Bradford, England
Mowing
When you can next cut it, and the best slot this weekend.
Best weekend slot
Sunday 10am–8pm
Verdict: Good
no rain since Friday, ground firm
Next mow
Today 11am–1pm
Verdict: Good
grass dry — rain earlier today
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 18.1°C cooling to 13.7°C
Thursday 3 September: Good. 2pm–6pm — dried off since a shower 1 hour ago, ground firm
Thursday 3 September · 2pm–6pmConfident
2pm–6pm — dried off since a shower 1 hour ago, ground firm
- Marginal:Grass wetness
- Grass dryrain earlier today
- Good:Ground firmness
- Ground firm23mm rain over the last week
- Good:Growth
- Growing wellgrowth potential 0.89
- Good:Temperature
- Temperature16°C
- Good:Wind
- Wind light18 km/h
- Sociable hours
- Fine by the neighboursstarts once the rain has passed
Limiting factor:none
Friday 4 September: Good. 11am–7pm — rain earlier today, ground firm
Friday 4 September · 11am–7pmConfident
11am–7pm — rain earlier today, ground firm
- Good:Grass wetness
- Grass dryrain earlier today
- Good:Ground firmness
- Ground firm22mm rain over the last week
- Good:Growth
- Growing wellgrowth potential 0.73
- Good:Temperature
- Temperature15°C
- Good:Wind
- Wind light19 km/h
- Sociable hours
- Fine by the neighboursstarts once the dew has burnt off
Limiting factor:none
Saturday 5 September: Good. 8am–8pm — rain earlier today, ground firm
Saturday 5 September · 8am–8pmConfident
8am–8pm — rain earlier today, ground firm
- Good:Grass wetness
- Grass dryrain earlier today
- Good:Ground firmness
- Ground firm21mm rain over the last week
- Good:Growth
- Growing wellgrowth potential 0.70
- Good:Temperature
- Temperature13°C
- Good:Wind
- Wind light13 km/h
- Sociable hours
- A bit early or late, but finestarts when it stops being antisocial
Limiting factor:none
Sunday 6 September: Good. 10am–8pm — no rain since Friday, ground firm
Sunday 6 September · 10am–8pmConfident
10am–8pm — no rain since Friday, ground firm
- Good:Grass wetness
- Grass dryno rain since Friday
- Good:Ground firmness
- Ground firm20mm rain over the last week
- Good:Growth
- Growing wellgrowth potential 0.97
- Good:Temperature
- Temperature14°C
- Good:Wind
- Wind light11 km/h
- Sociable hours
- Fine by the neighboursstarts when it stops being antisocial
Limiting factor:none
Monday 7 September: Good. 8am–5pm — no rain since Friday, ground firm
Monday 7 September · 8am–5pmReasonably confident
8am–5pm — no rain since Friday, ground firm
- Good:Grass wetness
- Grass dryno rain since Friday
- Good:Ground firmness
- Ground firm13mm rain over the last week
- Good:Growth
- Growing wellgrowth potential 0.68
- Good:Temperature
- Temperature14°C
- Good:Wind
- Wind light13 km/h
- Sociable hours
- A bit early or late, but finestarts when it stops being antisocial
Limiting factor:none
Tuesday 8 September: Good. 1pm–8pm — rain earlier today, ground firm
Tuesday 8 September · 1pm–8pmReasonably confident
1pm–8pm — rain earlier today, ground firm
- Marginal:Grass wetness
- Grass dryrain earlier today
- Good:Ground firmness
- Ground firm19mm rain over the last week
- Good:Growth
- Growing steadilygrowth potential 0.44
- Good:Temperature
- Temperature11°C
- Good:Wind
- Wind light9 km/h
- Sociable hours
- Fine by the neighboursstarts once the dew has burnt off
Limiting factor:none
Wednesday 9 September: Good. 8am–8pm — growing slowly — growth potential 0.32
Wednesday 9 September · 8am–8pmReasonably confident
8am–8pm — growing slowly — growth potential 0.32
- Good:Grass wetness
- Grass drydried off since a shower 1 hour ago
- Good:Ground firmness
- Ground firm20mm rain over the last week
- Marginal:Growth
- Growing slowlygrowth potential 0.32
- Good:Temperature
- Temperature10°C
- Good:Wind
- Wind light14 km/h
- Sociable hours
- A bit early or late, but finestarts once the rain has passed
Limiting factor:growth
Thursday 10 September: Not worth it. No — 0.1mm of rain falling.
Thursday 10 SeptemberReasonably confident
No — 0.1mm of rain falling.
- Marginal:Grass wetness
- Grass dryno rain since Wednesday
- Good:Ground firmness
- Ground firm18mm rain over the last week
- Marginal:Growth
- Growing slowlygrowth potential 0.29
- Good:Temperature
- Temperature10°C
- Good:Wind
- Wind light5 km/h
Limiting factor:growth
Friday 11 September: Not worth it. No — 0.6mm of rain falling.
Friday 11 SeptemberLow confidence this far out
No — 0.6mm of rain falling.
- Poor:Grass wetness
- Grass wetdew forming, raining now
- Marginal:Ground firmness
- Ground firm13mm rain over the last week
- Marginal:Growth
- Growing slowlygrowth potential 0.32
- Good:Temperature
- Temperature10°C
- Good:Wind
- Wind light0 km/h
Limiting factor:grass wetness
Saturday 12 September: Marginal. No — 0.1mm of rain falling.
Saturday 12 SeptemberLow confidence this far out
No — 0.1mm of rain falling.
- Marginal:Grass wetness
- Grass drydried off since a shower 0 hours ago
- Good:Ground firmness
- Ground soft in places28mm rain over the last week
- Marginal:Growth
- Growing slowlygrowth potential 0.32
- Good:Temperature
- Temperature10°C
- Good:Wind
- Wind light11 km/h
Limiting factor:grass wetness
Growth
How fast it is growing, and when it will need cutting again.
0.89Growing 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 5.4mm a day. A lawn cut today would be ready for another in around 4 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 16.4°C at 6cm and holding above 9°C.
Seeding
Soil temperature at germination depth, and when the window opens.
Soil temperature
16.4°C62°F
at 6cm — germination depth
Cooling over the next 10 days.
Seeding conditions are open — soil is 16.4°C at 6cm and holding above 9°C.
Cross-checks against an independent estimate from air temperature (16.8°C), which agrees to within 0.6°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.
| Species | Soil temp | Days |
|---|---|---|
| Perennial ryegrasslikely yours | 8°C | 5–10 |
| Red / chewings fescuelikely yours | 8–10°C | 10–14 |
| Tall fescue | 10–12°C | 10–14 |
| Browntop bentColonial bentgrass | 10–12°C | 14–21 |
| Smooth-stalked meadow grassKentucky bluegrass | 12–13°C | 14–28 |
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.
Bradford, England in detail
Soil temperature at 6cm in Bradford, England is currently 16.4°C, and falling about 4.6°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 16.4°C at 6cm and holding above 9°C.
7 of the next 10 days are good mowing days. The other 3 are held back by wet grass or soft ground. The best weekend slot right now is Sunday 10am–8pm, on the basis that no rain since Friday, ground firm.
The next recommended window in Bradford opens at 2pm on Thursday 3 September, because the rain clears by then. Underfoot, the ground reads as firm after 23mm rain over the last week.
Forecast from Open-Meteo, refreshed hourly. Soil temperature is modelled, not measured — how that works and where the thresholds come from.