Lawn mowing

[Old Grumpy]

We decided a couple of years ago to have the communal gardener cut our lawn with less frequency than previously, following a spike in the gardening part of the block management invoice. This year he reduced the number of cuts further, allowing weeds to infestate in greater numbers in line with encouraging creepy-crawlies, and, because the better of his two rotaries was out of commission, he resorted to the hoodless one, leaving lumps of cut grass strewn all about the place, which he said he lacked the necessary time to rake up. He, too, used the argument that leaving the cuttings would aid fertility; I didn't disabuse him although I thought the idea was to help minimise drying out during hot weather - no one has complained at the unsightly resulting effect, so I have said nothing further.

If the weeds die infestate, does it mean they've lost the will to live?

[french frank]

If the weeds die infestate, does it mean they've lost the will to live?

Good enough to be one of Serial's

[Old Grumpy]

Why thank you, FF. That's high praise indeed!

[ardcarp]

I saw a neighbour mowing a couple of days ago. Pointless and possibly harmful this late, in my view.

When to mow or when to stop is surely very dependent on where you live, how the season is beginning and/or ending, and basically just the weather. It also depends on whether you want or need an ultra manicured lawn or not. I don't, but others may. Personally I prefer a more nature-based approach, so we practised no-mow May. (Well, nearly.) It's good not to scalp a lawn anytime, but especially not on the last mow of the season. Here is the SW which has had, this year, very warm and sunny spells and some very heavy rain showers, the grass is still growing faster and longer than usual, so we think one more not very close trim will be best on a dry day.

[Dave2002]

Dandelions have started to appear, so I activated the robot mower today. Of course by the time I got it going they had "disappeared", but I expect they'll pop up again when the sun comes out. I also discovered that I can run the robot in manual mode even within the marked out area. That might be useful if I can find enough obstacles to stop it going into areas which I want to leave for the time being. Otherwise I might have to do some more enineering/design work with some extra cable to make a new - temporary - boundary.

[gurnemanz]

I shall be sticking with my once-a-month regime again this year (Mar - Sept), with no close shaving and only using my Flymo on the highest blade setting. Last year I found this compromise between meadow and bowling green worked well.
I have become less neurotic about weeds, but try to stop dandelions going to seed and do sometimes dig them out - likewise celandine which can become invasive.

[Dave2002]

I shall be sticking with my once-a-month regime again this year (Mar - Sept), with no close shaving and only using my Flymo on the highest blade setting. Last year I found this compromise between meadow and bowling green worked well.
I have become less neurotic about weeds, but try to stop dandelions going to seed and do sometimes dig them out - likewise celandine which can become invasive.

Interesting about dandelions. A few weeks ago I saw some birds pecking away at the ground round dandelions which had gone to seed. I think they were wagtails. I'm not quite sure what they were after, but they clearly targetted the areas just round the plants.

[oddoneout]

Interesting about dandelions. A few weeks ago I saw some birds pecking away at the ground round dandelions which had gone to seed. I think they were wagtails. I'm not quite sure what they were after, but they clearly targetted the areas just round the plants.

They could have been eating the seeds but also the leaves of such weeds provide hiding places for insects etc. When I cut out one of the many 'fox and cub' plants (Pilosella) in the lawn blackbirds and robins will be onto the gap very quickly as the leaves lie tight flat to the ground killing off the grass and leaving bare earth where slugs, grubs and worms are often at or near the surface. They ignore the plant while it is still growing, although I have seen birds poking around the occasional ragweed plants which are not such tight rosettes and the leaves are more dissected and crinkly so more crevices for insects.

[Dave2002]

They could have been eating the seeds but also the leaves of such weeds provide hiding places for insects etc.

Indeed. I don't know what they were after.

Regular robot lawn mowing has now recommenced, though not all the clover heads have gone yet. I was happy to leave those for quite a while, and I think I actually saw a honey bee flying around them. There are lots of other insects which fly around various plants, but many of them are bumble bees - or perhaps wasps. The robot agent has now cleared about 80% of the clover heads, but there are still some to go.
I treated it to new cutting blades a few days ago. I also reconfigured the boundary wire, so now there is a definite wild strip at the bottom end. I suppose I'll humour the neighbours, and take a strimmer or shears to some of the untidier edges, but the wild area is going to remain for the time being. If I clear it later I will be able to switch the boundary wire back to its original configuration, and repeat the switch over next year.

[gradus]

Without mowing the grass looks even worse and flower beds are more attractive imv when grass is kept tidy. Not that grass grows well here, we're so dry that it is barely green except where those annoyingly healthy weeds persist.

