Lawns - first cut of the year

[Furries]

Anyone else not done their first cut yet? It’s been so blooming wet, I’ve still not done mine.

It doesn’t look too bad, but it’s not as tidy as I’d like it to be. Though I still admire the resilience of grass. Last summer it looked like straw. I would never waste water on watering my lawn, it’s amazing how it bounces back.

We have a robot mower so unless snow is on the ground, it gets cut. He does come in if it is raining until 2 hours after it stops raining though.

Ours was so long a being lazy put off doing the last cut last year and then it became too wet, so it never got what should have been the last cut! We had a fairly dry day on Monday so I wet over it with the strimmer in hope that it will make it much easier to mow when we eventually have a proper dry day. It doesn't look great but looks better than it did!

Haven’t cut yet. It’s only just started growing after winter, and is full of lovely low purple and yellow flowers. I dont tend to cut until end of April. Then leave most of May, cut again and by then it’s so dry where we live we cut as little as possible over the summer. When I do mow I mow on the highest setting.

We have a stepping stone path too and we mow just along the path and a thin border round the edge of the lawn which makes the unmown grass look MUCH neater.

Mine’s full of wild daffodils and now cowslips and fritillaries, so I can’t cut it.

If it were up to me I wouldn't have a lawn at all but my husband insists on keeping it. I agree with you that an unmown lawn looks a bit messy but honestly it will dry eventually and you will be able to mow it, so I wouldn't give yourself the hassle of trying to find a petrol mower or gardener to do it. A lot of our ideas about lawn care have been ingrained in us by agrochemical companies pushing an unattainable ideal lawn standard in order to shift more product. You can put a hell of a lot of effort and chemicals into a lawn but it will still not look that good in winter unless you can keep off it.

You could consider mowing a border or a path but keeping the rest long for nature. Unmown grass looks a hell of a lot neater surrounded by a strip of mown grass. and is better for nature. Even keeping it slightly longer than the typical manicured lawn will help and also make the grass more resilient in either drought or waterlogging.

At least I’m not alone! Am sat here watching the rain pelting the windows (again!) and thinking that at least all my shrubs are being properly watered.

I’ve got a battery-powered lawnmower. Am not a fan of petrol mowers and my garden is too big to be dragging an electric cord around with me.

I don’t do no-mow May. Once it gets growing properly, most of my lawn grows really fast and it’s really thick - it can be a bugger to cut and it’s hard work. I don’t feel too bad as I’m pretty much surrounded by fields, so plenty of wildlife habitat.

Fingers crossed for a couple of consecutive dry days!

Nope and I'm in the SE. Have a north facing garden though. There was an opportunity last Monday but I couldn't be arsed!

I’ve done our, tiny, lawn about 4 times now. Any time it’s been dry 2 days on the trot. Never water it ever.

Ours is far too wet at the minute. IT Kia the lawnmower packed in. I'm hoping by Easter Monday there will have been a spell of dry weather enough to do it. I'll strim it a bit first though.

Nope the only day I thought I could do it in the last two weeks e.g. when the wind dried it and it wasn't raining, I couldn't be bothered.

I don't do No Mow May as last year I ended up not mowing it from the end of June until October when the grass grew back again.

Thanks @deplorabelle that’s helpful. I may leave a section in May & experiment a bit then!

We had a spate of dry days a few weeks ago and we did our first cut then. And then again another two dry days this week and lovely mild temp yesterday so I did the 2nd cut yesterday but left the mulcher in so the cuttings were left on the lawn. I edged it with the strimmer and hoovered up the mess and it looked beautiful. Torrential rain all day today so I timed that to perfection!

I did my first cut on Tues. It was dry, and bin day was Weds!

For No Mow May, I also mowed paths through to the shed, then across to the seating, and then a border around some of the edge. It made SUCH a difference to how near it looked (and to how practical it was), as it just made it look entirely deliberate rather than neglected.

It's not been dry enough yet

We cut scarified & put down the grass seed 3 weeks ago .
Grass looks good at the moment .
south West garden .

Did mine the other week and already needs doing again. We've got a few days of sunshine forecast for next week so will hopefully get it done then!

First cut on Monday when there was enough of a break in the rain for it to dry out.

Now it needs cutting again!

Not cut yet, it's veered from too cold to too wet. I'll be squelching into the lawn for days unless the sun comes out with some good drying days. The grass verges around the corner had puddles on top of them yesterday, and the poor earth worms waterlogged out onto the pavement.

I tend to do my first cut as a long cut then short cut and scarify the worst of the moss out. In the summer, I keep the grass longer if hot dry periods are looking likely. I've been known to mow around daisies, and there's a lovely wild primrose to dodge.
I did get the last laugh a few years ago as BiL puts a lot of work into an immaculate, pristine rectangle of lawn that's tightly clipped and treated into submission... it turns out that it's very easily scorched to death by drought, and it had to be re-turfed. My slapdash, more natural ways means that mine's one of the longest to stay green and healthy in hot, dry spells.

I sometimes mow round the daisies too.

The little village green is opposite my house. It’s currently very waterlogged and now looks more like we have a village pond 🤣🦆

We did mow along the paths in the end but it didn't improve the look of it, the cats still didn't like it either. Our garden is pretty small and while I do keep it pretty informal this was a step too far as it made it feel much smaller, claustrophobic and less cared for. I prioritise insect friendly planting both at home and on my allotment and never use chemicals so I think cutting the grass is a reasonable compromise.

I don’t feel too bad as I’m pretty much surrounded by fields, so plenty of wildlife habitat. Agricultural land isn’t always great for wildlife. That’s one reason the contribution gardens can make is so important.

it turns out that it's very easily scorched to death by drought, and it had to be re-turfed. It usually grows back even without re-turfing

I have been looking back at photos from this time last year, the weather was so different, warm and sunny - I was off work with covid and spent the whole time in the garden. While we didn't do No Mow May like the year before, we did let a patch at the back of the garden which gets full of dandelions completely alone till they had finished, I used to deadhead them all to stop them seeding but then found out how good they are for insects and deadheading is a losing battle anyway. So I'll do that again this year and just cut the main lawn.

I managed a first cut last Saturday. It's been too wet since to do another. I've been doing other jobs like cleaning down furniture and patios while the ground is wet anyway.

The plants are just starting to open up first leaves and spring flowers are out so it's starting to look pretty.

I cut mine one day last week, it was so long, doesn’t look much better now looks like I cut it with a knife and fork. I’ve ordered a new mower blade and will try again later this week ! Did tidy the shed though so all is not lost.