The great British striped lawn is iconic. We love the uniformed, neat look and finish it gives, but how can you get stripes in your lawn? Let the experts at Flymo explain...
Adding a stripe to your lawn is relatively simple. All you need is a lawn mower with a rear roller. Typically, rear rollers are found on rotary lawn mowers. Stripes are added to the lawn by flattening and bending the grass as you cut the grass. This in turn, changes the angle at which the light reflects off the grass blade, giving the impression that the grass is a different colour.
The colour that the stripe appears is dependent on how far you bend the blades of grass. The further you bend and flatten the grass, the darker and more intense the colour of the stripe will appear. Because the colour of the stripes is created by reflecting light, the colour may look different depending on where you are standing in the garden.
To achieve a perfectly striped lawn, you first need to consider the direction of the stripes you want? Do you want them horizontally or vertically? Do you want the first stripe to be light or dark? Once you know this you will know where to start mowing the lawn.
For gardens where it is difficult to turn the lawn mower at either end of the garden, it may be beneficial to first cut around the perimeter of the garden to get an even cut and a nicer looking lawn. When adding the first stripe to your lawn, ensure you are at right angles to the perimeter. Use an object like a fence etc. as a rough guide. When you get to the end of the lawn, turn your lawn mower around and come back in the opposite direction.
When adding new stripes, try and overlap the previous stripe slightly. This will help ensure that you do not miss any patches of grass that may spoil the look of your lawn. Try and use the same overlap distance for each stripe to make sure your stripes are equal in width. Use something obvious as a guide.
To add a wider stripe to your lawn simply go down your second stripe again in the same direction as the previous line to ensure the grass is bent in the same direction. If you cut the grass regularly and add stripes, you must remember to alternate the mowing direction every couple of weeks. Failure to do this will encourage uneven and indirect growth which may affect the look and feel of your lawn.
