Mowing your lawn is an effective way to keep your lawn in top shape this season. Regularly mowing your lawn as grass grows ensures they look great and conforms to the aesthetics of your yard area. Depending on how you mow the lawn, you could either be hurting or helping it look better. Many lawn problems are caused by poor mowing techniques – either by mowing with dull blades or not following the rules.
Implement these 5 mowing tips to take your skills from an amateur to those of a professional.
1. Don’t mow wet grass
There are several reasons why it is not a good idea to mow wet grass. Don’t be tempted by the fact that water makes grass softer for the blades to work on. The quality of grass cutting will be affected because the mow blades find it difficult to keep up with the required speed. Wet grass clippings clog the blade area, hereby impeding the speed progress.
The lawnmower’s ability to mulch grasses into finer pieces is hampered by wet grass. This ends up leaving large clumps along the mowing part for you to rake up. The formed clumps can also get stuck inside the mower’s deck which can impede the function.
By slowing the mower’s blade, the cutting quality is drastically reduced. Instead of cutting grass, your mower could actually be tearing them in half.
2. Mow inline with the seasons
Seasonal changes require some lawn mowing adjustments. In times of stress and bad weather, grasses ought to be left longer to cope with bad conditions. The reverse is the case with good weather conditions. Drought, disease, newly planted growing grass, and transplant recovery grasses are some of the conditions that require you to leave them longer than is required.
The longer the grass at this times the more it shields the soil from the sun. This means that the soil stays moist for longer periods of time. Weeds also, won’t get enough sunlight to grow well.
Be mindful that the longer the grass, the stronger the root system, so your lawn is more prone to resist drought.
3. Use the 1/3 Rule
Adhering to this rule means you always cut your grass on or before it reaches 1/3 of your desired cutting height. When you mow your lawn ensure you don’t trim out 1/3 of the grass height. For example, if you want 1-inch of grass height, allow it to grow to about 1.5 inches before cutting it.
If you cut too much out, you might end up stunting the growth process of your lawn grass. Rather than developing properly, they will start dying out. Apart from stunted growth, lawn grasses are left with little to no resistance for diseases and bad weather conditions.
If your lawn grasses grow too fast and you aren’t predisposed to mowing on regular bases, consider setting a longer grass length for your lawn — learn more here.
4. Mulch grass clippings as often as possible
It’s always a good idea to mulch grass clippings rather than bagging them. Mulching returns valuable nutrients that would have been lost, back into the soil. Please note that not all lawnmowers have the mulching feature. So, you need a suitable mower to do that. On Green Machinery, you can learn more about the mulching lawn mowers in the market. The benefit is seen on healthier and thick growing grasses. You have to adhere to the 1/3 rule to see the full benefits of mulching.
If you mulch this way, there will be more grass clippings blocking sunlight from reaching the remaining blades of grass. In cases like this, bag the grass clipping rather than mulching them back to the soil.
5. Sharp blades are a must
It’s extremely important that you keep the lawnmower blades sharp at all times to improve the cutting quality. The quality of the cut is directly proportional to the sharpness of your blades. With dull blades you will end up tearing grasses rather than cutting them. Sharp blades cut through grasses with a clean-cut allowing for more healthy growth while dull blades tear grasses leaving behind rough edges.
The rough or ragged edges left by dull blades can start to blown out instead of growing healthy. This would impact the overall aesthetics of your lawn, the look and disease resistance are also negatively impacted.
When it comes to grass mulching a sharp blade is needed to shed grasses into fine pieces fit enough for the soil.
To maintain sharp blades at all times, carry out routine maintenance after using a well-built corded electric lawn mower. Inspect the edges on the blades and look closely at the tip of grasses to access blade sharpness.