Lawns have started to look a bit fresher as early growth arrives, but remember to keep the cutters on your mowers fairly high for the first couple of cuts.

Once the lawns do start to grow we think that, with the late Spring, they’ll need cutting at least once a week to keep them looking good, especially if Easter is rainy, as it often is!

If you haven’t yet had your mower serviced you may find you will need to wait a bit as mechanics are booked out with work at the moment.

The weeks before and just after Easter are always a busy time for us and this year is busier than ever.

Many of you will consider buying a new mower for the coming gardening year and here at MowDirect we have a wider range than ever.

But exactly how do you get the best lawn mower for your garden?

Einhell Hand Cylinder Mower

Basically the answer is simple. If you have a very small pocket handkerchief lawn you will not need any more than a simple hand-push mower with no motor.

We have several brands of hand propelled mowers. The mid range Einhell BG-HM Hand-propelled Cylinder Mower is a good basic model with five cutting blades and adjustable height adjustment and it also has larger wheels making it easier to use around the flower beds.

It costs just £59.95 including VAT, a saving of £40 on the manufacturer’s price.

Electric mowers have come a long way since they were first introduced and there are now sturdy mowers to tackle a wide range of lawns.

From electric hover mowers to traditional cylinder mowers, MowDirect has a huge range.

For under £100 there is the new entry level mower from Wolf-Garten.

It has superior quality features and is made in Germany. Available now for just £89!

Hayter is a reliable and popular maker and their Spirit lawnmowers have a modern design, are easy to use and remarkably light for such a powerful machine.

The 1500 Watt motor is tough and durable making this an excellent choice for a medium sized lawn with its 16 inch cutting width and 17m of cable.

The Mowdirect price is just £239, a saving of over £40.

Many people with lawns larger than, say, a tennis court, prefer the greater flexibility that petrol mowers provide and we have what we believe is the biggest range in Britain on our main website.

Mountfield S420-PD Mower

A standard petrol rotary mower can be purchased for under £150, but we recommend that whatever your need you consider Mountfield and Einhell, two manufacturers with whom we have special arrangements.

A good option for a general all-purpose mower is the Mountfield self-propelled S420-PD with a reliable Briggs and Stratton 148 cc motor and 41cm cutting width. It features a steel deck and 60 litre grass collection box.

It’s an ideal self-propelled mower for a medium sized garden and comes in at just £279.

Mountfield’s top of the range model is the M64 PD/ES lawnmower which has an electric start. This has a powerful Mountfield engine and is ideal for tackling both a traditional lawn and for coping with rougher grass around paths and orchards.

Grass can be either discharged at the back or mulched to be fed back onto the lawn to add valuable nutrients.

It has a two year manufacturer’s warranty and a 20 year guarantee on the aluminium deck. MowDirect’s special offer price is just £589!

And remember, all petrol Mountfield mowers benefit from a pre-delivery inspection and the maker’s wide dealer network.

Einhell BG-PM 46S Mower

MowDirect has a unique agreement with German manufacture Einhell which means we can bring you top products at unbeatable prices.

Their BG-PM 46 self-propelled mower is just £199.95, an amazing price for a German-engineered self-propelled machine.

In fact it is so good we have already had to order more!

It is so robust it will last year after year and has a quiet 3.75hp engine. A single lever means the height can be easily adjusted and it is perfect for medium to larger lawns. Fold down handles means it can be easily stored in the shed.

The mower has next working day delivery and a two year guarantee.

These are just a few of our brilliant mower offers. Make sure you keep an eye on our site. As Britain’s biggest on-line retailer of powered garden equipment we are constantly updating our range with new models and special offers.

