A healthy looking lawn is what most homeowners desire to have. When I lived in town, I always tried to make sure my yard was in top shape. The neighbor's would comment on how nice it looked and the lady who delivered the mail said she enjoyed having a nice lawn with gorgeous flowers to look at as she brought the mail to my home each day. Having a lawn requires very little care, but there are a few key points that you might want to keep in mind. Here are 5 tips on mowing your grass to make sure it stays healthy looking.
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Don’t Mow Our Lawn if It Looks like It’s Dying
Grass that is dying is already having a difficult time, so there's no reason to put it through even more stress by mowing it down. It's also not a good idea to mow right after applying fertilizer to try and aid your dying grass. Mowing right after fertilizing might cause the freshly applied granules to be tossed around and away from areas where they are needed most.
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Don’t Mow after a Heavy Rain
The yard might not look that saturated after a heavy rainfall, especially if the sun comes out and dries up the blades of grass. It is very easy to be deceived by the sun and dried grass. If you have a riding lawn mower, you are likely to sink into the mud before you realize what happened. This creates some fantastic ruts in your otherwise perfect lawn. It's difficult to get these ruts to smooth out and disappear if they are deep. Wait a couple of days after rainfall to mow the yard.
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Rake up Long Grasses or Mulch Finer
Leaving long bits of grass on top of a healthy lawn can smother the existing grass and kill it off. It's best to rake up the long pieces or go over them again with the lawnmower to make them smaller. It's actually beneficial to grass if the trimmed off bits are mulched and left on it, as long as they don't create a thick carpet of clippings that block the sunlight for too many days.
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Leave the Blades Longer during Hot Weather
Cutting the lawn extremely short might give you more time in between mowings. This is a technique I see people go for when they are about to leave for vacation. During the heat of the summer, this isn't such a good idea. Trimming the grass extremely short during the hottest part of the summer or even during the hottest part of the day can allow too much moisture to escape from the blades of grass. This evaporation of moisture often kills the grass rather quickly.
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Don't Run over the Clippings Each Time You Make a Pass with the Mower
If you don't have a bagging mechanism on your mower that collects the clippings, then it's easiest on the lawn mower to not make it work so hard. When mowing it's best to make sure the clippings spray out of the mower onto grass that has already been mowed. This process allows the mower to only have to cut the new grass and not deal with the clippings as well as long blades of grass.
I hope these mowing tips are something you can use. Please feel free to add any additional tips for mowing the lawn that you find helpful. What tips were you given the first time you ever mowed a lawn?
Top Photo Credit: Sentrawoods.
