Grass mowing


The ACT annual mowing season has finished. The current mowing passes will be finalised in the coming weeks. Areas to be mown during the autumn and winter periods will be completed as required.

The ACT's annual mowing program normally runs from September to March. During the mowing program, suburbs and areas of open space are mown every 20 available days and arterial roads are mown every 25 available days (weather permitting).

Recent mowing

The mowing map below shows where our crews have recently mowed. It is updated weekly on Mondays using satellite tracking data.

Mowing program information

Select a topic below to read more about the mowing program.

About our mowing program

The City Services crews are well trained and equipped with an appropriate mowing fleet to maintain grassed areas across parks, paths, laneways connecting streets, alongside roads and on sporting fields. Mowing these areas across the ACT helps:

  • maintain the presentation of the city
  • reduce the risk to suburbs if there is a bushfire - by reducing fire fuel
  • improve access - allowing people to use our open spaces
  • increase safety - ensuring line of sight for motorists
  • the environment - reducing weed seed, creating habitat for endangered species (e.g. Golden Sun Moth) and promoting growth of native grass species.

If you have any feedback relating to our mowing program, please visit Fix My Street.

Mowing frequency

During the mowing program:

  • suburbs and areas of open space are mown every 20 available days
  • arterial roads are mown every 25 available days (weather permitting).

Sportsgrounds and irrigated park areas are mown more frequently to ensure they are suitable for sport and recreational use.

Mowing fleet and process

There are 82 mowers in the fleet, and 12 of these mowers are dedicated to mowing sporting fields. Our fleet consists of a range of mowers sized to deliver mowing services for the variety of urban open spaces we maintain, from laneways to large open areas.

Following a successful trial of one electric mower in the 2022-23 season, the ACT Government now has replaced 4 diesel powered mowers with electric mowers. The electric mowers require minimal maintenance, with no grease points or belts and tubeless tyres which help to achieve excellent cutting results and rider comfort.

Safety is paramount. Mowing along high-speed roads requires extra care to ensure safety and minimise disruption to traffic. This means some mowing is conducted outside of regular business hours.

Mowing around trees, signs, park furniture, bollards and other obstacles increases the time required to cover an area.

We also avoid mowing directly under the canopy of established trees. This keeps our trees healthy by reducing the soil compaction and potential damage to tree trunks.

Mowing delays

On occasions, such as at peak growing times, grass growth rates can exceed the available mowing capacity. This may also be due to equipment failure or weather conditions.

Mowers are well maintained but do break down at times and require servicing. This means the entire fleet is not always available on any given day. To combat this the ACT Government has expanded the baseline mowing and horticultural crew to action urgent areas.

Mowing activities are not undertaken during wet weather, in order to avoid damage to surfaces and to avoid machines being bogged. In such cases, “Be Right Back” signage is often utilised to notify the community that the area is too wet to mow.

During days of Total Fire Bans, mowing activity is scaled back to reduce the risk of starting a fire.

Expanded baseline mowing and horticultural crew

Extra resources were allocated to the baseline mowing and horticultural crew for the 2022-23 and 2023-24 mowing seasons.

The expanded crew of 10 extra staff and 8 additional mowers will continue to help bolster mowing capacity in 2024-25. They will focus on higher priority areas such as line of sight safety issues.

Requests to the mowing and horticultural crew can be made through the Fix My Street. The requests will be triaged, with line of sight and safety concerns the priority.

Any maintenance of nature strips is the responsibility of the resident of adjacent property.

Mowing season and off-season

Suburban parks and public open spaces are generally mown every 20 days during peak growing periods. The mowing off-season usually falls between March and September each year. The off‑season can change depending on weather. Drought, El Niño or La Niña weather patterns impact the length of the off-season.

During the off-season the grass does not grow enough to justify more frequent mowing. Suburban parks and public open spaces are generally mown twice in the off-season. The mowing team monitor suburban parks and public open spaces during the off-season to identify where mowing is required.

Total area mowed

We are adjusting the total area we mow all the time. As of September 2024 we cover approximately 5,227 hectares in one complete pass Canberra wide.

A breakdown of the mowing area across the ACT includes:

  • arterial roads – 1,449 hectares
  • open spaces – 2,884 hectares
  • conservation (native grasslands) – 79 hectares
  • fire fuel (large open spaces on the urban fringe) – 340 hectares
  • sporting fields – 475 hectares.

Unmown areas

Mowing for fire fuels is undertaken on the urban edge according to a pre-defined Bushfire Operational Plan and is not undertaken until the grass approaches the curing (drying) level where it becomes a potential fire hazard.

Some areas of conservation significance are not mown as regularly, or not at all, to ensure conservation values are maintained. Other areas are too steep, too rocky or the trees are too close together to allow access for the mowing fleet. Typically, an unmown buffer is left around water bodies to prevent erosion or runoff into the water.

Grass clippings

Mowing provides a range of community and environmental benefits. However, grass clippings need to be managed appropriately to prevent them from entering our waterways. If they enter waterways they contribute to higher nutrient levels which can result in algal blooms.

Mowing does not occur within 5 metres of the high‐water mark of a water body other than in specified access zones or recreation areas. Specific guidelines are in place for mowing around:

  • Isabella Ponds grassland
  • Lake Ginninderra Foreshore
  • Lake Tuggeranong District Park (south).

The guidelines enable the creation of thicker grass to filter runoff before it enters a water body, and to protect significant vegetation and rare plants.

Our mower operators are trained in mowing principles and practices. This includes safe work procedures, environmental care, mechanical basics and in the field knowledge.