Mountfield S421PD

The Mountfield S421PD has a 16 inch cutting width and a powerful 150cc engine which is nevertheless easy to start. It also comes with a two-year manufacturer’s warranty and the special Mowdirect price is just £248.99.
Top of the range is this section is the Mountfield HW512-PD with a 160 cc Honda engine and a 51 cm cutting width.
This mower will go on season after season is always easy to start and is ideal for the larger lawn.
We have secured the special price of only £469, an excellent deal on a machine manufactured to last.
For a lawn which will be the envy of your neighbours, a Mountfield rear roller lawnmower will provide that true bowling green look.
Mountfield’s extensive range in this section will provide a mower for virtually any gardener.
They have steel deck models which come with either Honda or Mountfield engines. The top of the range models also have power drive to the rear wheels and electric start options for you to choose from.
There are also models with alloy decks that have a 10 year guarantee making them amongst the most desirable in the Mountfield offering.

Mountfield M554R/ES

Have a look on our site to see the brilliant range available. But to whet your appetite look at the top of the range Mountfield M554R/ES Roller Lawnmower. If you have a larger lawn and want that traditional striped finish, look no further than this.
Wide cut, electric start, four speed transmission which enables you to work at your own pace, massive grass collection box, this is one of the finest mowers you can get for a large garden and will provide superb reliability year after year for just £759.
The range we believe will become a firm favourite this year with gardeners.
Another great innovation is the three in one Mountfield Combi Mower Range. Mountfield’s aluminium deck features a cutting system letting you choose whether to collect the grass, mulch it or simply discharge it from the back of the machine.
The mid range Mountfield MD44 Combi Rotary Lawn Mower is built to tackle anything  from a perfect lawn to rugged grassed over areas which many mowers could not tackle and allows you to set the level at which you cut from 20mm to 70mm.
Given this rugged build it will still deliver a perfect finish on the main house lawn after dealing with overgrown paths and rougher lawn edges.
Again, working with Mountfield, Mowdirect has obtained this at a special price of £469.
The least expensive Mountfield models are the electric mowers but even though these don’t have quite the same power as the petrol ones they still have the Mountfield build quality and carry a two year guarantee.

Mountfield EL390R

They have the advantage that they are quieter, lightweight and are entirely suitable for the smaller garden.
Take a look at the top of the range Mountfield EL390R Electric Lawnmower for instance. It has a rear roller for that traditional striped look and a large grass collection box. It comes with 20 metres of cable and is just £119 and with free next-day delivery.
So now’s the time to take a look at our site for the full range of Mountfield lawn mowers and other products.
By working with one of the finest manufacturers we are able to offer a wider range at better prices than ever before.
And don’t forget, they are all inspected by trained engineers before they leave our workshops, some come with free delivery, many have at least a two year guarantee and all are backed by a nationwide chain of dealers.
Keep looking at our site because now we are the official on-line partner with Mounthfield we expect to have a series of very special offers throughout the season.
All we need now is for the sun to come out and the grass to start to grow!!

As ever, MowDirect is first to bring you news of everything that’s new in the world of lawn mowers with advice on what’s hot and what to look out for if you’re after the best deal!

Over the past few months we’ve been carefully digesting all the latest product news from the leading manufacturers and speaking to them about what to expect for the coming year.

So read on and put yourself ahead of the game with our start-of-the-year round up of top deals on New Lawn Mowers for 2010!

Our first major announcement is that MowDIRECT has been appointed Official Online Dealers for Mountfield, Britain’s most popular make of petrol lawn mower. Our relationship with this leading manufacturer stretches back a number of decades and we delighted for it to be extending into the next in such an exciting way!

New Mountfield Mowers

The new range of Mountfield lawn mowers for 2010 is now live on the MowDirect website and we are ready to take your orders on this exciting line-up of their latest models. Check out the new style cutter decks that features on many of the models – it gives the mowers an attractive modern look and provides extra strength to these robust, hard-wearing machines.

Hayter, another leading make of lawn mowers, has announced the introduction of two new models to their range. The Hayter Harrier 48 Pro and the Hayter Harrier 56 Pro are intended for the professional operator and feature a newly developed drive system for reliable operation day-in, day out.

