice a year.
Neighbour has gone "chemical free" so uses a steam wand to do the same thing but he has to do that almost every month spring through to winter.
Pavers were free as they are no longer in fashion down here and the local classified always have some one offering a free driveway full if you lift them yourself.
These will get a lot more common as we transition from 1 ton locally made cars to 2 ton SUV's now that the local car industry has closed down .

Click to expand...

I like the mowing strip idea!

Way too many people take their inspirations from all of those house / garden make over / flip shows on TV.
All of them leave you with an "OMG-WOW" garden that is very high maintenance and in most cases not particularly functional.

If you can find a copy, read "The Lazy Gardener" by Don Bourke
Naturally you will need to transpose seasons from OZ to USA & sun directions from North to South .
And again the Permaculture books.
Most of what is there is the common sense from past ages that unfortunately are no longer common.
I think a lot of the videos Bill Molleson did is now on You Tube.
Try to ignore the bare footed tree hugging feng shui souls talking about earth power lines and all sorts of astural planes.
It is the practical stuff like having the highest maintenance stuff right where you pass it regularly, creating sun traps to extend the growing season and the similar you need to think about

bertsmobile1 said:

Way too many people take their inspirations from all of those house / garden make over / flip shows on TV.
All of them leave you with an "OMG-WOW" garden that is very high maintenance and in most cases not particularly functional.

If you can find a copy, read "The Lazy Gardener" by Don Bourke
Naturally you will need to transpose seasons from OZ to USA & sun directions from North to South .
And again the Permaculture books.
Most of what is there is the common sense from past ages that unfortunately are no longer common.
I think a lot of the videos Bill Molleson did is now on You Tube.
Try to ignore the bare footed tree hugging feng shui souls talking about earth power lines and all sorts of astural planes.
It is the practical stuff like having the highest maintenance stuff right where you pass it regularly, creating sun traps to extend the growing season and the similar you need to think about

Click to expand...

I’m definitely a practical gardener. My father’s garden always looked like hell but produced tons of food with minimal to no upkeep. The intention of setting the garden in the rear of the yard is due to sun location and it being the least amenable spot for the deer and other critters in the area. I’ll definitely check out the suggested reading.
Any opinions on a mower?

What you have over there is not particularly good as you are stuck with bar blades.
Get some thing that has a big tank plus a high cut & a wide cut and get a couple of catchers.
Pop them on the grass & just swap over when one is full.
I use various Victa's which you are not allowed to use over there and 4 to 6 catchers which saves a lot of time .
They are all dual purpose mowers that both mulch & catch with a 4 swing back blade cutting disc.
The only USA made mowers I like are the Toro Personal Paces ,
All of the MTD made mowers I see here are trash as are the Husqvarnas.
The couple of JD's I service look reasonable but they are tanks to push around and unbelievably tall.
I regularly suggest the Honda push mowers we get but down here they don't have all the idiot proofing like clutches & brakes you lot are stuck with.

A commercial grade mower would be a good choice , prefferably one with a big fuel tank, sufficient to do the whole yard in one hit.
For right now really anything would do till you get the yard sorted out
Once you have established the grden then look at getting your perminent long term mower.

My recommendation would be the Toro model 21385. If properly maintained I call this the last 15-20 mower. It’s the mower I purchased 4 years ago, which replaced its grandpa of 22 years of use. This website has more info https://www.toro.com/en/homeowner/walk-behind-mowers/21-personal-pace-21385