It’s easy to mow the lawn: Start mower. Walk back and forth. Simple, right?
Wrong.
Actually, cutting the grass right is no more difficult than mowing it wrong, but you may still be screwing it up without knowing it. In fact, you could be incrementally killing your lawn every time you mow.
Here are 5 foul-ups people make when they mow the lawn.
-Sharp as a marble. Dull mower blades bash the grass down, breaking it rather than slicing. Mow the lawn with a sharp blade. It’s easier on the grass, just like a sharp saw blade is easier on your saw and the wood.
-Dingbat. Trying to pulverize sticks rather than stopping and stooping to pick them up is brutal on blades. So, the next time a super-cell blows through town and downs twigs all over, it takes less time to pick them up than to fail at grinding them up and dinging your blade dull.
-Buzz Cut. Cutting too low is a cardinal sin when you mow the lawn. It takes more effort to shove the mower, and scalping the grass weakens the root system. It’s an eVite for every weed-seed in the Western Hemisphere to infiltrate your lawn (Note: that description might be a little dramatic). The recommended height for our area is 2 1/2-3-inches, but I mow higher and have green grass in August with little to no watering.
-Too mulch? Your lawn loves you when you mow regularly with a mulching mower. Mulching is the fastest way to mow. It pulverizes clippings and returns nutrients to the turf. But for tall grass—or when the leaves start falling—bagging can deliver the cleanest, easiest cut. And, lawn-freak that I am, I bag before our yard parties. There are few clippings to catch on bare feet and if you’re a lawn-striping fanatic, the lines from the mower are better. If possible, compost the clippings.
-That sucks. It’s sooooo tempting to think that 6.5 horsepower of Honda engine and whirring steel will make a napkin disappear, but in the history of grass mowing it has never happened. Mow a napkin or piece of paper and it goes from one piece to a snow storm. Or, if you’re really lucky, a plastic shopping bag will get wrapped around the mower’s drive shaft. Good times.
So raise your mower deck, sharpen the blade and let your lawn live. And if you want someone else to mow your grass—without killing it—find pros you can trust at HomeAdvisor. They’ll enjoy that you know how to keep your grass green.
