New Rotavator And Cultivator Deals From Garden Equipment Review

Believe it or not we are very near spring! Now is the time to start thing about preparing the ground for spring planting. If you have dug your ground in the autumn then you are one step ahead or even two or three steps ahead, the ground will have benefitted from winter frosts as this helps break down the soil, ready for preperation in the spring. At Garden Equipment Review we have a large range of cultivators to take the hard work out of digging andto help get the perfect seed bed.

We appreciate that for digging flower beds most tillers are to large, however there are a number of very small tillers available now. Perhaps you have always thought of a powered cultivator to be a luxury, however there are now some lightweight cultivators at very reasonable prices. Manufactures are now producing affordable machines for the more occasional user, one such cultivator is the Einhell BMH 33/36 tiller, this cultivator currently sells for £230.00. The Einhell BMH 33/36 Petrol Tiller has a 4.5 HP engine and is ideal for the smaller garden, it comes with a depth gauge and a front wheel for easier handling. If you have a larger garden you should have a look at the Einhell BG-MT 3360LD Cultivator which comes with a powerful six horse power engine.

This machine is powerful enough to tackle a larger allotment, has a wider tilling area and has a solid front wheel and depth gauge, and, as an added feature, the handles collapse for easy storage which means that even with a powerful machine like this you can transport it in the boot of your car.

Again, next day delivery is free, there is a two year manufacturer’s warranty and it comes at an unbeatable price of £299.95.

For the smaller garded it may be worth looking at the the Einhell BG-RT 7530 Electric Tiller, obviously, these tillers do not have the power of a petrol machine, but they can have there use's in the smaller garden. one very useful feature is there ability to turn compost into the flower beds. However, just remember that you do have a trailing power cable, which I have always found to be a hinderence.

The  Einhell BG-RT 7530 Electric Tiller comes with a two year warranty and a special offer price of £79.95, which includes next day delivery.

Have a look at our other rotavators and tillers, if you have a question try posting to our forum, if you have any other questions go here.

New Rotavator And Cultivator Deals From Garden Equipment Review

Lawnmowers, lawnmowers, lawnmowers…Part 1

Posted by: James Williamson

At first, we may think that buying a new lawnmower is an easy task; jumping into the car and popping down to the garden centre may be your first choice or you may prefer to browse and purchase on-line. However, it soon becomes apparent that the choice of machinery on offer nowadays is quite overwhelming and may leave you wondering which way to turn: rear-roller, four-wheel rotary, cylinder mower, electric or petrol, to mulch or not to mulch and so on…Over the next few weeks we’ll attempt to shed some light on which lawn mower will best suit your needs with regards to your budget, the grass conditions at your property and your overall gardening aspirations.

Many people like the idea of having a formal, striped finish to their lawn or grass area, keen to replicate the look of a top quality tennis court or bowling green; this being the case, we will start our series of advice notes by looking at rear roller rotary lawnmowers. The ultra short grass finishes we see at top sporting events is achieved with petrol cylinder mowers that literally shave the grass with a scissor-like action. These machines will be covered in a later blog as they are generally not suitable for most lawn types, requiring a very even top surface to the grass, which is where a rear-roller rotary mower comes into its element. The cutting blade on rotary lawnmowers is usually a rotating metal bar, horizontal to the grass surface that chops the growing grass to a desired height. It is this cutting style that makes a rotary lawn mower suitable for less than perfect lawns. 

 
If your lawn or area of grass has a reasonably even top surface a rear roller rotary machine will be fine. The surface needs to be even to prevent the rear-roller wobbling from side to side so endeavour to check for tree roots or drain covers that may be hidden away; gentle undulations and slopes will not cause a problem. Generally speaking, the smaller the lawn, the smaller the lawnmower needed to maintain it, remembering that tight corners and awkward landscaping will call for extra manoeuvrability. A flat, even lawn of no more than a tennis court in size is the ideal territory for a small 16” petrol rear-roller machine such as the entry level Hayter Spirit 41 Push Rear Roller Mower, aimed at first time buyers or for those on a tight budget. A tough ABS polymer external cover and under deck in combination with an aluminium chassis keeps both the weight and price down. If quality is paramount the more expensive but also more durable 16” Hayter Harrier 41 Push Lawnmower will be your first choice; a powerful Briggs and Stratton Series 650 engine guarantees reliable performance and a full aluminium deck provides corrosion resistant longevity. The excellent 17” Honda HRX 426 QX Self-Propelled Roller Lawnmower has the added benefit of a single speed drive system, useful if your garden contains the odd undulation or gentle slope. Supplied as standard with Honda’s industry leading 7 year domestic use warranty and the Honda 160cc OHC Easy-Start petrol engine, ease of use and peace of mind are never far away.

