Aberystwyth, Wales

Aberystwyth, Wales52.4155, -4.0829

Mowing

When you can next cut it, and the best slot this weekend.

Best weekend slot

Sunday 10am–5pm

Verdict: Good

ground soft in places — 27mm rain over the last week

Next mow

Today 2pm–9pm

Verdict: Good

ground soft — 50mm rain over the last week

How you feel about mowing

Sensible middle ground.

Petrol or battery. The baseline.

The next 10 days

Column height is how mowable the day is; the lighter band is the best stretch within it. The line is soil temperature at 6cm.

9°C — seeding

Soil at 6cm 18.2°C cooling to 15.6°C

Thursday 3 September: Good. 2pm–9pm — ground soft — 50mm rain over the last week

Thursday 3 September · 2pm–9pmConfident

2pm–9pm — ground soft — 50mm rain over the last week

Good:Grass wetness
Grass dryrain earlier today
Marginal:Ground firmness
Ground soft50mm rain over the last week
Good:Growth
Growing wellgrowth potential 0.96
Good:Temperature
Temperature18°C
Good:Wind
Wind light19 km/h
Sociable hours
Fine by the neighbours

Limiting factor:ground firmness

Friday 4 September: Not worth it. No — ground waterlogged.

Friday 4 SeptemberConfident

No — ground waterlogged.

Good:Grass wetness
Grass dryrain earlier today
Marginal:Ground firmness
Ground soft in places38mm rain over the last week
Good:Growth
Growing wellgrowth potential 0.88
Good:Temperature
Temperature17°C
Good:Wind
Wind light27 km/h

Limiting factor:grass wetness

Saturday 5 September: Good. 8am–8pm — ground soft in places — 41mm rain over the last week

Saturday 5 September · 8am–8pmConfident

8am–8pm — ground soft in places — 41mm rain over the last week

Good:Grass wetness
Grass dryno rain since Friday
Marginal:Ground firmness
Ground soft in places41mm rain over the last week
Good:Growth
Growing wellgrowth potential 0.80
Good:Temperature
Temperature15°C
Good:Wind
Wind light19 km/h
Sociable hours
A bit early or late, but finestarts when it stops being antisocial

Limiting factor:ground firmness

Sunday 6 September: Good. 10am–5pm — ground soft in places — 27mm rain over the last week

Sunday 6 September · 10am–5pmConfident

10am–5pm — ground soft in places — 27mm rain over the last week

Good:Grass wetness
Grass dryno rain since Friday
Good:Ground firmness
Ground soft in places27mm rain over the last week
Good:Growth
Growing wellgrowth potential 0.94
Good:Temperature
Temperature17°C
Good:Wind
Wind light22 km/h
Sociable hours
Fine by the neighboursstarts when it stops being antisocial

Limiting factor:ground firmness

Monday 7 September: Good. 11am–2pm — grass dry — rain earlier today

Monday 7 September · 11am–2pmReasonably confident

11am–2pm — grass dry — rain earlier today

Poor:Grass wetness
Grass dryrain earlier today
Marginal:Ground firmness
Ground soft in places17mm rain over the last week
Good:Growth
Growing wellgrowth potential 0.73
Good:Temperature
Temperature15°C
Good:Wind
Wind light22 km/h
Sociable hours
Fine by the neighboursstarts once the dew has burnt off

Limiting factor:grass wetness

Tuesday 8 September: Not worth it. No — 0.2mm of rain falling.

Tuesday 8 SeptemberReasonably confident

No — 0.2mm of rain falling.

Poor:Grass wetness
Grass wetdew forming, raining now
Poor:Ground firmness
Ground saturated25mm rain over the last week
Good:Growth
Growing steadilygrowth potential 0.44
Good:Temperature
Temperature12°C
Good:Wind
Wind light12 km/h

Limiting factor:grass wetness

Wednesday 9 September: Good. No — 0.9mm of rain falling.

Wednesday 9 SeptemberReasonably confident

No — 0.9mm of rain falling.

Marginal:Grass wetness
Grass dryrain earlier today
Poor:Ground firmness
Ground saturated43mm rain over the last week
Good:Growth
Growing steadilygrowth potential 0.46
Good:Temperature
Temperature12°C
Good:Wind
Wind light21 km/h

Limiting factor:ground firmness

Thursday 10 September: Not worth it. No — 0.6mm of rain falling.

