Lawn mowing

Grass in this part of London grows faster than people expect. A mild wet spring can put on enough growth in ten days to turn a neat lawn into something that needs two passes and a rake, and once it gets to that stage it is never one quick job again.

Regular cutting is what keeps that from happening. Through April to October, most lawns want cutting every one to two weeks. We set a day, come on it, and the lawn never gets the chance to get away from you.

What a visit includes

• Cutting the grass at a height that suits the season and the lawn, rather than the same setting all year
• Trimming what the mower cannot reach — around trees, along fences, up to the patio
• Clearing the clippings off the lawn and off the paths
• Taking the clippings away with us

Cutting height matters more than people think

Grass cut too short in July goes brown and lets weeds in, and a lot of the tired lawns we get called to are lawns that have been scalped rather than lawns that need replacing. We cut higher in the heat and lower in the cooler months, which costs nothing and makes a visible difference by the second month.

Shady and sloping lawns

Plenty of south east London gardens have one or both. North-facing terraced gardens hold damp and grow thin patchy grass; the streets up on the Norwood ridge around Forest Hill, Sydenham and Crystal Palace have lawns on a genuine slope. Both need a different approach from a flat sunny lawn, and neither is a reason to give up on the grass.

One-off cuts

If the grass has already got long we will do a single cut to bring it back, usually in stages so we are not dragging a foot of wet grass across the lawn. You can decide about regular visits afterwards.