  
Continuing the theme of small rear-roller rotary mowers with self-drive systems, Hayter also offer the economically priced Hayter Spirit 41 Autodrive Petrol Rear Roller Mower and the Hayter Harrier 41 Autodrive Variable Speed Lawnmower that allows the operator to adjust their groundspeed between 1.5 mph to 3 mph to suit mowing conditions or a particular part of their garden. The highest specification machine in the Harrier 41 stable is the Hayter Harrier 41 Autodrive Electric Start Variable Speed Lawnmower. The key start mechanism works in the same way as that fitted to your car with a small battery mounted onto the mower deck providing an electrical charge, particularly useful if you have a shoulder problem or are perhaps a more mature gardener.  If you’re keen not to use petrol machinery due to the noise or emissions produced, those of you with particularly small grass areas may prefer the 14” Hayter Envoy 36 Electric Push Lawnmower or the slightly larger Hayter Spirit 41 Electric Push Lawnmower, both equipped with top quality induction motors offering quiet yet reliable performance. 

 
At this point we must stress one great advantage that rear-roller lawnmowers have over standard 4-wheel rotary machines and that is their ability to mow right up to the edges of flowerbeds and borders. The front wheels are inset from the outer deck and rear roller, allowing the roller to support the lawnmower when the front wheels are in line with the border edge, however large the machine may be. If you own a medium to large sized garden, maybe up to a tennis court in size, a lawn mower with a 19” cutting width will be a fine choice. Honda produces the fantastic Honda HRX 476 QX Roller Rotary Mower; features to benefit any garden are the extremely durable polymer cutting deck and Roto-stop blade break that lets the operator empty the grass collector without the need to stop the engine. The Hayter Harrier 48 BBC Autodrive Variable Speed Lawnmower also has the blade-break-clutch system as standard, which, alongside the variable speed gearing makes it very easy to transport this lawnmower from different areas of your garden and not have to stop and start the engine. Also in the award-winning Hayter Harrier 48 range are the standard Hayter Harrier 48 Autodrive Variable Speed Lawnmower and the effortlessly easy to start Hayter Harrier 48 Autodrive Electric Start Variable Speed Lawnmower, both supplied with Briggs and Stratton Series 650 petrol engines.

For the commercial user or owner of particularly large areas of grass where a formal finish is desired, both Hayter and Honda offer up some impressive machinery. Powered by the extremely fuel efficient and emission friendly Briggs and Stratton Series 825 petrol engines, the Hayter Harrier 48 Pro and complete Hayter Harrier 56 stable of rear roller lawnmowers come as standard with a full one year commercial warranty, offering professional gardeners and landscapers complete peace of mind with their purchase. The Hayter Harrier 48 Pro also has the benefit of support struts on the handlebars and a front bumper guard. The Hayter Harrier 56 Autodrive Variable Speed Lawnmower, Hayter Harrier 56 Autodrive Electric Start Variable Speed Lawnmower and Hayter Harrier 56 BBC Autodrive Lawnmower also have the advantage of a 3-year domestic use warranty. As with all mowers in the Harrier range, excluding those with the blade break clutch facility, these machines have a lifetime guarantee against the engine crankshaft bending thanks to the unique Hayter Friction Disc.

A guide to large rear-roller lawn mowers wouldn’t be complete without including the near bomb-proof Honda HRH 536 QX Roller Rotary Mower, fully shaft-driven and complete with 1-year commercial warranty and heavy duty gearbox, it has proven itself in the harshest environments for years. Also from Honda and slightly less heavy duty is the Honda HRD 536 QX Roller Rotary Mower, supplied with the unsurpassed Honda 163cc OHV four-stroke petrol engine and 7-year domestic use warranty.
Hopefully our first lawnmower guide of 2010 will give you a little more confidence in making the right choice when looking at rear-roller lawnmowers. Our next entry will look at 4-wheel rotary lawn mowers in more detail.

Lawnmowers, lawnmowers, lawnmowers…Part 1

Promote Your Business On Our Website From Garden Equipment Review

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Promote Your Business On Our Website From Garden Equipment Review

How To Sharpen A Chainsaw By Hand From Garden Equipment Review

Having a sharp blade on a chainsaw not only saves effort and wear on your equipment, but makes using it much easier and more safe. Here are some tips for sharpening your own saw.

Make sure that you have the right size file, common sizes are sizes are 3/16, 5/32 and 7/32 inches in diameter. Idealy, clean the blade with a stiff brush before sharpening.

Check that the teeth have not became chipped, broken, or bent, making them dangerous to use. Most chains have a wear line, once you have reached this point, discard the chain and fit a new chain, otherwise there is a risk it will break while operating your saw.

Ideally secure your chain in an engineers vice, if this is not availabe, either let someone steady the saw or if you are in the field and there is a tree stump or large chunk of wood, make a cut and hold it within the cut.

Find the shortest tooth on the chainsaw and file with the angle of the tooth, file guides are available, if you follow the wear line on the tooth , you should'nt go far wrong. In normal cases providing the chain is not excesivly worn, 2 or 3 strokes of the file should be enough. The file should fit into the tooth precisely, if it does'nt it probably means you have the wrong file size. Sharpen one side of the chain first and then turn the saw around and repeat the process.

