Keeping Your Lawn Healthy and Beautiful: Top Tips

Posted by Ryan Justin on October 14th, 2016

Mowing a lawn does seem rather straightforward. On the other hand, the way you mow it determines whether your lawn will flourish or fail. If you do it in the right manner, you will be ensuring the health of the grass while reducing the possibilities of weed growth. If you fail to do so, your lawn is going to find it difficult to thrive.

Mowing properly makes it easier to implement garden ideas to uplift the beauty of your home. Make use of the following tips while you mow the lawn or garden ensures that this is the case.

Maintain Perfect Height

The height of the grass must always be taken into account. You should never end up cutting the grass too short. Cutting it too short, or scalping, can make your lawn vulnerable to weeds and diseases. Moreover, it makes your lawn sparse exposing the topsoil to the elements. This increases the chances of weeds as more sunlight is able to reach the weed seedlings. The susceptibility to damage by high temperatures and droughts also increases.

A rule of thumb is never to cut your grass to one-third of its maximum blade length. This keeps your lawn healthy.

Keep Your Blades Sharpened

If your want the best results, you must keep the blade of the mower sharp. Sharp blades ensure a clean cut which heals faster. A dull blade, on the other hand, will tear off the grass creating jagged edges. It becomes easier for the diseases and pests to use this jagged edges to infect the grass. The grass will also turn brownish as their tips start dying. As such, sharpen the blades before mowing. Additionally, you should remove the stones and thick branches to prevent damage to the blades.

Change the Patterns

While mowing, it is easy to fall into a pattern. The grass will start developing a grain based on the cutting direction you follow. Therefore, you will not end up with a satisfactory cut after a few times as the grass will start leaning towards the mowing direction. Therefore, change your pattern every time you mow. If you have been cutting north to south then reverse the direction for your next cut. Alternate patterns will keep the grass upright and prevents ruts.

Mow When Dry

Dry grass is ideal for mowing. While mowing wet grass will not harm it, it will affect the mower and fail to produce good results. The wet grass tends to clog the mower deck. Moreover, it clumps together resulting in an uneven cut. Watch out for the wet grass falling off the mower. Remove these clumps to prevent the grass being damaged. You must never mow in soggy soil as it tears up the grass and creates wheel ruts.

Mow when Cool

You should also take care to mow when the conditions are cool. In other words, never mow in the middle of the afternoon. It can cause heat stress on the grass. In fact, grass can actually be stressed significantly when mowed. When mowed in the heat, the grass will start losing more water. This slows down their recovery rate. Wait till the day turns cooler or there is enough shade on the lawn. This decreases water loss and improves recovery.

Let the Clippings Be

It is always a good idea to leave the grass clippings on the lawn after mowing. Don’t get rid of them. It will save you considerable effort. Moreover, it is one of the best garden ideas for your lawn. These clippings can act as mulch that decompose and fertilize the lawn.

If you think that mowing your lawn is too much for you, get in touch with a lawn mower service. They will take care of your lawn and ensure proper cuts all the time.