Tim Kaye- Allett Stirling Owner - Allett User Stories
Tell us a bit about yourself/ job/where your love of lawncare came from
I am an assistant greenkeeper at High Post Golf Club in Wiltshire just outside Salisbury. I joined the club in April 2018 starting as a seasonal greenkeeper which led to me being kept on and taken on as an apprentice in 2019 completing the apprenticeship in 2021. I am based in a small town not far from Salisbury and about 10 minutes from the golf course. At home I have a fairly large garden with between 700 and 800 square metres of lawn with some room for expansion. Most of my free time is spent in the garden either working on the lawn, clearance/renovation projects reclaiming areas from scrub making way for lawn extensions, flower and wildflower areas. Some of my earliest memories of lawncare are from a young age helping my grandparents with their garden which was mainly lawn with a vegetable plot at the back eventually leading to me helping neighbours as well before moving to Wiltshire where my neighbour at the time asked me to help with his lawn. When not working on the garden I love sitting peacefully out there enjoying the wildlife and listening to the birdsong.
Tell me a bit about your lawn journey so far? What size is it? Was it a project from scratch? What seed do you use etc
The lawn is split into different sections with two areas at the front of the house, and the rest as a large section at the back narrowing as it meets the property boundary. Currently there is between 700 and 800 square metres with plans to expand as some self established scrub areas are cleared which has been an ongoing process over the last few years. The lawn was pre established when we inherited the house although at the time the lawn area was smaller and more moss and thatch than it was grass but with regular renovations, aeration, scarification and overseeding I have bought it back to primarily grass although with wetter conditions experienced during recent winters I find in places moss tends to creep back in but doesn’t last long once conditions improve. In terms of seed I mainly use a mix of creeping fescues and perennial ryegrass although I have a small area where I’m creating a small putting green and include some brown top bentgrass in the mix as well. In terms of fertiliser I tend to use organic products such as mo bactor as it is a pet friendly product and also helps break down moss. In terms of height I have some areas that I maintain at 25mm or thereabouts year round, the main back lawn I have around the 13/15mm mark in summer and raise to 20mm in the winter and the putting green I maintain around 5/6mm year round.
What made you purchase the Allett Stirling? What are your thoughts on it? What are your favourite features and why? What additional cartridges do you have and what are your thoughts on them?
At the time the initial promotion about the reveal of the Stirling I was running a Liberty 43 alongside my rotary machine and with certain tasks such as scarification when I wanted to do a deeper more aggressive job I found the height settings slightly restrictive on the Liberty and often bought my petrol scarifier out of the shed for these times. I was also interested in the EGO tool line up but didn’t want to be in a position of having various amounts of different batteries ad chargers about so seeing the Stirling and its features piqued my interest. After studying all of the info available and watching the promo vids I decided to sell the Liberty on and upgrade to the Stirling whilst retaining the majority of the cartridges I already had and convert them to fit the Stirling. Overall I’m very pleased and impressed with the Stirling and love its ease of use, fast cartridge change and the ability to adjust the travel speed without affecting the reel speed. I currently have all but the aerator cartridge for my machine and love being able to interchange between mowing and other cultural practices to maintain the lawn. If I had to name anything id like to see as additional accessories bought out it would be a sorrel roller aerator cartridge, a rear roller scraper as in winter months I find that I get a lot of wormcasts sticking and building up despite my best efforts to clear them and a front mounted brush to enable brushing and cutting in one activity which is something I’ve picked up from work. The Stirling is a game changer and so easy to operate, set up and adjust I cant fault it and would recommend to anyone considering it or looking for a cylinder or cartridge system machine.
Why did you go for battery power, what are your thoughts on it and are you pleased with the runtime of the batteries?
I was already running a battery Liberty 43 machine as previously mentioned but my main thoughts were that I live in a quiet road and due to work don’t always have time to mow or do other tasks until late afternoon/ early evening time when running petrol machinery might disturb the neighbours. I was also aware that e10 fuel was being introduced and that it could be potentially harmful for small engine equipment which could lead to costly repairs. I enjoy using battery powered equipment ad have almost swapped most of my equipment for battery powered alternatives from the EGO range so that the batteries from the Stirling can be interchanged. In terms of the runtime I have a number of the batteries in different sizes but am quite impressed on what can be achieved on a single charge although if I’m doing more than mowing its nice to have spare batteries ready to swap out if needed. I'd highly recommend going to battery tools if anyone was considering it as it's so simple to use, store and has less to go wrong with it compared to traditional petrol machines although I do appreciate petrol machines do still have a place and have a few bits which I still use from time to time myself mainly if I need to get something done and the weather is less favourable.
Have you noticed a difference in your lawn since using the Stirling and would you recommend it to others?
I'd certainly say where the Stirling is heavier than the Liberty I notice a definite difference in definition and quality of cut where the height can be set more accurately with the height system for lower cutting heights. Overall I'd say I’m more than happy with the Stirling and would recommend it to anyone considering purchasing it as its an overall great machine and easy to use.