Garden - Summer Photos and Getting Striped Grass with Flymo

June 12, 2017


I love this time of year for the garden when everything is in bloom. I've been meaning to write more garden posts for a while, I've got so many photos ready to go with this year's update so far {you can see last year and how we got to this stage here and this Spring here}. People have also messaged me about writing a post for planting in borders and roses, so I promise all of that is to come as soon as there's a rainy day but for today I'd love to share some grass secrets. I'm my Father's Daughter when it comes to lawn appreciation, he's obsessed with his lawn and cuts the most perfect stripes. If it was up to Ben he'd dig all of this up and use it as a vegetable plot! But I'm very traditional when it comes to gardens, and whilst I'm all for wild looking overflowing flowers and borders, I think you need some green grass to lay on and define the whole thing. So when Flymo got in touch to see if I'd be up for a challenge in the garden cutting stripes into the grass with their new lawnmower of course I said yes. Lots of photos of our garden currently below and my thoughts on the Flymo Chevron mower.



We created our garden to have four squares of grass to give it some interest rather than one big wide looking empty space. Whilst it looks really great and neat to look out on when it's freshly cut, the minute it gets too long it really shows. We've been meaning to get a new lawnmower for ages, ours was old and heavy which made me reluctant to get it out and cut the grass but over the past few weeks I've been using the new Flymo which is so much lighter and cuts like a dream. It literally almost flies across the grass yet has a roller at the back to give some stripey action. It also has a clear bit on the grass collector box so you can see when it's full {although to be honest you can feel when it's full as it falls backwards with the weight}. I have to empty it about four times for our garden, more or less once for each square but it's so quick and easy now.


Before; patchy long grass that made the garden feel a bit of a mess.



First up; I strim all the edges using an electric strimmer.



After a quick assembly {thanks Ben!} I was ready to go.


I always set the cutting level to a 2/3, you don't want to go too low with it or it will scorch the grass and turn it yellow, especially at the moment when it's warm and dry.


I start with the bottom corner of one of the square beds. You make stripes by going up one way and down the next so that the blades of grass are cut in opposing directions. 


I go straight up one row and then at the end lift the lawnmower up slightly to stop it cutting {or you could turn it off but then you'd be constantly turning on and off} before turning it around and going back down the other way making sure I follow the line to see exactly where has been cut.




There's something so satisfying about cutting grass. I know a lot of people think of it as the man's responsibility {sexist right?!} but seeing as Ben has no interest in grass then I'm more than happy to do it. It feels like the equivalent of hoovering the kitchen?! 



You can see the difference in where I've cut. The hardest part is keeping your lines straight but really you don't notice too much once it's done.


I recently signed up to Lawn Science to come and treat the grass each quarter with a weed and feed, it's amazing value and really does make a difference to the grass. I've tried buying the stuff and doing it myself in the past but unless you really know what you're doing, it can do more damage than good.












Four sections later and it's all done! It suddenly makes the garden look so much neater, and even bigger looking out at it all with short green grass.





Some other garden photos of late;



Lupins, roses and alliums.


David Austin rose obsessed.



Coral charm peonies.




Foxgloves.





Daisies. I'm a big fan of white and pink together.













I can't wait to have our patio and landscaping finished now so we can have somewhere to sit out and BBQ again! We've also got big plans for a timber clad garage and greenhouse which I cannot wait for. So watch this space for the next garden project or two!

Are you a neat grass freak like me or a more wild at heart girl? We do have a little wild section at the top next to the shed which I want to naturalise bulbs and bluebells in so I think it's lovely to have a mixture. 

You can find more about the Flymo mowers here  where there is something for everybody, even a robotic mower so you can sit back and let it do the hard work for you haha! Please let me know if you've ever tried this, it sounds amazing?! 

R <3 xx 

{This post was in collaboration with Flymo but as always all opinions are 100% my own and I would never promote something that I didn't truly love and wouldn't pay for myself}

You Might Also Like

1 comments

  1. We have a predecessor to that Flymo; we've had it for 16 years now, and before that for however many years it was my Great-Nana's - she passed it onto us when we had our first house / garden as she was no longer able to use it. I can't see it giving up, and it makes me smile to think of her 😊 Yoir garden's looking lovely - like our roses, yours are very happy this year. Have a happy summer ☀️🌺🐝

    ReplyDelete

@rvk_loves on Instagram