New Lawnflite SPK48 Hi-Wheeler

We are also pleased to announce that we have some exclusive deals on two new ‘Hi-Wheeler’ models from MTD-Lawnflite, the world’s biggest manufacturer of petrol lawn mowers. The Lawnflite SPK48-HW and the Lawnflite SPK53-HW High Wheel Lawnmower feature high specification Kawasaki engines and 4-in-1 mowing. Both models are on Special Offer and the SPK53-HW also comes with the added advantage of a variable-speed drive system.

Sticking with Hi-wheeler style lawn mowers, we have a fantastic deal available on another machine of this type. Efco, Italy’s leading make of lawn mower, have recently launched a 21” cut Honda powered Hi-Wheel mower on Exclusive Special Offer at MowDirect for just £419! In addition, we have also just launched a range of 3-in-1 steel deck lawn mowers from this exclusive brand starting at well under £300!

Al-Ko, a leading German brand, are one of the fastest growing makes of petrol lawn mower in the UK market and for 2010 they have completely redeveloped and redesigned their range of award winning mowers. These innovative machines feature specially formed cutter decks that offer superior grass collection capabilities and many models have 3-in-1 cutting as standard.

If you have a large-sized lawn and wish to achieve a ‘Wimbledon’ style striped finish, you may be

New Masport Rotarola

interested in the new Masport Rotorola RRSP-22 currently priced at just £639. This rear-roller style mower has been built to a really high standard and offers a huge 22” cutting width making it one of the largest machines of its type. Another new mower in the range well worth a look is the Masport Genius 5-in-1 – this innovative lawn mower will chip small branches and shred and collect leaves as well as mow the lawn!

For those of you working to a budget, we have an attractively priced entry level petrol lawn mower from Einhell. This lightweight and easy to use machine comes in at under £150 while current stocks last. Also from Einhell is a new quality hand-propelled cylinder mower – it’s on Special Offer, saving you £40!

New Flymo Glidemaster

Finally, Flymo have always been to the fore in lawn mower design and development and their new Glidemaster 340 and Glidemaster 380 won’t disappoint. These innovative electric hover mowers collect and compact the grass cuttings so you spend less time emptying and a side window lets you see when the integrated grass box is full.

Most people regard the lawn as the centre-piece of their garden; it will therefore make sense for us to start this blog by briefly looking at lawn mowers. Bosch have introduced a new cordless lawn mower to cater for those of you with very small lawns; the new Bosch Rotak 34 Li Cordless Lawn Mower is powered by a single 36 volt Lithium-Ion battery offering excellent performance characteristics and super quick charge times of only one hour.

Completely new for 2009 are the Bosch ALR 900 Electric Lawnraker and Bosch AVR 1100 Electric Verticutter. These aerator-lawn scarifiers are essential to keep your lawn in top condition year after year. For fast and efficient removal of moss and thatch that may have built up at grass root level the Bosch ALR 900 Electric Lawnraker is ideal, carefully lifting unwanted detritus to allow oxygen and nutrients back into your lawn. Serious problem areas where root compaction sits alongside built up thatch may require a more aggressive approach. This is the ideal time to use the Bosch AVR 1100 Electric Verticutter which will penetrate the soil surface cutting and lifting rooted thatch and moss with fourteen well positioned slitting knives.

Tidying up in all of the areas you cannot get your lawnmower has never been easier thanks to the Bosch range of electric and cordless strimmers. Bosch offer four battery powered machines; Lithium-ion technology is provided on the Bosch ART 23 LI and ART 26 LI Grass Trimmers whilst maximum power is available from the 18 volt Ni-Cd driven Bosch ART 23 Accutrim and Bosch ART 26 Accutrim Grass Trimmers. All Bosch cordless strimmers are equipped with a polymer blade offering accurate trimming and low power consumption.

