Mowing awns in a drought

If my gardener comes to cut my lawns this week, I will tell him not to bother but pay him anyway. I might ask if he could trim my hedge instead but as he only spends 15 minutes cutting my lawn, I doubt he will cut much off my hedge in that time!

Hi Allsorts ,

He started speaking to me as he wanted to know if my children were working through the lockdown , but he hadn't spoken to me for about four years !

One of my neighbour's asked me about him as she has a lot of DIY work and she is very wealthy .

But I had to say in all honesty - do try him if you like, but he's so mean and moody that I can't possibly recommend him .

I told her why .
She was shocked .
And she got someone else .

My father gave him lots of employment when he was made redundant .
He might have been desperate , but that no excuse for his rudeness .

As long as the lawn gets done - it's one less thing to worry about !

LauraNorderr No, no soakaways, pipes or anything in the green areas, they run close to the dry area. Our house is one in a row of big houses well spaced and the vegetable area is more than a hundred feet from our house and even further from other houses.

It is a puzzle.

Esmay, what an unpleasant man, no empathy for what you were experiencing.
It must be very difficult for anyone cutting lawns now with very hot summers.

I was away for a few weeks and I asked the man who comes round to water my plants and cut the law to just cut the small area I’ve sectioned off for the dog with some shears because the grass really struggles to grow there. I just wanted it long but cut back enough to stop it going to seed.But he strimmed it right back and now it’s mostly brown and dead looking. I do wish people would actually listen to what I tell them to do! ( sorry: just wanted a bit of a moan)

Do you have septic tank drainage/soakaways MOnica? Or perhaps a broken drain?

Curiously our front lawn is green and keeps growing and needs cutting. The back lawn is brown and not growing and not being cut and then right up the garden, around the vegetable plot, the higest point in the garden, the grass grows green and luxuriant. I am not watering the garden at all. Anywhere.

The man who cuts my steep lawn popped by to ask whether I wanted it done or not. I declined but offered to pay him anyway, which he refused. He is actually well off and does gardening to occupy himself after early retirement due to a workplace injury in his own business, which he still owns. If it is still the same next time I might ask him just to strim the whiskers and tufts. Lawns are best left uncut in a drought.

When my mum was alive her lawn often got parched during the summer and ours would stay greener. The reason? She cut her lawn much shorter than ours.

Perhaps you could ask your grass-cutting man to raise the cutting bar on the mower and leave the grass just a little longer. It might help.

A lawn shouldn't be cut during a draught .
Is it possible for him to do another job ?
Why not ask him ?
If he's self employed he needs the money .
I have every sympathy with him .

Our lawn man is a thoroughly unpleasant article .
When my father was in hospital and not expected to live - he couldn't get round the back to do the lawn and was so nasty about it and refused to speak to me for years .
I looked around for another guy without success .
It's really difficult to get someone where we live .
He has free access to the garden now and I post his money .
He's happy with that arrangement .
I am too .

He hasn't cut the lawns during this dry spell - one thing to his credit .

Our grass cutters do extra gardening jobs when the lawns don’t need cutting.- mulching, pruning etc

Abby, that's what worries me, he woukdnt react kindly to me offering a retainer though

Late July and August are times of the year when our lawns rarely need to be cut, not just this year, can’t he find other jobs to do?

Same here - my chap comes every other Friday - due today. Last time there was hardly anything in the grass bin and I expect the same today. However, he’s a chap in demand (3 neighbours have asked him to do jobs) and I don’t want to lose him, as it took best part of a year to find him! I was let down several times by others who either didn’t turn up at all, or looked at the garden and didn’t come back as promised.
I’ll just bite the bullet because we’ve had rain this week so the grass should grow before next time and he only comes April to October anyway.

Maybe he needs the money ?

I’ve not cut mine for over a month, as you say what’s the point as it’s hardly growing. I don’t see why you can’t just speak to him saying it’s really not needing to be cut and could you pay him a smaller retainer so he gets something and will resume cutting when necessary.