Avoid These Mowing Mistakes

To ensure that your lawn flourishes, you will want to ensure that your lawn care routines consists of watering, fertilization, and weeding. However, even if your grass is strong and healthy, it is possible to damage it if you mow it the wrong way. For instance, there are certain mowing techniques that can result in uneven cuts or even flatten your mowing blades over time. Here are a few mistakes that you will want avoid while mowing to ensure your yard continues to look great.

Using Dull Mowing Blades

If you mow the lawn with unsharpened blades, the grass may fray or rip, making it much harder for the grass to retain moisture. As a result, you may notice yellowish or brownish tips. If your lawnmower is not producing clean, smooth cuts, you should either sharpen the mower blades or purchase replacement blades.

Mowing While the Grass Is Wet

You may not realize it, but rainwater can cause the grass blades to be weighed down, which leaves them matted and bent. If you decide to mow the yard when it is saturated, you will end up with an uneven cut. In addition, it can result in thick and wet clumps of grass clippings that can smother the lawn and keep the grass from absorbing the sunlight.

Cutting the Grass Too Short

To keep from having to mow the lawn too frequently, you may try to over-trim the yard. However, as a general rule, grass will thrive at about 2.5 to 3 inches high. If you cut the grass any shorter than this, it will make it difficult for it to process water and sunlight, weakening the roots and leaving the lawn susceptible to weeds.

Mowing in Only One Direction

Grass tends to grow in the direction that it is mowed in. Therefore, if you mow the grass in the same pattern and direction each and every time, the blades of grass will end up leaning or lying completely flat eventually. To ensure your grass stands tall, alternate mowing patterns—horizontal, vertical, and diagonal—every time you mow the lawn.

Bagging Up Grass Clippings

While it is true that clumps of wet grass clippings can keep the sun from reaching the lawn, a thin spreading of clippings is actually beneficial to the overall care of the lawn. The clippings that are produced by your lawnmower act similarly to that of a fertilizer and add natural nutrients to the soil as they naturally decompose. After mowing, inspect your lawn for clusters of clippings so that you can redistribute them with a rake.

If you have any questions or are unable to take care of your lawn yourself, contact a professional lawn mowing service in your area.