When to mow your grass if you have bulbs in your lawn

Not sure when to mow your grass if you have bulbs in your lawn? It’s worth finding out if you want to avoid cutting the blooms short this season.

If you’re wondering when to start cutting your grass after winter, you wouldn’t be the only one – it’s a hot topic of conversation between gardeners up and down the country this month. If you’ve got bulbs like daffodils in your lawn, though, the guidelines are slightly different – and you’ll likely have to wait a bit longer to give your grass its first cut of the year, or at least take extra caution, if you want your spring flowers to flower to their fullest potential.

I asked the experts when to mow your grass if you have bulbs in your lawn to make sure you don’t ruin this (and next!) spring’s displays.

What you’ll need

The first mow of the year is one of the most important dates in a gardener’s lawn care calendar – trim too soon, and you might cause unnecessary damage.

If you’ve got spring bulbs in your lawn, though, there’s even more to think about. Cutting away freshly grown daffodil, tulip or hyacinth foliage will not only spoil this year’s displays, but also weaken the bulbs and impact next year’s flowers.

So, when should you mow your grass if you have bulbs in your lawn, then?

‘Wait until most of the flowers have finished blooming and the petals have dropped,’ advises Cheryl Harper, managing director of Greensleeves Lawn Care. ‘This allows the bulb foliage to continue photosynthesising and storing energy for next year’s display.’

That might mean you’ll have to put up with long grass for a little while longer (although I’m not mowing my overgrown lawn yet either, just to be on the safe side) – but it’ll mean you get to enjoy the flowers for longer and preserve the bulbs’ strength for next spring.

It’s also wise to look out for signs that the foliage is ready to be cut back, just like you would when daffodils have finished flowering.

‘If you want to enjoy the flowers year after year, you should wait until after the flowers have withered and the foliage has turned yellow before cutting your grass,’ agrees Jonathan Davis, grass expert at Lawnsmith. ‘Doing it any sooner could damage them and prevent the leaves from absorbing the energy they need to come back next year.’

Or, of course, there’s nothing stopping you from mowing around the bulbs, or even using a cordless strimmer like the Ryobi OLT1832 ONE+ Cordless Grass Trimmer from Amazon for more precision.

‘As great as bulbs can look in a lawn, I’d advise keeping them to edges if you want to maintain a short lawn over spring and summer,’ says Chris McIlroy, lawn expert at The Grass People. ‘Alternatively, you can trim around the bulbs when you neaten up your lawn.’

So, if you must mow your grass later this month, make sure you avoid the foliage from the bulbs in your lawn. Or, wait until the flowers and foliage have died back before you give the whole area a trim.