Why Yorkshire gardeners will now have to mow all year long

CHANGES in Britain's climate could condemn gardeners in Yorkshire to having to cut the grass almost all year long, an expert said today.
Changes in the UK climate could mean an end to "immaculate" lawns and the rise of new plant pests and diseases, according to a report.Changes in the UK climate could mean an end to "immaculate" lawns and the rise of new plant pests and diseases, according to a report.
Changes in the UK climate could mean an end to "immaculate" lawns and the rise of new plant pests and diseases, according to a report.

The colder, wetter northern weather will mean that greener, fresher lawns will grow in all seasons except the most severe cold spells, overtaking spring daffodils and crocuses, according to a report by the Royal Horticultural Society.

“If you want fine grass, it’s more work and more scarifying,” Paul Cook, curator at the society’s Harlow Carr garden in Harrogate, said.

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Nationally, changes in the climate could mean an end to “immaculate” lawns and the rise of new plant pests and diseases, the report says.

The south of England is predicted to become warmer and drier, while the northern half, from Yorkshire to Scotland, will become cooler and wetter, resulting in an extended growing season.

An RHS survey of 1,000 gardeners found those in the north reported mowing their lawns more often than those in the south.

The society concluded the change could mean gardens will need more mowing, weeding and pruning and a wider variety of plants could be grown, while gardeners will have to take steps to ensure the survival of flowers such as the tulip, aster and allium in increased rainfall.

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Mr Cook said: “Of all the things people notice, it’s the fact that gardeners are out cutting their grass right up to Christmas. “The mower is hardly put away now, apart from very severe cold snaps. January was the only month we didn’t mow.”

He added: “In the summer, as the southern gardens get baked they will reduce their cutting while we will continue.”

Guy Barter, the chief RHS horticulturist, said advances in climate science since the society’s last report in 2002 had shown its prediction of Mediterranean temperatures was now more varied.

He said: “I think we are really looking back about 20 to 30 years and in that time the growing season has got longer, average temperatures have gone up.

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“We can take a much more nuanced view of it now. Fifteen years ago we tended to think it was going to be a Mediterranean climate in the summer and the wet, warm winters.

“Now we can see the climate is going to be much more variable.”