Stafford, England

Best weekend slot

Sunday 10am–8pm

Verdict: Good

ground soft in places — 31mm rain over the last week

Next mow

Tomorrow 8am–8pm

Verdict: Good

ground soft in places — 62mm 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 15.8°C cooling to 14.2°C

Wednesday 2 September: Marginal. No — 0.4mm of rain falling.

Wednesday 2 SeptemberConfident

No — 0.4mm of rain falling.

Poor:Grass wetness
Grass dryno rain since Monday
Marginal:Ground firmness
Ground soft in places59mm rain over the last week
Good:Growth
Growing wellgrowth potential 0.85
Good:Temperature
Temperature15°C
Good:Wind
Wind light8 km/h

Limiting factor:grass wetness

Thursday 3 September: Good. 8am–8pm — ground soft in places — 62mm rain over the last week

Thursday 3 September · 8am–8pmConfident

8am–8pm — ground soft in places — 62mm rain over the last week

Good:Grass wetness
Grass dryrain earlier today
Marginal:Ground firmness
Ground soft in places62mm rain over the last week
Good:Growth
Growing wellgrowth potential 0.99
Good:Temperature
Temperature17°C
Good:Wind
Wind light15 km/h
Sociable hours
A bit early or late, but finestarts when it stops being antisocial

Limiting factor:ground firmness

Friday 4 September: Good. 7pm–8pm — ground soft — 35mm rain over the last week

Friday 4 September · 7pm–8pmConfident

7pm–8pm — ground soft — 35mm rain over the last week

Poor:Grass wetness
Grass drydried off since a shower 5 hours ago
Poor:Ground firmness
Ground soft35mm rain over the last week
Good:Growth
Growing wellgrowth potential 0.86
Good:Temperature
Temperature15°C
Good:Wind
Wind light16 km/h
Sociable hours
A bit early or late, but finestarts when it stops being antisocial

Limiting factor:ground firmness

Saturday 5 September: Good. 8am–8pm — ground soft in places — 36mm rain over the last week

Saturday 5 September · 8am–8pmConfident

8am–8pm — ground soft in places — 36mm rain over the last week

Good:Grass wetness
Grass dryrain earlier today
Marginal:Ground firmness
Ground soft in places36mm rain over the last week
Good:Growth
Growing wellgrowth potential 0.67
Good:Temperature
Temperature11°C
Good:Wind
Wind light9 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–8pm — ground soft in places — 31mm rain over the last week

Sunday 6 September · 10am–8pmReasonably confident

10am–8pm — ground soft in places — 31mm rain over the last week

Good:Grass wetness
Grass dryrain earlier today
Marginal:Ground firmness
Ground soft in places31mm rain over the last week
Good:Growth
Growing wellgrowth potential 0.95
Good:Temperature
Temperature15°C
Good:Wind
Wind light12 km/h
Sociable hours
Fine by the neighboursstarts when it stops being antisocial

Limiting factor:ground firmness

Monday 7 September: Good. 8am–8pm — rain earlier today, ground firm

Monday 7 September · 8am–8pmReasonably confident

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 0.74
Good:Temperature
Temperature13°C
Good:Wind
Wind light14 km/h
Sociable hours
A bit early or late, but finestarts when it stops being antisocial

Limiting factor:none

Tuesday 8 September: Good. 8am–11am — ground soft — 20mm rain over the last week

Tuesday 8 September · 8am–11amReasonably confident

8am–11am — ground soft — 20mm rain over the last week

Marginal:Grass wetness
Grass dryrain earlier today
Poor:Ground firmness
Ground soft in places20mm rain over the last week
Good:Growth
Growing wellgrowth potential 0.62
Good:Temperature
Temperature12°C
Good:Wind
Wind light16 km/h
Sociable hours
A bit early or late, but finestarts when it stops being antisocial

Limiting factor:ground firmness

Wednesday 9 September: Good. No — 1.4mm of rain falling.

Wednesday 9 SeptemberReasonably confident

No — 1.4mm of rain falling.

Marginal:Grass wetness
Grass drydried off since a shower 1 hour ago
Poor:Ground firmness
Ground saturated35mm rain over the last week
Good:Growth
Growing steadilygrowth potential 0.36
Good:Temperature
Temperature11°C
Marginal:Wind
Wind light20 km/h

Limiting factor:ground firmness

Thursday 10 September: Good. 11am–8pm — ground soft — 41mm rain over the last week

Thursday 10 September · 11am–8pmLow confidence this far out

11am–8pm — ground soft — 41mm rain over the last week

Good:Grass wetness
Grass dryrain earlier today
Poor:Ground firmness
Ground soft41mm rain over the last week
Marginal:Growth
Growing slowlygrowth potential 0.30
Good:Temperature
Temperature10°C
Good:Wind
Wind light8 km/h
Sociable hours
Fine by the neighbours

Limiting factor:ground firmness

Friday 11 September: Good. 8am–8pm — ground soft in places — 41mm rain over the last week

Friday 11 September · 8am–8pmLow confidence this far out

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

Good:Grass wetness
Grass dryno rain since Wednesday
Marginal:Ground firmness
Ground soft in places41mm rain over the last week
Good:Growth
Growing steadilygrowth potential 0.46
Good:Temperature
Temperature10°C
Good:Wind
Wind light10 km/h
Sociable hours
A bit early or late, but finestarts when it stops being antisocial

Limiting factor:ground firmness

Soil temperature

14.0°C57°F

at 6cm — germination depth

Cooling over the next 11 days.

Seeding conditions are open — soil is 14.0°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 14.0°C at 6cm and holding above 9°C.

  • Worth watching: Ground still soft

    35mm 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.