The trimming of garden hedges has never been easier with the introduction of a new range of cordless hedgetrimmers from Bosch. There are four separate models; two 18 volt Lithium-ion hedge cutters, the Bosch AHS 48 LI and Bosch AHS 52 LI, both equipped with Power-Tech anti-stall technology and laser cut, diamond ground blades for a clean cut. For extra long running time choose the Bosch AHS 52 Accu Cordless Hedgecutter; supplied with two 14.4 volt Ni-Cd batteries providing the user with a continuous running time of 110 minutes.

Over recent years many homeowners have taken to shaping and styling small shrubs and bushes grown in pots and kept on patios. This form of domestic topiary has not been missed by the design team at Bosch who have been quick to develop the Bosch Isio range of cordless trimming tools. The complete range is powered by a 3.6 volt Lithium-ion battery and includes the Bosch Isio Cordless Shrub Shear; perfect for shaping small leafed hedges, the Bosch Isio Edging Shear; great for keeping lawn edges neat and tidy, the Bosch Isio Shape and Edge Set which is a combination of the aforementioned tools in one great value for money package. The Bosch Isio Cordless Telescopic Shears which will prevent many a tiresome backache allowing the user to trim edges both vertically and in the horizontal position. To conclude the range of hand-held cordless Bosch tools we have the brand new Bosch Ciso Battery Powered Secateurs capable of 500 cuts per single charge of the 3.6 volt Lithium-ion power-pack.

Once pruning and hedge trimming are complete, most of us will be left with a large amount of debris that needs to be disposed of. The most beneficial way of doing this for both the gardener and the environment is to mulch this material in a garden shredder; thus reducing our impact on landfill sites and making the most of a precious garden commodity. Bosch have introduced some exciting new electrically powered products for 2009 to complement their existing range; two new drum shredders will ensure the quiet mulching of small branches and twigs with both the Bosch AXT 22 D and Bosch AXT 25 D Garden Shredders capable of processing up to 190 kg of material per hour. Top of the range will be the innovative Bosch AXT 23 TC and Bosch AXT 25 TC Garden Shredders with respective 2300 watt and 2500 watt motors; capable of processing up to 230 kg of mixed material per hour due to a special turbine cutting system and neatly packing down to nearly half working size for storage.

When it comes to thoroughly cleaning the outside of your home and garden, Bosch will be leading the way in 2009 with a comprehensive range of power pressure washers, from the light weight Compact Range of Pressure Washers through to the powerful Pro Range of Pressure Washers; all aspects of domestic cleaning are covered. A sure favourite for anyone wishing to purchase a portable, ergonomic high-pressure washer for countless jobs around the home, the Bosch Aquatak GO Pressure Washer with an 1100 watt motor and 100 bar of pressure will help you clean patios, dirty wellington boots, bicycles and countless other day to day objects. If you need increased performance for slightly more effective cleaning the Bosch Aquatak GO Plus Pressure Washer has an increased flow rate of 330 litres an hour. Both washers are supplied with a removable 4 wheel trolley for greater freedom of movement. If speed and ease of use are paramount the Bosch Power Range of pressure washers will perfectly match your needs. The entry level to the range is the Bosch Aquatak 1200 Plus Pressure Washer; with 120 bar of pressure and a flow rate of 390 litres an hour it will cover a multitude of cleaning tasks. Ergonomic design is the hallmark of the new Clic models; with fully retractable ‘Easy-Roll’ automatic winding system for both the high-pressure hose and power cable the Bosch Aquatak Clic 125, Bosch Aquatak Clic 130, Bosch Aquatak Clic 135 and Bosch Aquatak Clic 140 Pressure Washers are destined to be favourites in many a UK household, not least for the motor sizes ranging from 1800 watts to 2300 watts.

