THE RESULT OF CUTTING A LAWN SHORT IN A HEATWAVE
I have a small garden and a very small lawn separating three borders. I care for my lawn as much as I care for the plants that surround it. Keeping my lawn small means that I can water it without using too much water. With a large lawn, that is a different story entirely but to cut any drought-struck grass short during a heatwave of a few days and more is asking for trouble. Yes, grass is a survivor and it does come back but it is weakened and, if it was in a poor condition in the first place, it could be dead 💀. I managed to persuade a council gardener on a ride-on lawn mower to leave what remained of a beautiful area of grass, packed with beautiful yellow, white, and orange wildflowers, before he mowed the lot to the ground. This below is the result the day after the grass was cut, still during a heatwave well above 30C.
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| Grass cut during UK heatwave - 26 June 2026 |
I know two people, for example, one hires a gardener who cuts the grass no matter what, as regular as clockwork, and the other is trying his hardest to creative a beautiful lawn and so he mows it and mows it and is mowing the life out of it. The one with a gardener now has a once beautiful lawn now full of bald patches and weeds because he cuts it in a drought and cuts it when the grass is wet (another no no), and the other neighbour has turned a lawn that was once full of weeds into a lawn devoid of weeds but also pretty much devoid of grass.
I never cut my lawn very short. The above image was taken just after I mowed it with my Flymo TurboLite. It is always at the highest setting. Always. Every spring I overseed it, and I feed it about once a month when I feel it necessary but never in a drought.
RHS Lawn care