Alan Titchmarsh has been sharing his top lawn care tips to help gardeners achieve a “greener” and “thicker” lawn in May, and it’s all about how often you should mow it
When it comes to how often to mow your lawn, Alan suggested mowing it at least once a fortnight(Image: Galina Zhigalova via Getty Images)
Gardening expert, broadcaster and author Alan Titchmarsh, 77, is widely recognised for presenting numerous garden programmes throughout his career. More recently, however, he’s turned to YouTube to share his gardening tips. Through his channel, Gardening with Alan Titchmarsh, the seasoned gardener offers advice on tackling typical gardening tasks all year round.
In recent weeks, Alan has been working on a brand new garden and documenting his vision for the area. In his most recent upload, the gardening guru revealed his secrets for achieving an immaculate lawn. Lawns serve as the focal point in most gardens and appear at their finest when they’re lush green and neatly manicured. Yet, following months of harsh, damp conditions, lawns can begin to appear neglected and tired, resulting in bare patches and moss growth.
Throughout the video, Alan demonstrated proper mowing techniques, how to scarify lawns and adjust your mower’s cutting height. Towards the conclusion, the gardening expert offered several straightforward suggestions to help gardeners cultivate a “greener” lawn.
Among Alan’s initial recommendations was avoiding cutting too short. He suggests adjusting your mower’s cutting height to one inch during summer, and extending it to one and a half inches in particularly warm conditions.
He explained: “The longer the grass blades, the greener the lawn will stay. Once it gets really hot and dry and rain isn’t forthcoming, the lawn will start to go brown. Never water your lawn. It will recover very quickly in a shower of rain.”
When it comes to lawn maintenance frequency, Alan advised cutting the grass at least once every two weeks, though for those seeking a “really good thick lawn”, weekly mowing is the way forward, reports the Express.
That said, this schedule only applies during mild weather with adequate sunshine and rainfall to sustain grass growth. During hot, dry spells, mowing should be reduced to fortnightly intervals, leaving more length on the grass.
Throughout May, numerous gardeners champion ‘no-mow May’ as a means of supporting bees, butterflies and other pollinating insects.
Alan, however, suggests leaving a designated section completely uncut for a couple of months as an alternative approach.
“[It’s] far better to mow constantly through the year, but to leave longer areas that are unmown. And if you’re not mowing them, leave them unmown for at least two months before you cut them off and then let them grow up again.
“‘No-mow May’, lovely phrase, not very practical, especially if you’re Mrs Blackbird trying to feed her young and pull worms up from a mowed lawn.
“So don’t imagine that a mowed lawn is unfriendly for wildlife, as far as the birds are concerned. And provided you only use organic fertiliser in spring, like blood bone and fish meal, no lawn weed killers, no inorganic fertilisers, you end up with a green sward which is pleasing to the eye.”
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