16 December 2008

It really won't mow itself - Where to get the tools?

| johnboy
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There’s no shortage of emos around here, and both Kevin Rudd and Barack Obama have been elected.

Despite all this the lawn stubbornly refuses to mow itself. The landlord is getting antsy and the housemates can offer no guarantees that nasty things do not lurk in the tall grass.

So I need a brush-cutter, a petrol one.

Any recommendations on where to hire one?

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How about endangered grassland threatened by increased flight path noise pollution.

Why not leave it as it is and use it as a drop off point for Revolve.

Don’t buy anything Bosch. IIRC they have just retrenched a couple of hundred Aussie employees. Make Bosch suffer.

Aussie Junk and Revolve are great for getting stuff cheap. Canberrans chuck out too much good stuff imho. That said, my backyard looks like that and I am the landlord. My mower has died. Where can I get it fixed for a very cheap price? Anyone?

tylersmayhem1:01 pm 17 Dec 08

So THAT’S where you’ve been JB?! I could tell this jet was flying without a pilot over the last little while!

My ex-housemate used a Samurai sword when the lawn got too out of hand.

Thanks all, in the end a friend has lent me a Ryobi brushcutter which has done a sterling job.

half the job done today, will hack the other half tomorrow.

tylersmayhem11:53 am 17 Dec 08

Can I just say…don’t buy Bosch – anything! I’ve never had much luck with Bosch stuff, and most recently I bought a sander out of desperation and it’s busted after only a few hours of use! Yes, it has a 2 year warranty, but it needs to be returned to the factory – and that ain’t gonna help me get my project finished in time for Christmas.

Regardless, I hate having to return something which is pretty much brand new, it sucks!

Hehehehe good one. How about a few crop circles??

Have yourself a mini Glastonbury festival and get everyone to pitch their tents on the grass.

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy10:26 am 17 Dec 08

God , if i were the landlord i’d be spewing.

Why? If the tenant lets it get this way, recover the cost of fixing it from the bond and/or your landlord’s insurance as they leave. And as long as the tenant is paying the rent on time, who really cares? It’s not like you have to live there!

You could host the next Backyard Bachanalia and have it trampled into submission.

tylersmayhem9:18 am 17 Dec 08

I bought a petrol GMC brush cutter a couple of years ago for $89, and I think they are still the same price.

Might be hard at the moment as GMC are in receivership apparently. So I’d avoid buying anything GMC until they work out what they are doing. Otherwise, they sell pretty good cheap kit.

I’d recommend getting a decent petrol jobby JB.. Something like a Stihl for $250 – $299 for the 2 bottom level ones. At least you know you won’t have any trouble with it half way through, or in a years time even.

In an old place I rented, grass would grow really high down the side of the house. One day I went and borrowed a whipper snipper, cut it down as much as I could and bought a couple of bottles of zero and doused the whole area. It didn’t start growing back until about a year later. Highly reccommended.

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy9:04 am 17 Dec 08

It’s not THAT bad! I’ve mowed worse in my time.

Walk around and pick up the obvious items, then call Jim’s Mowing and let them take care of the rest. Easy.

Six goats would clean the yard in a day. They would also eat all your trees branches three feet off the ground. They especially love roses.

You could also sign up to the Freecycle Canberra email list and pick yourself up a free one to keep if someone happens to be offering one.

I have seen a few lately.

What’s so precious there that a goat could do any damage? The rent a goat idea is a good one. I reckon a lot of people would like to borrow a goat, and a peg and tether.

BTW – that looks pretty lame compared to my lawn when I got back from OS. Did somebody say 4ft weeds?

I got my mower AND whipper snipper from Aussie Junk, funnily enough the whipper snipper looked to be hidden so I un hid it in my boot for $20 – and some fuel line from the junk boxes near the roller door.

Got my mower for $30 from there , pretty much new VICTA, less than 2 summers old by the looks of the conrod and bore. Just had to transplant the electricals from my old mower – paint on a new head gasket with permatex aviation sealant and new spunk plunk. Starts first go now..

JB – let me know if you do not get a solution, I could come to some arrangement with you I am sure.

yes, just test first. I saw a guy out there one day starting a lawnmower – he got it for $20.

Do people really throw out working ones?

go out to Aussie Junk and see what you can get

realityskin said :

God , if i were the landlord i’d be spewing.

I only just moved in!

Vic Bitterman5:45 pm 16 Dec 08

Buy a cheap whipper snipper from Bunnings and put a brushcutter head on it. It may tax the engine slightly and take it a while to spin up, but heaps cheaer than buying a brushcutter up front.

God , if i were the landlord i’d be spewing.

Holden Caulfield3:50 pm 16 Dec 08

I’ve got a swiss army knife that would be good for this. Let me know if you’d like to borrow it.

johnboy said :

Just put a mower on high and mow it, then put it lower, and mow it again…

Not with all the strange bits of metal and hard plastic hiding out there.

I always do a walk around first, picking up or moving things that would damage the blades or me.

A year after the last sheep died the sheep areas looked a lot like the above photo but lusher. I have a battered flymower, I just held it over the high weeds and let it eat its way down. The barer areas let me get momentum enough to swing it into denser areas and nibble away at them. I’d pull out the tall prickly weeds because they’ve got very shallow roots and it’s not worth the hassle mowing them.

Honestly if you need anything more than a standard lawn mower for that you’re a bigger girl than me, and I’m a chick!

Ha, Im in the same boat.
Its mostly the weeds though, They stick up and cause all manner of unsightlyness.

Been meaning to take a trip out to a hardware store like bunnings or the such.
As there are none i know of in the nearby city area, i hiring a guy to do it means i have to hire him to do it again later.

JB,

we have a ride on if you need one. fling me an email.

I bought a petrol GMC brush cutter a couple of years ago for $89, and I think they are still the same price. Take you ages to mow that lot though.

In my experience goats can be relied upon to consume that which you would rather they did not.

there’s a house in hackett (or used to be – havent been there in a while) that always had some sheep out the front. see if you can borrow them.

This guy has already considered it, and there appear to be considerable obstacles to the idea.

i use jim’s mowing. all the woes of petrol, repairing lawnmowers that have hit a kids toy, etc, etc, are not mine.

the cost per week for a mow is cheaper than hiring a brush cutter, it seems.

sammy that is an awesome idea! much better for the environment too!

How about a goat? I’ve seriously considered a goat hire business where I rock up to your house and loan you a goat for a week to eat all your weeds.

Feral Field ?

A light spray with roundup will surely cramp its style?

> Despite all this the lawn stubbornly refuses to mow itself.

Bit of a stretch calling that patch of weeds “lawn” JB! 🙂

Burn it. If anyone complains just tell them you had a lightning strike in your back yard.

Kennards will hit you for about $90 for a scrub cutter for a day.

Bribe a gardening friend with beer or you could contact TAMS and tell them you have sown the yard with Mexican Feather Grass.

johnboy said :

Just put a mower on high and mow it, then put it lower, and mow it again…

Not with all the strange bits of metal and hard plastic hiding out there.

Pay a teenager to do it, and be sure to get him/her to sign a waiver.

Just put a mower on high and mow it, then put it lower, and mow it again…

Not with all the strange bits of metal and hard plastic hiding out there.

Glypho is cheaper, just poison it.

go to kennards.

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