Whatever your gardening needs, Bosch will have them covered in 2009. Whether you are maintaining a small town garden, pruning an orchard or cleaning a boat, Bosch will have the appropriate electrical or cordless tool for the job, built with the quality and performance that we all expect from this renowned German manufacturer. Watch this space as the new products are launched on MowDIRECT in the coming weeks. We will be offering some unbeatable deals and fantastic low prices on all the New Bosch Lawn & Garden products for the 2009 season as well as Free Express Delivery to the UK mainland!

The new Hayter R53S and R53A lawnmowers are identical in features and distinguished from one another only by the material of the cutting deck. The R53S Recycling Lawn Mower has a pressed steel deck and is intended to be a functional and high quality product. The cast aluminium deck on the R53A Recycling Lawn Mower builds on the qualities of the steel deck, but offers the additional benefit of a durable, long lasting and rust free material.

The key features shared by the Hayter R53S and R53A Recycling lawn mowers include the choice of recycling, collecting or discharging the grass cuttings. Both models also have a Briggs and Stratton 6.75 ‘Ready Start’ engine with electric key start facility. One of the more innovative features on these recycling mowers is the ‘Sens-a-speed’ variable speed transmission that automatically adjusts to your walking pace – a great idea and unique to Hayter!

The recycling feature on these mulching lawn mowers helps to maintain a healthy and green lawn by re-circulating the grass clippings into a fine mulch and then returning them to the lawn where they rapidly decompose, putting precious nutrients back into the soil. This helps save on chemical forms of fertilizer and so provides an environmental benefit to your garden.

The two new Hayter Recycling mowers will be available from MowDIRECT in February, 2009. Check back soon and visit our page on Hayter Recycling Lawn Mowers where you will find full product details on the R53S and R53A Recyclers as well as the best deals available online with our Fast, Free delivery service and cheapest prices!

Our lawnmower deals include limited special offers on Oleo-Mac aluminium-deck lawnmowers with powerful Briggs or Honda engines – ideal for hard work on large lawns – where you can save over £300 on some models!!! We also have last chance deals on MTD and Victus steel deck mowers with models currently available from just £129.95 whilst stock last! So beat the manufacturers’ price increase and pick up a low price deal from our Petrol Lawnmower Sale now!

Our Ride-on Tractor Sale will offer you huge savings on next year’s prices with some great last chance deals available. If you’re looking for a top-of-the-range model at a knock down price you can save up to £1000 on current stock of our extra-powerful Cub Cadet tractors with Kawasaki engines! Those with smaller budgets will benefit greatly from our Bundle Deals on Lawn Tractors where we are doing some ‘really silly prices’ on attachments when bought with the tractor! We also still have stock of our Tractor Mower for under a Grand - a deal which we’re willing predict will be looked upon with disbelief in a year’s time when the manufacturers’ price increases have come into effect!

If you have overgrowth and long grass to clear, why not check out our Brushcutter Sale where we are offering free gifts on selected models! Out hugely popular Triple Bonus Deal is still available on the Victus VB260 Brushcutter giving you Free Accessories and a Free Extended Guarantee! We’re also still offering on a ‘while stocks last’ basis a Kawasaki powered petrol brushcutter with heavy-duty articulating hedge trimmer attachment for under £300!

Finally it’s that time of year when hedges are due for their end of season trim so you might want to take a look at our Hedge Trimmer Sale where we have ‘trimmed down our prices’ to provide you with some special deals. If you have high hedges to maintain we are offering two fantastic deals on petrol long reach hedge trimmers – £219 for our budget model from Mowerland and £140 off our lightweight pro model at just £319! We also have two limited special offers on hand-held petrol hedge trimmers that are worth a mention before stock dries up – a model from Ryobi for just £149.95 which comes with Free Accessories and a quality lightweight hedgetrimmer from Tanaka on offer at just £179! 

