How to stripe your lawn

I have received an email asking quite simply how you achieve stripes on a lawn.

"Dear Landscape Juice

My boyfriend and I have just bought a house near Plymouth and we are very excited about having our own garden. We are just planning a few things and we do not have enough money to have a landscaping company in to do it for us so at present we are very happy that it is mostly grass.

The lawn in 60 steps (heel to toe) long and 15 steps wide. When we arrived the grass was a little long but had not been laid long and was very green. I do not know what type of grass it is.

My boyfriend is an apprentice footballer and he is always going on about the stripes on the pitches and wanted to have some stripes on the lawn. Last Saturday we bought a Flymo Micro Lite hover mower for £62.00 and in the afternoon it was dry enough to cut we then spent two and a half hours cutting the grass which really tired me out.

Afterwards we noticed that the grass looked more yellow than green and there were no stripes at all. I could have cried because we think that the mower is wrong now and the stripes we wanted didn't happen.

What do we have to do to make the grass look nice with stripes and what should I do with the pile of grass clippings because I cannot put them into the wheelie bin or take them to the dump every time.

Thank you

Sandy Craig"

Thank you Sandy for the email and well done on buying your new house.

I am sure it will get easier than the first cut after you have cut it a few times. Do not water the lawn (you probably will not have to anyway this summer) and let it slow down naturally and you will find, after the next couple of cuts, that the grass will get finer and more manageable.

The hardest bit for you, and I have looked up the Flymo Micro Lite type you bought (although you do not say which one).

Your problem is the type of mower that you have bought. The rotary blade is probably OK but because the mower hovers and in theory does not touch the ground there is nothing to make the stripes.

The stripes on a lawn are formed when the grass blades are swept or rolled in one direction. The light and dark is achieved by the rolling or brushing and the change in colour is merely light differences when the grass is rolled one way on the outward cut and the opposite way on the inward cut.

The light stripe is the cut that goes away from you and the dark one is the cut coming towards you. I always remember it by thinking of sunrise and sunset.

I am afraid that without a roller, you cannot get stripes (although sometimes the plastic skirt of the flymo will push the grass over and give a light stripy effect).

So to get stripes on the lawn I would always suggest buying a cylinder or rotary mower with a rear roller).

As far as your grass mowing's are concerned. I would most definitely get a compost maker of some description. Add all of your kitchen waste to it and let it rot down. After a few months you can then turn it out and use the compost that is formed on your garden (or bag it up until you are ready to use it).

I hope that helps and I am sorry for your disappointment.

Articles on Lawns that may be of interest.

Which Mower

Buying Turf

Laying a new Lawn