These mowing practices provide mitigations from grass clippings entering the storm water system. For example, mower operators ensure grass clippings are evenly spread over the area and not left in windrows. When mowing around stormwater drains or culverts they also ensure the discharge is pointing away from the drain.

When it is safe to do so, staff use blowers to blow grass clippings back onto grassed areas. The new electric mowers have a built-in air blower on the front of the machine to assist in clearing grass clippings away from footpaths.

The team also use turbo blowers and a street sweeper to move grass clippings away from gutters and hard standing areas.

Nature strips

Residents are expected to mow and maintain the nature strip adjacent to their property. For information about nature strips, including how to maintain your nature strip, please visit nature strips.

Laneway maintenance

Please note the following laneways and road verges are not mown or shown on the mowing map. This is because they are predominantly made of hard surfaces (i.e. gravel) and are instead treated quarterly with herbicide.

As of 4 April 2025, each of the below laneways has been treated with herbicide except for Dunlop and Whitlam. Works are progressing in these suburbs.

Belconnen

Dunlop: Laneways on Fleay Place, Gasking Close, Hugh Mckay Crescent / Finey Close, Kerrigan Street and Morrow Street

Evatt: Badenoch Crescent / Owen Dixon Drive

Florey: Caddy Place, Clavert Place, Hamlet Place, Sticht Place, Summerville Crescent (Next to 117)

Flynn: Joyner Crescent / Tillyard Drive

Giralang: Laneway on Lenehan Street

Higgins: Laneways on Fullagar Crescent  and Starke Street

Kaleen: Laneway on Shannon Circuit

Macgregor: Laneways on Boelke Place and Macfarlane Burnet Avenue

Melba: Verbrugghen Street / Bowden Place

Central Canberra

Ainslie: Bonney Street/Cowper Street and laneway on Salomons Place

Beard: Laneways on Copper Crescent and Spongolite Street

Braddon: Laneways on Coolac Place, Elimatta Street and Girrahween Street

Campbell: Laneways on Blamey Crescent, Chauvel Street, Chowne Street, Cobby Street, Edmondson Street, Gellibrand Street, Getting Crescent, Glossop Crescent, Jacka Place, Patey Street, Rankin Street, Savige Place, Vasey Crescent and Waller Crescent

Dickson: Laneways on Archer Street, Dooring Street, Lowrie Street, Moncrieff Street and Wilshire Street

Downer: Laneway on Atherton Street

Hackett: Laneways on Bragg Street, Gilbert Street, Grayson Street, Mackenzie Street, Mills Street, Newton Street, Rivett Street, Selwyn Street and Taylor Place

Kingston: Road verge on Charles Francis Lane

Lyneham: Laneways on Fairweather Circuit and Glover Street

O'Connor: Road verge on Hardman Street and laneways on Macpherson Street and Moorhouse Street

Turner: Laneways on Froggatt Street, Hackett Gardens and Hale Crescent

Watson: Laneways on Andrews Street, Dobbie Place, Higinbotham Street, Irvine Street, Wade Street and Williams Street

Gungahlin

Amaroo: Laneway on Magenta Square

Bonner: Pedestrian parkland on Clancy Mckenna Crescent

Crace: Laneways on Chance Street and Langtree Crescent

Forde: Laneway and road verge on Dickins Street

Franklin: Laneways on Henry Kendall Street and Maclurcan Street

Gungahlin: Laneways on Boreham Street, Braggett Street, Delvin Street, Donnelly Lane, Eckley Street, Fishlock Lane, Huyer Street, Mawby Street and Sarre Street

Harrison: Laneways on Carpentaria Street and Combo Court

Ngunnawal: Ngunnawal shopping centre, Wanganeen Avenue road verge and laneways on Biala Place, Bunduluk Crescent, Colleano Street, Gurrit Place, Kaga Place, Maynard Street, Minnta Place, Mundang Crescent, Tana Place, Tarra Place and Warrumbul Street

Nicholls: Road verge on Dooland Court and laneways on Arthaldo Court, Beal Place, Blanc Court, Cottam Place, Dobbin Circuit, Kelleway Avenue, Massie Place, Rumbelow Court and Weetman Place

Palmerston: Laneways on Arid Place, Corona Place, Hale Place, Ippia Place, Lambell Close, Leal Place, Macedon Crescent, Mainwaring Rich Circuit, Namadgi Circuit, Narryer Close, Narryer Close, Tinderry Circuit, Tiptree Crescent and Weddin Circuit

Tuggeranong

Fadden: Laneway on Bugden Avenue

Macarthur: Laneway on Kater Close

Woden, Weston Creek and Molonglo

Chapman: Neil Place, Niblo Place, Ordell Street and Titheradge Place

Coombs: Road verge on Calaby Street

Holder: Holder shopping centre

Isaacs: Byatt Place

Phillip: Laneways on Barnet Close and Tank Street

Stirling: Crowder Circuit, McKail Crescent, Norrish Place, Schoales Place and Tuckey Place

Weston: Ironside Street

Wright: Laneways on Alex Colley Crescent, Grace Perry Street and Harriott Street

Whitlam: Laneway on Criterion Lane

Related links

Acknowledgement of Country

We acknowledge the Ngunnawal people as traditional custodians of the ACT and recognise any other people or families with connection to the lands of the ACT and region. We acknowledge and respect their continuing culture and the contribution they make to the life of this city and this region.

To see how we are building stronger relationships with the Traditional Custodians of the ACT view the Reconciliation Action Plan.