Check that the rakers (depth gauge), are at the correct height, the curved hook shaped links between the cutters. if neccesary, file with a flat file.

See video for more information, I would suggest using an engineers vice and depending on experience wearing gloves.

How To Sharpen A Chainsaw By Hand From Garden Equipment Review

Tree Stump Removal, Finding The Root Of The Problem! From Garden Equipment Review.

Once a tree is cut down and removed, the question of what to do with the stump arises. The objective of the stump removal should first be clearly defined. The use of the area after stump removal needs to be assessed, since it may determine the extent of removal operations. Once a live tree is cut down, the roots can still live and the stump can sprout again, depending on the type of tree. In most cases it is best to have the stump removed and start again from scratch, which for example may be replanting a tree or turfing the area.

Removal Methods

Stump Grinding

Stump Grinding is the most efficient way to remove unwanted roots and tree stumps, with today's modern machinery, tree stumps and unwanted roots can be removed efficiently, causing minimum ground disturbance to lawns, flower beds etc. Modern Stump Grinders can tackle any size of stump from a few inches, to the largest stump. Thankfully the days have long gone of digging roots out by hand, struggling with a mattock, axe, fork and spade.

There are many advantages of using a stump grinder for root removals, the main one being the minimal damage caused by these machines, the other big advantage being that the roots are made into small chips that will easily rot down or be composted for use at a later date, so therefore there is nothing to dispose of, no costly skips or paying a contractor to take the wood away.

Stump grinders come in various shapes and sizes, most modern machines are made so they can be taken through most garden or yard gateways, sometimes if access is tight a fence panel can be removed or access via a neighbours garden. A common size of machine is normally between 29" and 35" there are larger machines but they would normally be used on land clearance sites. Stump grinders normally have an approximate maximum depth of fourteen inches, although some of the larger machines will go to a greater depth, although in most cases this will be enough to remove the whole root ball, therefore getting right to the root of the problem!

It is not normally practical to remove all of the roots of a tree. In most cases, the main part of the stump is ground out or dug out, leaving the smaller lateral roots in the ground to decay. The stump should be routed to a depth that will allow the proper function of the area, generally when a stump is ground out, there is very little root ball left, and if there is, there is not normally enough to be a problem.

 
As for finding somebody to remove your stumps, the easiest way is to use a contractor, as they have commercial machines which can do the job quickly and efficiently. The alternative is to hire, this can be expensive and generally the machines are normally smaller, this can also be quite hard work for the inexperienced user, it is also very important to remember safety, at all times, when using these machines. Be sure to get the proper instruction before operating this type of equipment, and read and follow all safety warnings and precautions. Eye protection is required, along with other appropriate safety gear.

When contracting with an arborist or tree service for stump grinding, be sure to specify the depth and the extent of the grinding to be done. Clean up should also be detailed. Determine how much clearing up the contractor is to do, and what will be done with the debris. Some options include piling the debris on the stump site, leveling the area and removing the excess debris, or removal of all debris and backfilling the hole with clean soil. Be sure these details are specified in before the job starts, and the various costs clearly stated.

Decomposition

Other methods of stump removal depend mostly on the chemical decomposition of the wood. If left alone after tree removal, the stump will gradually decay in the ground, from natural fungus and bacteria. This process can take from one to many years, depending on the size of the stump, the species of tree, and the soil conditions. The process of decay can be encouraged by keeping the soil in the area moist. Piling soil or mulch over the stump encourages the decay fungus. The addition of some nitrogen fertilizer will also help speed the process a little. At best, this method may cut the decay time in half.
Commercial products have been marketed to dissolve tree stumps, most of these products claim rapid breakdown of the stump. However, this can still be a very slow process.

Mechanical Digging

The other alternative of course being with a mechanical digger, preferably a tracked machine as this causes less damage and disturbance to the ground, although the damage done by a mechanical digger is still considerable, and can cause considerable expense and valuable time reinstating where the machine has been, and of course in some cases you are left with a very large root ball and lateral roots to dispose of, with today's modern Stump Grinding machinery these tools are almost made obsolete as to regard stump removal.

Hand Digging

Hand digging the stump can be very difficult, even for the stumps of small trees. In this day and age it is not normally practical to dig a stump out by hand, if hand removal is considered, the trunk of the tree should be left as tall as possible, to provide leverage to loosen and break the roots as the digging progresses. Essential tools for hand stump removal are a mattock, axe, spade, fork and determination; I would use the above method as a last resort.

It is not normally practical to remove all of the roots of a tree. In most cases, the main part of the stump is routed or dug out, leaving the smaller lateral roots in the ground to decay. The stump should be routed to a depth that will allow the proper function of the area, generally when a stump is ground out, there is very little root ball left, and if there is, there is not normally enough to be a problem.

Tree Stump Removal, Finding The Root Of The Problem! From Garden Equipment Review.