The internet is a wonderful thing. For some people it’s made it incredibly easy to watch films on Netflix. For others, Amazon has saved countless trips to the mall. Some people are gaming addicts, playing against people on the other side of the world.

Virtually all of us recognise the web as the world’s largest encyclopaedia, a huge database of everything, and you’re hard pressed to find a subject where there’s not information freely available. Of course, in many cases you have to weigh up the accuracy of the information you’re reading, but assuming you’re not teaching yourself to be a heart or brain surgeon, it’s unlikely to be a life or death situation if you put your faith into the wrong site.

Google guide us across the vast swathes of information on the web, with their huge database of every nook and cranny of the information superhighway. Whether you’re heading for your bank’s website, checking out the top news stories or looking for inspiration for a family day out, our trusty friend Google is always there to lend a hand.

That’s why rather than give you our own recommendations about the best petrol lawnmowers on the market, we turn to search engines to find out what they think. Thanks to a vast array of review websites, you can find all manor of opinions, experiences and little known features on these sites, and they’re often written by geeks that really know their stuff. Look past sites like the big newspapers, as they tend to be fairly scarce on detail – looking up these human product guides is where you’ll really find the golden nuggets to help you select the top products.

It goes a bit deeper than that, though. There are fairly well known websites like Lawn Mower Hut, who have a huge amount of mowers on their site, but they don’t really specialise in one specific type. You can delve in a lot further, even to the point that there are only a few models to choose from. A great example is SelfPropelledPetrolLawnMower.com, who have narrowed their field of expertise right down to mowers that are not only run on petrol, but also use their motor to drive themselves along. That’s a fairly specific market, but one that covers the needs of almost every buyer you can think of. Why wouldn’t you want a mower that makes things really easy – the only reason I can think of is cost as they can be a little bit more expensive than their inferior rivals.

By placing a little trust in these sites, you can get a real feel for which models they all agree on as the top ones on the market. You’ll generally find that there is a lot of agreement in their top picks, and even where there is a difference of opinion you’ll be able to compare notes about why. You can do a quick google search to find them, just search for your lawnmowers review to find the best cheap petrol lawnmower for your needs!

It’s spring, will soon be summer, and it’s time for your young adults in the house to learn the basics of landscaping which really means it’s time for them to learn how to use the lawn mower. Experience counts in the world of using a lawn mower, as it does in most things. Make sure before you send the kids out into the yard, that they can see the different obstacles of driving or pushing the mower on the lawn. Safety issues are paramount, but so is taking care of it, so you’ll not have to replace it, incurring more of a drain on your time and wallet.

The machine has a rough life as it is, and new (junior) caretakers need to be taken kerbside, and shown the big picture of caring for your lawn. Next, go around the lawn and point out the specifics of danger points where the lawn mower and its blade can be damaged. In fact, in might be a good idea draw a rough picture layout of the yard, and mark the different places to look out for while you’re walking.

There are a lot of places where damage can occur. The blade rotating at a high speed doesn’t leave much time to react to unexpected situations. In fact damage happens to the most experienced users, and it’s certainly true for new barbers of the lawn. Be patient when teaching the children about how to use the lawn mower on the first few times of cutting the lawn.

A concrete driveway culvert is one place where both the blade and the lawn mower can be damaged if not handled properly. If your driveway is covered in gravel it can wash away exposing the top and edging of the pipe. Also, if your yard has metal fencing, the bottom of it can become bent outward on to the lawn. Even the edging of a paved driveway or pavement can wear away at the lawn mower too.

Another place where the blade can become bent is on tree roots. As you’ll see on roadsides across the UK, trees can have huge surface ground roots, like the ones that destroy pavements over the years. Often it only takes a couple of times to run over a tree root system like this to completely bend, or break a lawn mower blade in half. If you live in a rural area with a septic clean out vent remember to tell them about shearing off the cap at ground level too. Metal manhole covers are another way a lawn mower can be damaged.

Finally, before the kids get to using it the first few times, help them look for other new types of danger to the lawn mower. Then just sit back and take a breather while someone else does the work for once.

If you do get any accidents resulting in damage, know how best to source lawn mower parts.

Whether you own a new ride-on lawnmower or a used one, sooner or later you will need to start thinking about what you need to do to keep your mower maintained in top condition. Of course, you can always just take your mower down to your garage and have it looked at. But then, you’ll never know how good a job they are doing. It’s always a good idea to learn a little yourself about all the expensive things you own that might need repair. You’ll save money in the long run that way. Let’s run down all the basic lawnmower parts, and see how you might need to maintain them.

It’s easy to learn about your lawnmower parts because in effect, a lawnmower is just a smaller version of your car. And surely, you are quite familiar with how things go there.

At the centre of it all, the engine is the most important part of your lawnmower. Of course, this isn’t V6 or anything like that. You have a basic two cylinder set up, and it usually puts out something like 10 or 20 horsepower. The doesn’t sound a lot, but it’s more than enough to attack blades of grass. If you have a really small ride on system, that could have nothing more complicated than a single cylinder engine. You’ll make your engine last longer if you buy an engine size that’s a good fit for your lawn.

Your engine spins the cutting blades in the cutting deck. Now there are two kinds of cutting actions that you’ll see. The most basic cutting actions use rotary blades. These just spin away and tear up any grass that it comes across. These aren’t such a sophisticated system. The other, more sophisticated way of course is the flailing method. This is where the system uses a kitchen knife like method – pressing all vegetation that comes by right up against sharp blade.

And then finally, there’s the safety system – the brakes and the engine cut-off that makes sure that when there’s no one actually there, the more doesn’t just move around on its own.

Whatever lawnmower parts you should ever need to replace, make sure that they aren’t covered under warranty first. You don’t want to mess with anything that could be covered for free.

There’s a large market out there for used lawnmower parts. While these can certainly save you money, they could also mean quite a lot of hassle is those parts aren’t exactly the right kind or in the best shape. Particularly with the cheaper parts, buying second had can quickly become a false economy.

In general, going unbranded – with generic lawnmower parts – isn’t a good idea either. Not only can you void your warranty this way, you can never be sure that they are a perfect fit. They can end up throwing the whole system off balance.