Vital lawn mowing safety tips
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Lawns can be particularly sensitive to the weather, requiring timely care to keep them evergreen. While winter is out of season for mowing the lawn, the transition between February and March can be a grey area for gardeners. Cutting the grass too early could wreak havoc on its growth throughout the warmer months, but why could now be the perfect time to begin mowing your lawn again? Express.co.uk has your guide to cutting the grass correctly ahead of spring.
When to mow your lawn
Looking after your lawn means mowing differently throughout the year.
While some months require more frequent cutting, the slow winter season means that mowing your lawn isn’t always necessary.
With just one week until March arrives, the late winter weather is already looking up – but what does it mean for your grass?
Mowing season is drawing closer, with the prime grass cutting period kicking off in March.
As lawns across Britain emerge from their dormant growing period, fresh blades are beginning to sprout, leaving garden grass looking bushy and overgrown.
While February is usually too early to begin mowing the lawn, milder temperatures and a lack of frost have set the growing season off early for much of the UK.
The Royal Horticultural Society said: “Mowing is usually not necessary, unless the weather is mild and the grass is still growing”.
How often should you cut the grass?
As we reach the transition period between winter and spring, it’s important to get your grass just right to encourage new growth while maintaining the length of your lawn.
If you do decide to begin cutting your grass right now, the RHS recommends mowing sparingly until the spring weather sets in.
Once the transition between the two seasons comes to a clear end, you should up your mowing routine to once a week.
Keeping your grass lightly cut is the easiest way to keep it looking good while stimulating fresh growth for a luscious summer lawn.
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How to mow the lawn in February
While the mild weather is good news for growing your lawn, over-cutting could quickly set you back weeks when it comes to raising rich, green growth.
To cut your grass correctly in the last weeks of winter, you should:
- Mow on a high cut setting
- Mow on a warmer, sunny day
- Avoid mowing after it has rained
- Avoid mowing in drying winds
For the first mowing in spring, you should use a high cut setting which can be gradually reduced as the temperature increases.
Reduce the height to one quarter or one half of an inch if you have a fine lawn, and further to one and a half inches for ordinary or ornamental lawns.
The RHS recommends avoiding “excessively close mowing” as it can weaken the grass and encourage shallow rooting.
Keep the lawn a little longer until summer arrives to prevent drought, weeds and moss threatening the health of your lawn.
As a general rule, you should never remove more than one-third of the lead shoots at anyone time – you could end up with a bare, loose lawn.
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