Usually there reaches a point in October or November when I think I have given the lawn its last mow before the next spring. The grass can get a bit bumpy but it lasts ok until it starts to grow in earnest as the light and warmth returns. This year has so far given us a mild winter, the lawn continues to grow and now has a rufty-tufty look to it. I kept looking at it and tutting a little, but the ground has been very wet in recent days so mowing was not really an option.
Then on twitter my friend the Cynical Gardener said that she had mowed the lawn. At the moment I was reading this I was standing on my lawn and thinking it was more bumpy looking than I would usually like for this time of year. Now I have written frequently that I am not a lawn-fanatic, I do not primp and preen it; it gets mowed usually once a fortnight, I sometimes dig out the odd weed, but otherwise it fends for itself. It is also known that I am easily led.....
I waited a couple more days, we had some frost but then the temperature climbed a few degrees again. I decided that I would give the lawns a trim; I whispered: 'just a little off the top'.
I cannot mow all the lawns as I grow a lot of bulbs in the front side lawn, the Dancing Lawn and there are many many snowdrops in the Wild Garden. So this was always going to be a fairly quick job.
The driveway was mowed, there is virtually no soil yet the grass grows well and was probably most in need in this area.
Then the Formal Lawn was trimmed. I did use a low setting so it did just skim off the longer areas.
Then it was done and I was happy with the results. I cannot remember when I last mowed the lawns in January. The grass needed mowing and now it is better. It should get through the rest of the winter now but if it needs mowing again then it will be done.
There are few real rules in the garden and we have to work alongside the seasons as they play out each year.
For those of you who are interested my lawn mower is a Stihl RMA 339c which I reviewed for them in April 2018.
