Proper Mowing Part 2

Mowing Simplified

Most people would consider mowing the lawn somewhat of a chore, but it doesn’t have to feel as much of as it seems. In this post I will go over some basic ideas, time saving tips as well as some safety precautions.

First off is selecting the right lawn mower for your yard, take some time to walk around your yard, measuring any gates or other obstructions in your yard ( trees, flower beds, pools, etc.) that you may have. Selecting a lawn mower such as a one with a 60″ deck on it may seem like a real time saver, but in reality you have a small yard with rock gardens, trees and what not, leaving even smaller mow areas that this sweet mower will not fit in. Like some in town lots that have 36″ gates leading into the back yard.

On the other hand it will take around 2 1/2 hours to mow a half acre with an 18″ push mower, while you could do it in a 1/2 hour with a 36″ riding lawn mower. So knowing your yard and any obstructions that you may have therein will be key to selecting a lawn mower for your yard.

Now that you have selected the right lawn mower for the job, lets get into mowing your lawn with your new mower. Again take a look at your lawn, you will want to mow in a long, straight pattern.
Lets say your lawn is 30′ x 40′ for example, you will want to mow in 40′ long swaths, making as few turns a possible and the sooner you will finish.

In most cases you will not need a bagger or grass catcher when you mow if you are only mowing one-quarter or one-third of the lawns height. The exception being the areas that where clipping encourage disease, then you will want to bag the grass clippings.
I prefer to mulch the grass clippings and as long as you mow your lawn regularly the clipping will compost back into the soil, providing a natural fertilizer for your lawn. If you are concerned about the clippings you can install a mulch blade on your lawn mower, this will cut the grass clippings into smaller pieces and will appear less visible.

Do not mow on a wet lawn, as the lawn will be slick and wet grass is more likely to tear rather than cut, especially if the lawn mower blade is dull. The wet clippings blow out and fall into thick clumps, rather than a fine haze. The wheel of your mower, especially a rider can compact the lawns wet soil, resulting in other problems for your lawn.

Always remember the guidelines: Mow at the recommended height for your lawn. Never mow more than one-third of your lawns height. Always keep your blades sharp, dull blades can introduce disease, leading to less leaf growth and a sparse lawn. Using dull blades will also use about 20% more gas than sharp blades.

Time Saving Tips:

Mow around the perimeter  of your yard, along the sidewalks, house and an other border, mowing so that your blowing the grass clippings back into the lawn. This will allow the blade closer to the edged, which will save you some time with the trimming of the borders, as well as a time saver for blowing off any hard surfaces that you may have.

Mow in long, straight swaths, once the edges have been done. Also you will want to change your mowing pattern every once in awhile, the grass tends to lay flat after a few mowings and changing direction will pull it back up, given you a more even cut. It will also help in avoiding soil compaction.

Always use sharp mower blades, this will save you time and money.

Safety Precautions:

Mowing on slopes can be dangerous, so here are a couple of safety tips.

Never mow a slope greater than 15 degrees.

Slopes greater than 5 degrees may look flat, but in fact they are dangerous to mow. If you are using a walk-behind you will want to across the hill, the mower will be less apt to hit you if you slip or fall, also the mower will be less likely to run out of control downhill.

If your using a riding lawn mower, mow up and down the hill so that the mower is less likely to rollover on top of you. If the wheels slip or the grade is to steep, disengage the blades and back down the hill.

Proper Mowing Part 1

Knowing your grass

Mowing a lawn is simple enough, but so is getting it wrong and a bad job of mowing a lawn can be worse than not, so lets take some time to break things down and go over some lawn care essentials for attaining a better lawn.
If your like most folks you run your lawn mower or garden tractor over the lawn once a week, but during the long, dry days of summer, when your lawn gets to looking ragged and worn, you may cut the grass a little shorter. Maybe your going on vacation for a week or two and you cut the grass as short as you can, hoping that the grass won’t grow all that tall before you return from your trip.

We need to look at our lawn differently and mow the grass because it is long and not because we have a day set aside or we are going off for a couple weeks. When we cut the grass, we should not cut anymore than one-quarter to one-third of the leaves.

Knowing what type of grass you have will go along way in getting the cut height right, there are both Low-cut and High-cut grasses and I will post a chart for the common grasses as well as there mowing heights.

