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  GORDON April 11, 2010 at 11:21pm

  Far too short. Very few customers are bothered about the length required to maintain healthy grass. Its a matter of it being neat and tidy, even if it is 80% moss. Short equals neat, so generally the requirement is the shorter the better.
  
  No complaints, I am there to carry out their requests and if that's what they want, sorry to say that's what they get. I am not about to impose my desire to raise the level of cut if in their opinion the finished result is not as pleasing.
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  Jim Davidson April 11, 2010 at 11:31pm

  Interesting .... and what about if their opinion results in them having a c**p lawn !
  
  Not a critisism but are they aware of the issues this causes and where does this leave your reputation ?
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  Lawncare-4u.co.uk April 12, 2010 at 12:08am

  then they have a crap lawn............ is probably crap anyway.
  
  i left mine longer this time as i only charged cheap rate / and its better for the lawn to green up !
  
  she moaned a bit , bent down to inspect the edge,before id strimmed it there... i knew she would !!
  
  said id cut it short next time with etesia (bigger,easier) but no stripes. she says not bothered about stripes ...
  (maybe she knows it will be more soon if its stripey lol)
  
  Jim Davidson said:

  Interesting .... and what about if their opinion results in them having a c**p lawn !
  
  Not a critisism but are they aware of the issues this causes and where does this leave your reputation ?
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  GORDON April 12, 2010 at 12:47am

  Hi Jim
  
  As you say it is interesting and perhaps a little sad. But I guess its down the definition of a c--p lawn. Most people that I come across don't see their lawn as c--p ever if to me and you they are and I would need to tread carefully if an inference is made to that effect. You could imply they need educating but I am not employed to transform their lawn to conform to a predetermined standard that is held by others, I am just employed to cut the grass to their specification. Yes. I have said shall i leave it a bit longer, but before I have finished its "no thanks as it looks as though it needs cutting again within a few days" I have been doing it long enough to know when I am flogging a dead horse so to be honest I don't bother anymore.
  
  I now have 83 regular lawn cut customers which are mostly made up from recommendations so my reputation must rely on the fact that I do the job that is required to the the standard that is expected.
  
  Yes it is mercenary and yes I would love to see fields of green as opposed to a dull yellow colour but it would be a one man crusade around here and I would be a lot poorer for it.
  
  
  
  
  
  .
  
  Jim Davidson said:

  Interesting .... and what about if their opinion results in them having a c**p lawn !
  Not a critisism but are they aware of the issues this causes and where does this leave your reputation ?
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  pete April 12, 2010 at 5:59pm

  When explaining to uniformed clients why they shouldn't have their lawn cut too short, I point out to them that it's not whether its long or short, but being uniform that makes it look neat – that usually works - except for one of our first clients, who had a horrible grass patch, a dead pan face and we reckoned was a spy in the war.
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  Dan Frazer Gardening April 12, 2010 at 6:01pm

  I've been cutting at 45mm today on a commercial and a private property. Mulched the commercial as the grass is relatively thin, collected the domestic clippings as they really don't need any more thatch down there!
  
  This height of cut really does look better and allows a good green lawn to grow. I'll see how the season pans out with it.
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  Mark Atkins May 8, 2010 at 3:46pm

  What is the grass species in your lawn?
  Is the surface level / even? What type of mower do you use
  For ryegrass dominated lawns 25 mm is a good height - bit do not over feed with nitrogenous fertilisers - as the uptake is Nitrogen is at the expense of Phosphates / potassium , etc. so when it gets to 30 mm it is mown with the clippings fly to be recycled and no thatch..
  for fine leaved fescues / bent grasses 15 - 20 mm is a good height - again do not over feed
  My lawn does not get any NPK at all and has not for the past 8 years - I simply feed those essential and vital microbes indigenous to the grass and soils in my lawn and have root more than 300 mm (1 foot) deep (even in winter). With the exception of a calcium foliar feed that actually reduces the rate of vegetative growth but build dry matter mowing requirements are at one a week from March to November
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  Cesare Harradine May 9, 2010 at 11:55am

  Interesting that you should ask. My lawns have suffered a bit because of the snow and now we're getting a cool dry spring. As a rule I'm cutting them a bit longer than I would normally, the lawns just aren't growing. If the dry weather continues, I am considering loose cutting. This seems to help the lawns stay a bit greener and reduces soil erosion.