A mixed week for lawns around Worcester. Light showers today and a dry Wednesday, then rain is due on Thursday and Friday before a dry, cooler run from Saturday to Monday. The soil is still warm, so the grass is still growing, and there are good mowing days either side of the wet spell.
| Day | Sky | High / low | Rain | Soil | Mowing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tue 13 | Showers | 19° / 13° | 0.5 mm | 16° | Good |
| Wed 14 | Sunny spells | 18° / 10° | 0 mm | 13° | Good |
| Thu 15 | Rain | 18° / 13° | 5.8 mm | 15° | Leave it |
| Fri 16 | Rain | 14° / 8° | 4.4 mm | 14° | Leave it |
| Sat 17 | Sunny spells | 11° / 5° | 0 mm | 10° | Good |
| Sun 18 | Sunny spells | 12° / 8° | 0 mm | 9° | Good |
| Mon 19 | Sunny spells | 16° / 9° | 0 mm | 11° | Good |
Forecast for Worcester from Open-Meteo, pulled 13 October. Soil temperature at 6 cm. A mowing day has under 2 mm of rain. Frost risk means a low of 3°C or below: grass can freeze even when the air does not, so wait until it has thawed. Forecasts change, so check again nearer the day.
The short version
- Best days to mow: Wednesday, then Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Today should be fine too if the showers stay light, but let the grass dry first.
- Leave the mower in the shed on Thursday and Friday. The forecast shows 5.8 mm of rain on Thursday and 4.4 mm on Friday.
- The coldest start looks like Saturday, at around 5°C. No frost is forecast, but the nights are clearly turning cooler.
- Monday looks the windiest day, with gusts up to 38 mph. Today is breezy too, with gusts up to 32 mph.
- September brought 51.6 mm of rain to Worcester, a little under the 30 year average of 54.9 mm. So the ground went into October with a fairly normal amount of moisture.
Growth: still cutting, but slowing down
For growth, the soil temperature matters more than the air. At 6 cm down the soil is 15.8°C today, and the forecast has it falling to around 9°C by Sunday as the nights get cooler. Grass keeps growing while the soil stays above roughly 6 to 8°C, so lawns are still growing this week, just more slowly towards the weekend.
That means most lawns still need cutting. Raise the cutting height a notch for autumn, because slightly longer grass copes better with cold and wet. Never take off more than a third of the height in one cut. If a lawn has got long, bring it down over two or three cuts a few days apart.
Mow only when the grass is dry. Wet blades tear rather than cut, and the clippings clump. After the rain on Thursday and Friday, give Saturday's grass time to dry off, and if the ground still feels soft underfoot, leave it another day so the mower does not churn it up.
Leaves, wind and wet paths
Leaf fall is well under way, and the gusts today and on Monday are likely to bring more down. Leaves left lying on a lawn block the light and hold moisture. After a week or two the grass underneath turns yellow and weak, and moss and disease move in.
Little and often is the answer. A mower with the collector on picks up light leaf fall and chops it in one go. Heavier falls need raking or blowing first. Piled or bagged and left to rot for a year or two, leaves make good leaf mould.
Mild, damp weather is when fusarium patch, a lawn disease, shows up as yellow or brown patches. It is worse where leaves or long wet grass lie on the lawn, which is one more reason to keep on top of both.
For anyone looking after a school, care home, church or business site, wet leaves on paths, steps and car parks are slippery, and more so after the rain on Thursday and Friday. Clearing them regularly is part of keeping a site safe.
The end of the lawn repair window
Early autumn, up to about mid October, is the best time of year for lawn repairs, while the soil is still warm and moist. This week sits right at the end of that window.
Grass seed germinates best when the soil is above about 8 to 10°C, and the soil looks comfortably warmer than that until Friday. If thin or bare patches need overseeding, the days before the cooler weekend are the ones to use. Scarifying pulls out thatch and moss, and aerating relieves compaction and helps winter rain drain through. If a lawn needs a feed, use a low nitrogen autumn feed: a high nitrogen feed this late pushes soft growth that is more prone to disease.
One more thing before the colder weather. Hedgehogs start to hibernate from about November, often in leaf piles, log piles and under hedges, so check before strimming or clearing them.
Need a hand?
If the grass, the hedges or the rough edges are getting ahead of you this autumn, we can help with lawn mowing, one-off or on a regular schedule, hedge trimming with the clippings taken away, and strimming and weed control. For commercial sites, apartment blocks, churchyards, parish councils and caravan parks, we also run grounds maintenance contracts with regular scheduled visits.
WhatsApp a photo and your postcode to 07792 110915, and Tom will come back with a price.
