‘Mowvember’: Still Time To Carefully Cut Your Grass!

Among the most commonly-asked questions by GreenThumb customers to our lawn operatives in November and December, is: “Am I still OK to cut our grass?” Well, the simple answer is “Yes!”

When the British weather gets greyer, wetter and colder – with overnight frosts appearing more regularly everywhere and more severely in some areas – we can tend to forget about our gardens.

But on warmer and drier days, an important lawn care job is carefully cutting the grass – especially while it is still growing – after removing excess fallen leaves which could go matted and mouldy.

Given the UK’s weather patterns of record-breaking milder autumns and winters, when the ground temperature remains above 5 degrees, your grass will continue to grow. We advise cutting it to keep it tidy, which will also collect or shred leaves.

Ground Conditions

We also advise however, only mowing when the ground conditions are suitable. Avoid cutting on a day when the ground is waterlogged or frozen, the grass is very wet, or a heavy frost is expected or present.

Wait until later in the day when any dew or frost on the lawn has dried, or postpone mowing to another day. Cutting in the wrong conditions can damage the turf and compact the soil.

Vitally, we emphasise making sure of two things: that, whatever type of mower you or your gardener use – apart from a cylinder one which is a real struggle in winter – the blade is sharp; and only to cut off the top quarter of grass plants.

Cutting Tips

We suggest keeping the lawn cut to about 25mm (1”). This should be increased to at least 50mm (2”) during dry spells. Cutting to this length is ideal if you are having any other treatments this winter to maintain the grass’ condition.

Never remove more than 1/4 of the grass blade length at any one time. Healthy grass can survive an occasional close cut, but repeatedly scalping can produce a patchy, brown lawn with several harmful side-effects. Such harm includes injuring new growth and increased vulnerability to weeds and disease.

Also remember that any dry and shady areas under trees may need less frequent mowing than areas in full sun with good moisture levels.

As well as clearing leaves and careful mowing, you can help your lawn make it through its winter ‘hibernation’ with three other treatments: aeration, scarification and our autumn-winter feed.

Other treatments

Aeration with our special machine ventilates the soil/roots, increasing the amount of air, water and nutrients reaching the roots. Machine scarification vigorously reduces thatch – a layer of dead grass and other debris – where moss loves to grow. Both can lay on top of new grass growth and smother it.

Once this detritus is removed, between now and March is the best time for us to apply autumn feed. This encourages grass hardiness, while iron sulphate controls moss by desiccation.

Let GreenThumb give your lawn an early-winter treat, and you’ll be rewarded with healthy grass next spring for everyone to enjoy once more!

Visit https://www.greenthumb.co.uk/measure now where you can measure your lawn online for treatment; then contact your local GreenThumb branch to book our professional and cost-effective service...