If you want to keep your lawn lush this summer, it is crucial to mow it properly. Following proper mowing techniques is one key to growing a healthy, lush lawn that can resist stress and damage from high temperatures. This article will share some mowing tips to help you achieve the lawn of your dreams this year.
What to Know About Mowing and Lawns
How Mowing Affects Grass
Before discussing how to make a lawn more lush by mowing, let’s first understand how mowing affects your turfgrass.
Chances are you’ve been mowing your lawn so that it looks neat and well-manicured. There’s just something satisfying about a clean, evenly mowed lawn. Still, this simple lawn care task can do much more than boost your yard’s appearance and curb appeal. If you do mowing right, it can benefit the grass in many ways.
First, mowing stimulates the grass to spread roots and, in some grass varieties, stolons and rhizomes. You have probably noticed at some point that grass will weave even through cracks on a concrete sidewalk just to gain a foothold to grow. Healthy grass will grow wide, deep, and tall to crowd out any competition from weeds.
Proper mowing encourages the grass to grow deeper and wider roots because you’re taking away one of its survival strategies—its vertical growth. Since the grass cannot grow any taller because you keep cutting its blades, it will focus its energy on growing deeper (roots) and wider (stolons/rhizomes). Deeper and thicker roots will better enable the grass to resist summer stress.
Proper mowing will make your lawn less appealing to pests like mosquitoes and fleas. It is also helpful for weed management. You cut weeds when you mow, too, preventing them from forming seeds that could spread throughout your lawn.
Seven Mowing Tips for a Lush Lawn
Lawn mowing may seem simple. After all, you just have to turn your lawn mower on and go back and forth until you cut all grass to the same height. But there are actually many considerations to ensure that mowing will benefit your lawn beyond keeping it beautiful.
Keep the following lawn mowing tips in mind for your next mowing session:
1. Set the Proper Blade Height
If you haven’t adjusted the wheel height on your mower, now is the time to do so. Specifically, cut your grass 7-8 cm tall. Mowing to that height may seem quite high to some people, but it is best for your lawn. It is also a responsible thing to do, especially during summer when water may be scarce.
Mowing to the recommended height means your grass keeps longer blades, which provides several benefits. It gives more shade, which keeps the soil cooler and enables moisture to stay longer. More shade also makes it more difficult for weed seeds to get the sunlight required to sprout. In case weeds have already sprouted and taken over your lawn, you’ll find it beneficial to hire an expert in lawn care near you to manage these unwanted plants.
2. Mow Once a Week (May-September)
Like mowing height, mowing frequency also determines the appearance and health of your lawn. Generally, it is up to you how often you want to mow your lawn. After all, not everyone has the time and energy to do this task frequently. But if you want your lawn to stay lush and healthy this season, we recommend mowing once weekly starting in May and ending in early September.
3. Don’t Mow With Dull Blades
Dull mowing blades will still get the job done, but they’ll do so poorly. A lawn mower’s blade spins to cut the grass. If the blade is sharp enough, it will cleanly slice through each grass blade. But if the blade is dull, it will catch the grass and tear it rather than slice it. The grass will end up shredded.
After mowing, the tips of the grass blades are like open wounds. Because dull blades do not cut the grass cleanly, healing takes longer. During recovery, the lawn is much more susceptible to pests, diseases, and drought. The grass can die if you repeatedly mow it too short with dull blades.
If you want a lush, green lawn this season, you’ll need to ensure your lawn mower blades are sharp. Some signs your mower blades need sharpening or replacement include grass tips turning brown or white a couple of days after mowing, whole clumps getting yanked out of the ground, and an engine that sounds like it’s struggling. If you’re sharpening the blade, be sure to wear safety equipment.
4. Don’t Cut Too Much at Once
If you are unable to mow your lawn for a few weeks during its growth period because you are away from home or just too busy, you may be tempted to cut too much at once to achieve the recommended height. However, you are removing the grass’ food-producing parts. This will starve the grass and stress it out.
Additionally, cutting too much at once will leave your lawn more susceptible to diseases and weed invasion. That’s why it is recommended not to take off more than one-third of the grass blade at a time. Follow this one-third rule each mowing session until you reach the desired height.
5. Bag the Clippings
If you are new to lawn care and are wondering whether to bag or not to bag, we recommend the former, especially in overgrown lawns. Bagging the clippings prevents the development of brown spots or tufts of brown, dried grass on your property, leaving your lawn looking crisp, green, and neat. Aside from aesthetic benefits, bagging grass clippings also allows fresh-cut grass to breathe and prevents clumps of leaves from smothering your grass.
However, note that the clippings do not have to go to waste. You can add them to your compost. Decomposed grass clippings can add more essential nutrients, including nitrogen, to your natural fertilizer.
6. Regularly Change Your Mowing Patterns
Each time you mow your lawn, you create a mowing pattern. Mowing in the same rows multiple times compacts the soil. Compacted soil isn’t good for your lawn, as it prevents water, oxygen, and other essentials from efficiently reaching the roots. In fact, aerating compacted lawns is part of organic lawn care.
Additionally, mowing in the same pattern wears out the grass in the tire tracks. So, the next time you mow, pay attention to your lawn mowing pattern and change it. If you don’t know any mowing patterns, consider trying the most common ones, including stripes, curves, and circles. Other variations worth trying are concentric circles, checkerboards, and diamonds.
7. Don’t Mow in High Heat
Aside from the fact that you can suffer from heat stroke, mowing when it’s too hot outdoors runs the risk of causing long-term damage to the lawn. When temperatures are high, your lawn is likely already under heat stress. Mowing will just shock and stress the grass further, possibly causing unsightly brown patches to appear.
Keep a Lush Lawn This Season With LawnMart’s Help
Proper mowing is just one of the keys to maintaining a lush, green lawn in the summer. You’ll also need to ensure the grass stays hydrated, gets enough nutrients, and is protected against pests and diseases. Additionally, you must keep weeds from overtaking the lawn. Lawn care in Toronto can be a lot of work, but LawnMart is here to take most of the maintenance tasks off your plate. Though we leave the mowing and watering to you, we offer several lawn care services for residential and commercial clients, including fertilization, weed control, aeration, and spot seeding.
If you have inquiries or would like a free quote, please don’t hesitate to talk to our friendly staff. Contact us today.