Please help me, I've never done any gardening!

[midnightblue12]

Ok so I am a complete newbie. Never in my life have I used a lawn mower... 🙈

I live in a flat and we have a nice sized communal garden. The council are responsible for the garden but they just don't keep up with it.
The lawn is probably about 3.5 x 2m. The grass downs look on good keep, lots of dandelions and other weeds
So I've been ringing and ringing the council and no joy. They told me to take some scissors out to the lawn in the meantime 😵‍💫

I really want to make use of the garden as I have 2 young children who would love to play in it in the summer!

What should o consider getting? Manual lawn mower? I live first floor so I won't be able to use the electricity and have minimal storage!

Any ideas would be so greatly appreciated!

How about renting a lawnmower for the day?

Sounds like a manual lawnmower is a good idea. You can get ones with folding handles and collapsible bags to make storing it a bit easier. Still a pain that it falls on you to sort it out though.

I got a manual lawnmower when I was in a similar situation to you. They’re really easy to use and don’t cost much

Could you ask the ground floor tenant if they'd plug in a a mower?
Keep it simple, grass cut, some
nice colourful tubs; maybe half whisky barrels, put in a mix of summer and spring bulbs which is low maintenance.
Look on freecycle:'/ Marketplace for a table set/picnic table.

You can get battery powered lawn mowers but that's an outlay of money. The other problem is storing the equipment.
I wonder if you would be better off subbing out the job. A professional firm will be more expensive than a local handyman or enterprising teenager but you need to do a risk assessment (e.g. who is liable if the teenager decides to mow his toes off; what is the policy on chemicals?)
Get the neighbours on board and spread the cost amongst you.

Guinea pigs! The children will love them too!
https://www.bhg.com.au/media/7936/161201_guinea_pig_lawn_mower.jpg?width=482&height=0&mode=crop&center=0.5,0.5