So how does a DR trimmer mower work and for what jobs in the garden might you use it? Unlike a traditional lawn mower, the DR trimmer mower uses a nylon cord rather than a metal blade. This enables it to get right up close to the vegetation without fear of coming into contact with a solid object. DR trimmer mowers are particularly useful therefore for maintaining overgrown areas found around paths and rockeries, along fences and walls and in amongst trees and woody areas. They are also useful for tackling areas generally inaccessible to your normal lawnmower such as on banks and in ditches, pond edges, orchards and areas where the undergrowth is just too thick or the grass too tall for your normal mower to handle.

DR trimmer mowers come in three separate classes of machine – domestic for average home use, professional for heavy-duty domestic or light commercial use and full commercial machines for prolonged use on a day-to-day basis by contractors, councils, hire companies etc.

The DR Sprint trimmer mowers are intended for average domestic use and are the perfect choice for most homeowners looking for this type of machine. They are lightweight and nimble yet powerful enough to tackle even the longest of grass and tallest of weeds. Built to DR’s original patented design, the DR Sprint has all the features you would expect from a DR mower including 14-gauge steel frame, large puncture proof wheels, wide trimmer head to eliminate wrapping and Parallel Trimming Action to allow you to mow neatly along borders.

If you’re looking for a slight step up in specifications and performance, the DR Pro range of trimmer mowers provides you with larger-sized 16″ wheels for even greater manoeuvrability and a lightweight aluminium body to keep the weight down. DR Pro Trimmer Mowers also offer plenty enough power for mowing waist height weeds with ease.

For those seekink a top-of-the-range trimmer mower then the DR Commercial Wheeled Trimmer Mower might just be for you. It has the same lightweight body as the Pro models but comes with a fearsomely powerful commercial grade engine for reliable heavy-duty use. Electric start comes as standard and there is a choice between a push model with large wheels and a power-driven machine which is suitable for uneven ground and hilly terrain up to 20 degrees.

All DR trimmer mowers are currently available at incredible special offer prices and can be ordered from MowDIRECT on overnight delivery with a range of accessories, maintenance kits and replacement nylon cord.

We’re at the time of year when hedges and bushes need to be cut back and if you are looking for a reliable mid-priced petrol hedgetrimmer that is going to last the course, you may well want to check out the two new petrol hedgetrimmers from Alpina. Each model is powered by a high performance Kawasaki engine which has been built for reliable starts and long term use. The two models available differ in design. The first hedgetrimmer has a double-sided blade for cutting in any direction and offers a fast trim over shorter periods. The second Alpina hedgetrimmer model has a larger sized single-sided blade – the type used by professionals – which offers a bigger cut whilst weighing less and so is ideal for working over extended periods of time.

Border areas, grass edges and overgrowth all need to be cut back and maintained during the spring and summer months and Alpina have introduced a new range of brushcutters to help you with the task. Alpina brushcutters, like other products in the new Alpina garden machinery range, offer reliable performance at all times and are able to stand up to heavy-duty use. The range of models on offer means there’s a brushcutter available to suit everybody’s needs, from small scale domestic to large scale professional work. All brushcutters within the range also feature the new Alpina 2-stroke engine which offers easier starts, reduced vibration and lower noise levels.

Also new for 2008 from Alpina is an exciting range of petrol powered lawnmowers which feature either robust steel decks or extra-long lasting aluminium ones which won’t rust and are designed to last up to fifteen to twenty years. Of these latest models, particularly worth a mention are the new Honda-powered steel deck lawnmowers which are very competitively priced and available for next day delivery. As a special offer, all Alpina lawnmowers supplied by MowDIRECT currently come with a free-of-charge mulch plug!

Victus is a new brand on the block offering value for money lawn and garden equipment. Included in the new line-up are quality steel-deck petrol lawnmowers at competitive prices, petrol grass trimmers with free safety-wear and a range of durable petrol and electric chainsaws. Victus powered garden equipment will save you money whilst providing the in-built quality features and decent specifications you are after.