[Dave2002]

Without mowing the grass looks even worse and flower beds are more attractive imv when grass is kept tidy. Not that grass grows well here, we're so dry that it is barely green except where those annoyingly healthy weeds persist.

Arguably the robot mower has done a good job - or at least a better job. In areas where there is some moderately decent grass the small trimmings may well have improved the soil condition, resulting in more luxuriant green areas. In the parts closer to the very big trees there are so many bare patches, and patches full of various plants - some would call them weeds - that grass doesn't have a chance. I tried putting moss and weed killer on those, but all that did was create even bigger bare, and sometimes black, patches.

Regarding the wilder areas, one of my online friends - never met him - but have talked to him - mentioned that his grass patch (somewhere in Texas I think) was frowned upon by neighbours. Rather than succumb directly to the pressure he made up a sign, which said something like "Nature reserve - increasing diversity" and placed it close to the wild bit. His street cred went up immediately I'm told!

OK - I'm now off to do some very modest trimming of patches which even I think are untidy.

[french frank]

The council cuts our bit of the common (about 12 acres) very regularly, as it's considered a 'recreational space' (for children's ball games, exercise classes, dog walkers &c), but they keep the edges and large swathes around the trees uncut and there are a lot of wild flowers there. I'm intrigued that the white clover is everywhere, but no red clover. The creeping buttercups are likewise prolific but I've found only three meadow buttercup plants, quite close to their lowly brethren. I suppose the meadow buttercup has to rely on casting its seeds whereas the creeping buttercup just … spreads, like the white clover. There is also one patch (about three plants) of Green Alkanet which is supposed to be invasive. Not invasive round here.

[Serial_Apologist]

They could have been eating the seeds but also the leaves of such weeds provide hiding places for insects etc. When I cut out one of the many 'fox and cub' plants (Pilosella) in the lawn blackbirds and robins will be onto the gap very quickly as the leaves lie tight flat to the ground killing off the grass and leaving bare earth where slugs, grubs and worms are often at or near the surface. They ignore the plant while it is still growing, although I have seen birds poking around the occasional ragweed plants which are not such tight rosettes and the leaves are more dissected and crinkly so more crevices for insects.

Those rosette plants (plantains, dandelions etc) flatten and spread their leaves out so as to outshade the surrounding ground from nearby competition. We learned about this on our horticulture course. Grass etc slightly further away eventually grows up - by which time the rosette plant has itself grown sufficiently to keep up with the pace of estending shade, at which point they "give up" hugging the ground, push up flower stems, and their leaves extend upwards, thus gaining maximum benefit from the solar energy.

Marvellous thing, nature, isn't it? I think if more of this kind of information was made available through nature documentaries, as opposed to the usual "exciting" footage of lions pouncing on antelopes or hump bald whales humping each other, people would be more caring for our environments.

[oddoneout]

Those rosette plants (plantains, dandelions etc) flatten and spread their leaves out so as to outshade the surrounding ground from nearby competition. We learned about this on our horticulture course. Grass etc slightly further away eventually grows up - by which time the rosette plant has itself grown sufficiently to keep up with the pace of estending shade, at which point they "give up" hugging the ground, push up flower stems, and their leaves extend upwards, thus gaining maximum benefit from the solar energy.

Marvellous thing, nature, isn't it? I think if more of this kind of information was made available through nature documentaries, as opposed to the usual "exciting" footage of lions pouncing on antelopes or hump bald whales humping each other, people would be more caring for our environments.

Ironically (and rather annoyingly) I end up aiding that behaviour in very dry spells such as we are having now. With the leaves tight to the ground the mower doesn't cut them and the grass doesn't grow quickly enough to get cut often so the flower shoots have time to grow up unimpeded and do their thing. Their deep roots mean that sufficient moisture is accessible, unlike the grass.
Your comments about documentaries chime with those in the Springwatch thread and the observation about the predominance of animal footage and features. There was a series of 3 programmes about the plant world a while back, using state of the art tracking time lapse, which was absolutely riveting - plants scenting out their target, lassooing hosts/supports, manipulating ants, sending out messages to warn of insect attack and initiate chemical changes to repel said attack, etc.

[Dave2002]

I guess it's time to put the robot away for the winter now.

Somewhat of a nuisance really, as there is a break in the boundary cable which I can't locate easily. I was at least hoping to fix this before winter really sets in, but I don't think it's worth it now.
There is hardly any new growth in the lawn area now, so it shouldn't get out of control before next year's warmer weather.

I might feel more inclined to troubleshoot the wiring in the spring. Hopefully that will only be a couple of hours work, so in the overall scheme of things not too arduous.