Thursday 10 SeptemberReasonably confident

No — 0.6mm of rain falling.

Poor:Grass wetness
Grass wetraining now
Poor:Ground firmness
Ground saturated47mm rain over the last week
Good:Growth
Growing wellgrowth potential 0.56
Good:Temperature
Temperature12°C
Good:Wind
Wind light20 km/h

Limiting factor:grass wetness

Friday 11 September: Not worth it. No — 1.5mm of rain falling.

Friday 11 SeptemberLow confidence this far out

No — 1.5mm of rain falling.

Poor:Grass wetness
Grass wetraining now
Poor:Ground firmness
Ground saturated64mm rain over the last week
Good:Growth
Growing wellgrowth potential 0.56
Good:Temperature
Temperature14°C
Good:Wind
Wind light21 km/h

Limiting factor:grass wetness

Saturday 12 September: Not worth it. No — 0.2mm of rain falling.

Saturday 12 SeptemberLow confidence this far out

No — 0.2mm of rain falling.

Marginal:Grass wetness
Grass drydried off since a shower 0 hours ago
Poor:Ground firmness
Ground saturated78mm rain over the last week
Good:Growth
Growing wellgrowth potential 0.53
Good:Temperature
Temperature13°C
Good:Wind
Wind light12 km/h

Limiting factor:grass wetness

Growth

How fast it is growing, and when it will need cutting again.

0.96Growing strongly

Growth potential, 0 to 1 — the turf-industry measure of how fast grass can grow at today's temperature and day length.

Putting on about 5.8mm a day. A lawn cut today would be ready for another in around 3 days.

Worked out from the PACE Turf growth potential model and day length —how and why.

What this means right now

  • Good: Seeding window open

    Seeding conditions are open — soil is 17.4°C at 6cm and holding above 9°C.

  • Worth watching: Ground still soft

    25mm rain over the last week. A mower will mark it, and a ride-on will rut it.

Seeding

Soil temperature at germination depth, and when the window opens.

Soil temperature

17.4°C63°F

at 6cm — germination depth

Cooling over the next 10 days.

Seeding conditions are open — soil is 17.4°C at 6cm and holding above 9°C.

Cross-checks against an independent estimate from air temperature (17.6°C), which agrees to within 0.3°C.

Almost every UK and Irish lawn is a ryegrass and fescue mix, whether it was sown or turfed. We assume that, and use9°C as the seeding threshold.

I know what grass I have

The differences are small. Ryegrass is the quickest off the mark; bluegrass is the slowest and wants the warmest soil. Everything else sits between.

Soil temperature at 6cm for reliable germination. Sources onthe method page.
SpeciesSoil tempDays
Perennial ryegrasslikely yours8°C5–10
Red / chewings fescuelikely yours8–10°C10–14
Tall fescue10–12°C10–14
Browntop bentColonial bentgrass10–12°C14–21
Smooth-stalked meadow grassKentucky bluegrass12–13°C14–28

Feeding

Why timing decides whether a feed does anything at all.

Coming in the app

Grass takes up nitrogen when it is growing. Feed a lawn that has stopped and most of it washes past the roots — which is why timing beats product choice.

Right now this lawn is growing well enough to use a feed.

The app will work out the actual feeding windows for your lawn — along with weed control, scarifying and moss treatment — and tell you when they open without you having to check.

Why timing beats product choice

Aberystwyth, Wales in detail

Soil temperature at 6cm in Aberystwyth, Wales is currently 17.4°C, and falling about 3.3°C over the next 10 days. That depth matters because it is where grass seed sits and where roots start working, and it lags air temperature by days — which is why a warm afternoon here tells you very little on its own.

Lawns in this area are typically perennial ryegrass with fescue, which is what most lawns round here are sown with. That blend needs the soil to hold above 9°C before seed germinates reliably. Seeding conditions are open — soil is 17.4°C at 6cm and holding above 9°C.

5 of the next 10 days look workable. The other 5 are held back by wet grass or soft ground. The best weekend slot right now is Sunday 10am–5pm, on the basis that ground soft in places — 27mm rain over the last week.

The next recommended window in Aberystwyth opens at 2pm on Thursday 3 September, and holds while conditions stay put. Underfoot, the ground reads as soft after 50mm rain over the last week.

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Forecast from Open-Meteo, refreshed hourly. Soil temperature is modelled, not measured — how that works and where the thresholds come from.