Although new to the UK, Victus lawn and garden equipment does have some manufacturing pedigree behind it. The brand belongs to Emak, one of Europe’s leading garden machinery manufacturers who are based in northern Italy. Emak’s products are sold and distributed world-wide and as well as in-house brands such as Efco and Oleo-Mac, the company manufactures garden machinery for well known brand names such as John Deere.

First up let’s take a look at the new range of petrol lawnmowers from Victus. All models have quality steel decks designed for robustness and durability. The wide range of mowers on offer will provide an option for lawns and gardens of all sizes. Those of you seeking a low price entry level petrol lawnmower will find the Victus VSP44 and VSP48 excellent value for money. If you are looking for an economically priced Honda powered lawnmower, there are three competitively priced models too choose from – all with quality fabric grass catchers. For larger lawns, the VSS53 models have a wide 21″ cut and can tackle areas up to around 2000 square metres.

We have already written in some detail about the new Victus chainsaws range elsewhere on this blog. It’s worth repeating however that we are currently offering free safety wear with all Victus petrol chainsaws. Safety should of course be taken seriously when using any item of garden machinery and particularly so with chainsaws. At MowDIRECT we shall be introducing an extensive range of safety clothing and safety wear in the coming months – so watch out for future announcements!

The short answer is certainly yes. This year we have seen new additions in three important areas where the Hayter line up of lawn mowers had either been underrepresented or completely lacking in products in the past.

For the first time we see Hayter take on board growing concerns about the environment and deliver a new mulching lawn mower which is designed to help reduce the amount of waste you produce in the garden by recycling the grass cuttings. It’s good to see Hayter catching up with some of its rivals who have been pushing this type of lawn mower for many years but surely we could have done with a wider range than just the one model (two if you count the electric start version)? The new Hayter R48 Recycler Lawnmower is a great machine and offers some really neat features such as the ‘on-demand’ recycling system (you can automatically switch to mulching from collection mode which the Hayter R48 also features) and a drive system that automatically adjusts to your walking speed, but with a cutting width of 480 mm and a large petrol engine, this is not lawn mower which is going to suit everybody’s needs. At MowDIRECT we look forward to a broader range of recycling lawn mowers from Hayter with electric and both smaller and larger petrol models becoming available.

The second area in which we see a new and important addition to the 2008 range of Hayter lawnmowers is in hover mowing. In January 2007 Hayter acquired the assets of the Allen Hover Mower Business and this year there has been an expansion of the range with the release of a significant new model. It has been some years now since we’ve had a small-sized petrol hover mower available on the market and many people have been put off by the size and bulk of the larger machines that have been on offer. The launch of the new lightweight Allen XR44 Petrol Hover Mower by Hayter, weighing just 12.5 kg, makes the go anywhere benefits of a petrol hover available again to a much wider cross section of the population. In previous years you may well have had to settle for less powerful electric model with a cord to mow overgrown banks and slopes away from the house – machines really intended for shorter grass on smaller lawns. Where these electric models will have struggled to cope, the new Allen XR44 Petrol Hover Mower will tackle these areas with relative ease. Well done Hayter for this much needed addition.

Finally we see the release of a new Heavy Duty Walk Behind Rotary Mower which Hayter say has been structurally built for professional landscapers and contract gardeners. Hayter has taken a bit of knock in recent years from these very same people for weaknesses in the drive system – now thankfully resolved – on their Harrier 56 range of rear roller lawn mowers which have been widely used for may years by professional gardeners. So will this new mower stand up to the scrutiny of contactors and the daily rigours of professional use? Our guess would be yes as in essence this mower is a Toro product (Toro are an American lawnmower manufacturer and Hayter’s parent company) and has been proven out in the field over a number of years already. Features contractors and professional gardeners will be interested in include the low vibration design allowing for a full eight hours use in a day under current legislation as well as commercial grade Kawasaki engine, heavy-duty deck and strengthened crankshaft to protect against unexpected impacts.