EXCLUSIVE: With reports of a record-breaking heatwave set to hit parts of the country this week, King Charles’ ex gardener has shared why one gardening chore should be avoided in the hot weather
Cyclical maintenance with lawns isn’t always the best way, Jack claims
King Charles’ former gardener, Jack Stooks, has some advice for those planning to mow their lawns this weekend. With a surging heat wave set to hit central and eastern parts of America, many will be opting to venture out outdoors.
According to CBS News, the weather will bring several days of record high temperatures at the start of the weekend, and into next week. The National Weather Service has called it “the first significant heat wave this season.”
While the sun is beaming, Jack has urged gardening lovers to take mowing the lawn off of their to-do list. He advised: “You shouldn’t be cutting lawns when it’s too hot, so if you can get away with cutting lawns, really just don’t cut your lawns.
“I know they might look a bit scraggly for a couple weeks but, you know, once you’ve got the rain coming down and in, then cut them.”
According to Jack, this approach will help your lawn “green up quite quickly”, compared to “constantly cutting them”.
Jack Stooks worked at the King’s Highgrove House Gardens for over 20 years(Image: GETTY)
He further explained: “If you’re constantly cutting them, week after week like the normal cyclical maintenance that you would normally do on lawns, ideally you want to stop that when it’s too hot and just allow the grass to just be.
“Because otherwise, you’d be taking all of the nutrients out of the grass the whole time, and all of moisture in the leaves as well.”
Speaking to Reach PLC, Jack, who spent over 20 years working at the King’s UK Highgrove House Gardens, revealed he had left his own lawn untouched for “about three weeks”.
“So when it rained, the last time it rained down here I then quickly gave it a cut, but again I went a bit higher than I normally would.
“I don’t think it matters, you know, having it a little bit longer, and then once you do cut it, it does cut quite quickly off because it’s not obviously really going crazy, because it’s so hot.
“So you’re getting sort of scraggly bits coming up, but it’s not like a full mat of grass that you normally would have if it was quite lush and moist,” he added.
Jack Stooks shared his tips(Image: Jack Stooks shared his top )
So how do you achieve a perfect lawn?
Jack believes that maintaining a perfect lawn doesn’t have to be complex. He suggests letting it be “as natural as possible” could actually save you a regular job.
“But if you want to have that perfect green, you know, constant cutting, you’ve then got to think about cutting it weekly,” he added.
Moreover, weekly maintenance could also lead to higher water costs.
He continued: “You’ve got to think about if it’s dry, you got to then keep watering it, which will then just incur your costs on all your water bills. If we’ve then got hosepipe bans, you know that will then cause a whole lot of problems as well.”
To avoid this, Jack advises: “When it’s raining is ideally when you want to start feeding the lawn and you can buy really made lawn feed now, or you can put like a nitrogen fertiliser on it,” believed to be an excellent way to promote lush, green, and healthy grass.