Low-cut grasses do not have enough leaf mass to thrive, so when we cut more than a third of the blade off, we remove the tissues the grass uses in order to produce food to fuel its root growth. When root growth suffers, so does the plant, you see the grass is left without enough water and nutrients to thrive and can become vulnerable to drought and disease.

High-cut grasses on the other hand will have more leaves and a deeper root system. With a deeper root system, it can draw in more water and nutrients from the soil – nutrients that will make the plant vigorous, as well as helping it out-compete when the weeds try to sneak into the lawn. So during the dry season the deeper roots (up to 8” deep) will be vital to getting the nutrients and water that the plant needs to survive, resulting in a stronger plant the is resistant to both drought and disease.

Taller grass creates its own shade, but it also works the other way as well, you see to much shade can stunt or even kill the grass plant, the shade that the plant produces is important to the grass plants survival.
Cutting the grass at the proper height allows the plant to provide enough shade to protect the plants crown and roots from overheating from the sun; protecting the roots helps the plant conserve water. Shorter cut grass will have no protection, resulting in a sunburned lawn, killing the grass, especially in hot weather.

Grass Height: How tall is to tall?

In Theory, each variety grows best when cut at the proper mowing height, so setting your lawn mower should be based on the type of grass in your lawn.
In Practice, the grass in your lawn was planted years ago by someone else and few people have little idea what they are cutting. A general rule of thumb, although its not perfect, it does come close to what one should do: cut warm weather grasses (suited for the South) 2-2 ½ inches tall, this is the height at which they grow best.
Cool season grasses (suited for the North) will grow better when cut a little longer, keeping them at 3-3 ½ inches tall.

Again once you know the type and proper height for your grass, always remember to cut no more than one-quarter to one-third of its height. Cutting more than this stresses the grass and will leave a thick coating of clippings, which can and will smother your lawn.
Properly mowing your lawn following this simple guideline (one-quarter to one-third) and you can let the clippings compost back into the soil, acting as a natural fertilizer.

Please Note: If you live in an area that is prone to grass disease, bagging the clippings can help prevent problems.

Mowing height for different grasses

Grass                                                Optimum Height                           Mowing Height
Bluegrass                                                  2 inches                                         3 inches
Perennial Ryegrass                                   2 inches                                         3 inches
Tall Fescue                                               2 inches                                         3 inches
Fine Fescue                                              2 inches                                         3 inches
St. Augustinegrass                                   2 inches                                         3 inches
Buffalograss                                            2 inches                                          3 inches
Bermudagrass                                         1 ¼ inches                                       2 ¼ inches
Zoysiagrass                                             1 ¼ inches                                       2 ¼ inches

If you have been looking for a safe, simple and effective way of achieving your dream lawn that will be the envy of the neighborhood without harming family members, pets, friends, water sources and the environment, organic lawn care may just be the ideal answer for you.

One of the easiest ways to get started is simply adjusting your mower height and ensuring that your blades are kept sharp, this will ensure a clean cut without damaging the plant and the added height will provide added protection to the plants root system.

Adjusting the blade height does quite a bit for the grass, the longer blades will have more exposure to the sun, allowing them to photosynthesize additional for amplified root growth.

The additional root mass implies the larger availability of water and nutrients, ensuring that the plant can endure drought better, as well as aiding in a swift recovery from dormancy.

The recommended height for most grasses is 3-4 inches, although some types like fine fescue and centipede grass do not grow above that height and should be cut around a half inch to an inch shorter than other grasses.

What to do with grass clippings? Rather than bagging your grass clippings, simply mulch them back into the lawn. The clippings will decay and provide precious nitrogen back into to soil, roughly 2 pounds of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet of soil every season.

That is about half of your lawns annual fertilizer requirements. The grass clippings also compliment organic matter, while providing many other benefits to the soil and lawn.

Some people believe that the grass clippings will lead to thatch, dead or dying clippings atop the soil creating a deposit, blocking much needed moisture and oxygen from getting to the plants root system. However new grass clippings boost earthworm activity, which breaks down thatch.

This is simply a basic starting point for organic lawn care.

If your interested in an organically maintained lawn Down To Earth offers a Organic Lawn Care Program.