Merthyr Tydfil, Wales

Merthyr Tydfil, Wales51.7479, -3.3778

Mowing

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

Best weekend slot

Sunday 10am–2pm

Verdict: Good

ground soft in places — 35mm rain over the last week

Next mow

Today 2pm–8pm

Verdict: Good

ground soft — 60mm 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 18.0°C cooling to 14.4°C

Thursday 3 September: Good. 2pm–8pm — ground soft — 60mm rain over the last week

Thursday 3 September · 2pm–8pmConfident

2pm–8pm — ground soft — 60mm rain over the last week

Poor:Grass wetness
Grass dryrain earlier today
Poor:Ground firmness
Ground soft60mm rain over the last week
Good:Growth
Growing wellgrowth potential 0.92
Good:Temperature
Temperature17°C
Good:Wind
Wind light17 km/h
Sociable hours
Fine by the neighboursstarts once the dew has burnt off

Limiting factor:ground firmness

Friday 4 September: Good. 1pm–8pm — ground soft — 53mm rain over the last week

Friday 4 September · 1pm–8pmConfident

1pm–8pm — ground soft — 53mm rain over the last week

Marginal:Grass wetness
Grass drydried off since a shower 4 hours ago
Poor:Ground firmness
Ground soft53mm rain over the last week
Good:Growth
Growing wellgrowth potential 0.81
Good:Temperature
Temperature16°C
Good:Wind
Wind light12 km/h
Sociable hours
Fine by the neighboursstarts once the dew has burnt off

Limiting factor:ground firmness

Saturday 5 September: Good. 8am–8pm — ground soft in places — 46mm rain over the last week

Saturday 5 September · 8am–8pmConfident

8am–8pm — ground soft in places — 46mm rain over the last week

Good:Grass wetness
Grass dryrain earlier today
Marginal:Ground firmness
Ground soft in places46mm rain over the last week
Good:Growth
Growing wellgrowth potential 0.61
Good:Temperature
Temperature11°C
Good:Wind
Wind light8 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–2pm — ground soft in places — 35mm rain over the last week

Sunday 6 September · 10am–2pmConfident

10am–2pm — ground soft in places — 35mm rain over the last week

Good:Grass wetness
Grass dryno rain since Friday
Marginal:Ground firmness
Ground soft in places35mm rain over the last week
Good:Growth
Growing wellgrowth potential 0.85
Good:Temperature
Temperature14°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. midday–5pm — ground soft in places — 18mm rain over the last week

Monday 7 September · midday–5pmReasonably confident

midday–5pm — ground soft in places — 18mm rain over the last week

Marginal:Grass wetness
Grass dryrain earlier today
Marginal:Ground firmness
Ground soft in places18mm rain over the last week
Good:Growth
Growing wellgrowth potential 0.63
Good:Temperature
Temperature13°C
Good:Wind
Wind light15 km/h
Sociable hours
Fine by the neighboursstarts once the dew has burnt off

Limiting factor:ground firmness

Tuesday 8 September: Not worth it. No — 0.3mm of rain falling.

Tuesday 8 SeptemberReasonably confident

No — 0.3mm of rain falling.

Poor:Grass wetness
Grass wetdew forming, raining now
Poor:Ground firmness
Ground soft27mm rain over the last week
Marginal:Growth
Growing slowlygrowth potential 0.29
Good:Temperature
Temperature10°C
Good:Wind
Wind light6 km/h

Limiting factor:grass wetness

Wednesday 9 September: Good. midday–8pm — ground soft in places — 32mm rain over the last week

Wednesday 9 September · midday–8pmReasonably confident

midday–8pm — ground soft in places — 32mm rain over the last week

Marginal:Grass wetness
Grass dryrain earlier today
Marginal:Ground firmness
Ground soft in places32mm rain over the last week
Marginal:Growth
Growing slowlygrowth potential 0.29
Good:Temperature
Temperature11°C
Good:Wind
Wind light17 km/h
Sociable hours
Fine by the neighboursstarts once the dew has burnt off

Limiting factor:ground firmness

Thursday 10 September: Not worth it. No — 0.9mm of rain falling.

Thursday 10 SeptemberReasonably confident

No — 0.9mm of rain falling.

Poor:Grass wetness
Grass wetraining now
Poor:Ground firmness
Ground soft24mm rain over the last week
Good:Growth
Growing wellgrowth potential 0.51
Good:Temperature
Temperature11°C
Good:Wind
Wind light16 km/h

Limiting factor:grass wetness

Friday 11 September: Not worth it. No — 0.3mm of rain falling.

Friday 11 SeptemberLow confidence this far out

No — 0.3mm of rain falling.

Poor:Grass wetness
Grass wetrain earlier today
Poor:Ground firmness
Ground soft35mm rain over the last week
Good:Growth
Growing steadilygrowth potential 0.44
Good:Temperature
Temperature12°C
Good:Wind
Wind light14 km/h

Limiting factor:grass wetness

Saturday 12 September: Good. 1pm–8pm — grass dry — rain earlier today

Saturday 12 September · 1pm–8pmLow confidence this far out

1pm–8pm — grass dry — rain earlier today

Marginal:Grass wetness
Grass dryrain earlier today
Marginal:Ground firmness
Ground soft in places36mm rain over the last week
Good:Growth
Growing steadilygrowth potential 0.42
Good:Temperature
Temperature11°C
Good:Wind
Wind light15 km/h
Sociable hours
Fine by the neighboursstarts once the dew has burnt off

Limiting factor:grass wetness

Growth

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

0.92Growing 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 5.5mm 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 16.9°C at 6cm and holding above 9°C.

  • Worth watching: Ground still soft

    60mm 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

16.9°C62°F

at 6cm — germination depth

Cooling over the next 10 days.

Seeding conditions are open — soil is 16.9°C at 6cm and holding above 9°C.

Cross-checks against an independent estimate from air temperature (16.5°C), which agrees to within 1.1°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

Merthyr Tydfil, Wales in detail

Soil temperature at 6cm in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales is currently 16.9°C, and falling about 4.1°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 16.9°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–2pm, on the basis that ground soft in places — 35mm rain over the last week.

The next recommended window in Merthyr Tydfil opens at 2pm on Thursday 3 September, because that is when the dew has burnt off — earlier than that and you are cutting wet grass. Underfoot, the ground reads as soft after 60mm 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.