Cutting grass: On TAG24 you can find out how you can tell that the grass has survived the frost well and what you have to do differently with the pampas grass!
Cutting the grasses is one of those Gardening in February, which should definitely be done. What you have to pay attention to and between which grasses there is an important difference, you will find out afterwards!
Deciduous grasses need to be cut once a year. © 123rf/vladdon
When it comes to cutting grass in the garden, you have to differentiate between two types of grass, namely between deciduous and evergreen grasses.
- Deciduous grasses such as fountain grass or Chinese reed slowly dry up in autumn, while evergreen grasses such as carex or acorus stay green all winter.
- Hardy grasses are usually easier to care for because they do not necessarily have to be cut back. Deciduous grasses, on the other hand, have to be cut down once a year.
You can find more tips worth knowing in the House & Garden Guide!
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When do you cut grass?
The best time to prune your grasses is from late winter to early spring.
However, you should not wait too long, otherwise the grass will drift through from below and you will damage the fresh stalks when you cut them back. This is particularly important with the pampas grass. This is namely not cut, but only plastered.
Winterizing grasses The dried stalks of the grass protect the roots from frost in winter. © 123RF/ramilf
Deciduous grasses are very sensitive to cold and do not like waterlogging. The simple reason why you don’t cut them in the fall is that the dried leaves are the perfect protection against the freezing cold are. To do this, simply tie the individual grasses together in the middle. In this way, the rain flows down along the stalks and the roots are protected from waterlogging and frost.
Important tips for cutting grass
Evergreen grasses are often ground covers. They don’t get particularly tall and also grow in demanding areas, such as in partial shade or in nutrient-poor soil.
Deciduous grasses are great eye-catchers and usually have many fruit stems. They have to be cut annually, otherwise they will die over time.
Tipp: Most grasses have sharp leaves. To protect your hands from cuts, you should definitely wear gloves.
Cut evergreen grasses
Evergreen grasses are much easier to care for because they don’t actually have to be cut at all.
If you want, you can cut out brown tips here and there for optical reasons, but this is not a must.
In the case of evergreen grasses, the tips damaged by frost are easily cut off in the spring. © 123RF/spring75
Cut deciduous grass
The opposite is true for deciduous grasses. They need a real radical cut and need to be pruned down heavily. If you don’t do this, withered stems prevent new shoots from growing and the plant ultimately cannot survive.
1st step: Die Cut off flower stems.
2nd step: Cut the stalks about ten centimeters above the ground.
3rd step: Discard leaves and cut stems.
The remaining stalks show whether the grass made it through the frosty winter without being damaged.
In the picture you can see quite well that a few green stalks are sprouting out of the ground. But even if this is not the case, you can tell from a slight purple shimmer on the old stalks that the plant will soon sprout.
Tipp: In the best case, you tied the grass together with a ribbon in the middle over the winter. Only remove the tape after cutting. This way you can easily get to the stalks and cut them off directly above the ground. The leaves are also easier to dispose of.
Deciduous grasses are usually cut down completely. © 123rf/vladdon
Cut pampas grass
The pampas grass is very popular. With its lush fruit stems, it is a real eye-catcher. It also belongs to the deciduous grasses, but is usually not simply cut down, but cleaned out.
1st step: Identify withered stalks and old fruit stems.
2nd step: Carefully cut away these stalks.
Be careful not to cut off any green shoots.
3rd step: Discard cut foliage.
The pampas grass sprout very quickly, which is why it is better to just trim the grass. If you simply cut back the withered stalks at a height, as with other deciduous grasses, you would also remove the fresh shoots.
Dispose of or recycle grass clippings If you don’t want to throw away the flowers of the pampas grass, you can decorate with them. © 123RF/vyshniakova
After cutting back, you often have a lot of garden waste for which the green bin is not enough. Since you are only allowed to burn garden waste in your own garden in the rarest of cases, you have to resort to other options, i.e. either dispose of the green waste properly or:
The beautiful flowers of the grass can be used for decoration or handicrafts.
Conclusion: cutting grass is not complicated
Cutting the grass in the garden is not complicated, but it is time-consuming. The older and larger the grass, the more work there is. However, it is necessary for deciduous grasses in particular, because if they are not cut annually, the dried stalks will prevent the grass from sprouting in spring. That can lead to this coming in.
