Preston, England

Best weekend slot

Nothing doing

Verdict: Not worth it

conditions never quite get there. And nothing else in the next 10 days either.

Next mow

Not in the next 10 days

Verdict: Not worth it

0.5mm of rain falling.

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 16.1°C cooling to 14.2°C

Wednesday 2 September: Not worth it. No — 0.5mm of rain falling.

Wednesday 2 SeptemberConfident

No — 0.5mm of rain falling.

Poor:Grass wetness
Grass dampraining now
Poor:Ground firmness
Ground soft44mm rain over the last week
Good:Growth
Growing wellgrowth potential 0.84
Good:Temperature
Temperature15°C
Good:Wind
Wind light7 km/h

Limiting factor:grass wetness

Thursday 3 September: Good. No — 0.1mm of rain falling.

Thursday 3 SeptemberConfident

No — 0.1mm of rain falling.

Marginal:Grass wetness
Grass dryrain earlier today
Poor:Ground firmness
Ground saturated57mm rain over the last week
Good:Growth
Growing wellgrowth potential 0.93
Good:Temperature
Temperature17°C
Good:Wind
Wind light18 km/h

Limiting factor:ground firmness

Friday 4 September: Good. No — 0.9mm of rain falling.

Friday 4 SeptemberConfident

No — 0.9mm of rain falling.

Marginal:Grass wetness
Grass drydried off since a shower 4 hours ago
Poor:Ground firmness
Ground saturated75mm rain over the last week
Good:Growth
Growing wellgrowth potential 0.77
Good:Temperature
Temperature15°C
Good:Wind
Wind light20 km/h

Limiting factor:ground firmness

Saturday 5 September: Good. No — 0.1mm of rain falling.

Saturday 5 SeptemberConfident

No — 0.1mm of rain falling.

Good:Grass wetness
Grass drydried off since a shower 0 hours ago
Poor:Ground firmness
Ground saturated77mm rain over the last week
Good:Growth
Growing wellgrowth potential 0.69
Good:Temperature
Temperature13°C
Good:Wind
Wind light8 km/h

Limiting factor:ground firmness

Sunday 6 September: Good. No — 0.1mm of rain falling.

Sunday 6 SeptemberReasonably confident

No — 0.1mm of rain falling.

Marginal:Grass wetness
Grass dryrain earlier today
Poor:Ground firmness
Ground saturated77mm rain over the last week
Good:Growth
Growing wellgrowth potential 0.92
Good:Temperature
Temperature16°C
Good:Wind
Wind light20 km/h

Limiting factor:ground firmness

Monday 7 September: Good. No — 1.8mm of rain falling.

Monday 7 SeptemberReasonably confident

No — 1.8mm of rain falling.

Marginal:Grass wetness
Grass dryrain earlier today
Poor:Ground firmness
Ground saturated76mm rain over the last week
Good:Growth
Growing wellgrowth potential 0.68
Good:Temperature
Temperature14°C
Good:Wind
Wind light15 km/h

Limiting factor:ground firmness

Tuesday 8 September: Good. No — 0.5mm of rain falling.

Tuesday 8 SeptemberReasonably confident

No — 0.5mm of rain falling.

Poor:Grass wetness
Grass dryrain earlier today
Poor:Ground firmness
Ground saturated82mm rain over the last week
Good:Growth
Growing wellgrowth potential 0.65
Good:Temperature
Temperature13°C
Good:Wind
Wind light18 km/h

Limiting factor:ground firmness

Wednesday 9 September: Good. No — 1.5mm of rain falling.

Wednesday 9 SeptemberReasonably confident

No — 1.5mm of rain falling.

Marginal:Grass wetness
Grass drydried off since a shower 5 hours ago
Poor:Ground firmness
Ground saturated117mm rain over the last week
Good:Growth
Growing steadilygrowth potential 0.40
Good:Temperature
Temperature11°C
Good:Wind
Wind light21 km/h

Limiting factor:ground firmness

Thursday 10 September: Good. No — ground saturated, 114mm rain over the last week.

Thursday 10 SeptemberLow confidence this far out

No — ground saturated, 114mm rain over the last week.

Good:Grass wetness
Grass dryno rain since Wednesday
Poor:Ground firmness
Ground saturated114mm rain over the last week
Good:Growth
Growing steadilygrowth potential 0.40
Good:Temperature
Temperature11°C
Good:Wind
Wind light4 km/h

Limiting factor:ground firmness

Friday 11 September: Good. No — 0.1mm of rain falling.

Friday 11 SeptemberLow confidence this far out

No — 0.1mm of rain falling.

Good:Grass wetness
Grass dryno rain since Wednesday
Poor:Ground firmness
Ground saturated86mm rain over the last week
Good:Growth
Growing steadilygrowth potential 0.49
Good:Temperature
Temperature10°C
Good:Wind
Wind light11 km/h

Limiting factor:ground firmness

Soil temperature

15.1°C59°F

at 6cm — germination depth

Cooling over the next 11 days.

Seeding conditions are open — soil is 15.1°C at 6cm and holding above 9°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

What this means right now

  • Good: Seeding window open

    Seeding conditions are open — soil is 15.1°C at 6cm and holding above 9°C.

  • Worth watching: Ground still soft

    44mm rain over the last week. A mower will mark it, and a ride-on will rut it.

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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.