Gardening expert Jonny Hincks, who has almost two million Instagram followers and has written a book about gardening, shares the common lawn mowing mistake that damages your grass – and his top tips for getting perfect lawn stripes
Matt Jackson Trendswatch Content Editor
15:45, 17 Apr 2026
A garden expert says people make the same mistake when mowing their lawn(Image: Getty Images)
A gardening expert has highlighted a common “mistake” people are making when mowing their lawns. Self-described “gardening geek” Jonny Hincks was working as a firefighter when he launched his Instagram page devoted to his horticultural passion.
He has since built up a following of nearly two million and penned a book on gardening. Jonny considers lawns to be a “British thing” and often finds himself appreciating the grass whenever he visits stately homes.
Speaking on Tom Allen’s Pottering About podcast, Jonny shared his views on how frequently people should be cutting their grass. He said: “Whenever you can. If you’ve got a busy life, as and when you can, once a week.”
It was at this point he highlighted what he believes is a significant error many gardeners make. He continued: “I think the problem [is that] people make the mistake of, is that people mow it too short. It gets dry, it hasn’t got enough leaf to grow again.
“I always have my lawn quite high and that’s the best time to get the lines in there. People don’t understand how to get lines, the amount of questions I get, ‘How are you getting the lines in your lawn?’ Don’t go too short, don’t go too short.”
Jonny keeps his lawn ‘medium’ length(Image: Getty Images)
Jonny added that he then prefers to pull weeds from his garden by hand. Home gardeners wanting to achieve those coveted vertical stripes in their lawn need to ensure they’re using either a cylinder or rotary mower.
The lawn will also need to be properly prepared before its trim, according to Express.co.uk. To achieve those coveted stripes, gardeners will need to mow in one direction at a width of two mowers.
They should then mow in the opposite direction, again at a width of two mowers, repeating the process until the desired striped effect is achieved.
Fellow gardening expert Alan Titchmarsh is also a well-known advocate of the classic striped lawn. In a video on his Gardening with Alan Titchmarsh YouTube channel, he said: “I like stripes on mine but I’m organic, I don’t use weedkillers, I do very little to it.
“The stripes come as a result of having a rotary mower with a heavy rear roller. The stripes that look darker are where the mower has come towards you and bent the grass towards you, and the paler ones are where the grass is lying away, it’s as simple as that.”
Scarifying or raking a lawn with a grass rake to remove dead thatch weeds and moss(Image: Getty Images)
Alan describes his lawn care routine as “simple”, regularly raking out moss before giving it a feed in spring. Once the moss has been raked out, he prefers to leave it on the ground, as it makes “great nesting material” for birds.
Gardeners wanting to maintain their lawns have been urged to do some jobs now. According to the Royal Horticulture Society, April is a good time to define your lawn edges by “using a half-moon edging iron or spade , creating a 7.5cm (3in) ‘gutter’ around the lawn. This will prevent grass creeping from the lawn into your borders”.
Another job that can be done now it says is to repair any bumps and hollows in your grass. This can be done “by peeling back the turf, removing or adding soil, then replacing the turf”.
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