Winter is long gone & the scorching heat of summer will fall upon us shortly. This is also the perfect time to mow your lawn for the first time this year.
Due to the global pandemic, the world has come to a standstill. You may have gotten bored sitting inside the house all this time. It seems like a perfect opportunity to pass some time by mowing the lawn.
Another good reason would be to avoid some pesky bugs who are willing to come out of their hiding spots and make home underneath the tall grass of your lawn.
In order to mow for the first time this year, you need to adopt some procedures. In this article, we will walk you through the necessary steps that you need to consider before jumping right at your lawnmower & start mowing:
1. Types of Grass in Your Lawn
Mowing the lawn takes patience besides you need to know your way around some tools too. Lawnmowers are your best buddies when it comes to mowing. It is real troublesome if you don’t have the right mower or worse damage it somehow during mowing.
But aside from the tools, you need to consider a couple of things as well such as type of the grass in your lawn and how long it has been dormant.
Now you need to make sure what type of grass you have in your lawn. Basically, two types of grasses are mostly seen in the lawns, those are-
- Warm Season Grass: These grasses include bermudagrasses & buffalograsses. So, if you have grasses of these types, you may want to start mowing them around late September to early October.
- Cold Season Grass: Normally Kentucky Bluegrass & Hard Fescue grass falls in this category. For these types of grasses, the most suitable time for mowing starts from Late May.
Now that you have identified your grass type, you will know when to start mowing.
2. Rake The Lawn Once
After deciding to mow your lawn, you should not jump to mowing immediately. It’s better to consider raking. Raking has its own importance. It will help you identify the thick layers of dead grasses. This will give you a clear idea about which grass needs extra care & treatment.
Raking also pulls up the nasty unwanted thatch that denies your lawn grass from their regular sunlight and nutrients.
3. Inspect Thoroughly before Mowing
Because of the long gap in between mowing your lawn, there may be lots of unwanted messes in your lawn. Dead sticks, leaves, stones, etc. may be lying under the tall grass.
It’s a prerequisite to collect & dump those in order to increase your lawnmower’s longevity. If those get stuck in the blades of your lawnmower, then the blades will surely get damaged. So, be careful and clean all that unnecessary junk.
4. Follow the One-Third Rule
There are some very basic rules everyone should know before starting mowing. You should keep in mind that your grasses need to be at least 3 inches tall after mowing.
If you leave them lower than 3 inches, the roots won’t be healthy. It won’t go deep into the soil that much and thus won’t be able to accumulate much water for nutritions. Also, you will need to water the grass frequently.
So, to avoid all of these conundrums, it’s better to mow your grass taller.
5. Follow Effective Lawn Mowing Pattern
Have you ever wondered how those beautiful patterns are made in the baseball or football fields? Well, that’s not so complex. It’s all about mowing patterns.
You should not follow the exact same pattern over & over again. If you do your mowing lengthwise one week, try widthwise next week. Maybe after that, you can follow a diagonal pattern.
It’s not about ornamentation only. Doing so, you will ensure your grasses grow more compactly. The health of the grass will be a lot better too. Besides, you will also be able to remove the wheel marks from your lawn.
6. Avoid Mowing Your Grass When It’s Wet
While Mowing a lawn there are certain conditions to follow. The one thing you should never do is to mow your lawn when the grass is wet. This only causes trouble. First of all, the blades of your lawnmower will lose sharpness significantly.
Using those less sharp blades will further cause the grass to have uneven growth. Moreover, wet grasses can spread various plant diseases.
7. Keep Mower Blades Sharp and Balanced
Keeping lawnmower blades in perfect condition is helpful for grasses to grow abundantly. It is essential to sharpen the blades after every 4th mowing. That will increase the efficiency & longevity of the lawnmower.
Additionally, the even growth of the grasses will make your lawn look greener & more beautiful. So, be sure to sharpen your lawnmower periodically.
8. Manage the Shaded and Non-Shaded Areas
If you have two shades of grasses in your lawn, it’s better to adopt different mowing techniques. For the shaded grasses, leave them taller as they get less sunlight. Again, for the non-shaded grasses, cut them following the one-third rule.
9. When to Mulch & When to Bag Lawn Clippings?
You can either mulch the lawn clippings after mowing or bag them. Depending on the situation’s need, you can follow either. But what should you choose?
It’s beneficial for the lawn to mulch the clippings. Thus, the clippings will decompose faster & the soil will get enough nutrients. But if you face a sudden disease in your lawn, bagging the clippings is the best approach. Mulching instead of bagging will then only escalate the rate of being affected.
10. Don’t Water Immediately After Mowing
One of the wrong conceptions is that we have to water the grass immediately after mowing. Actually there’s no specific time for watering your lawn. But certain things should be kept in mind while watering.
For instance, if you water at night or in the evening, there always lies a higher chance of getting infected by fungus. Because the grasses won’t get enough time to be dried out.
Again, if you water the lawn in the middle of the day, the scorching heat will evaporate most of the water. Thus the roots won’t get sufficient nutrients required.
So, what’s the best time? The best time is in the morning. Then the water will get enough time to dry out. Also, because of the cool air, water will travel to the roots quite easily.
Final Thoughts
To conclude, these points are often overlooked by many of us. To ensure the proper health of your grasses and also to increase the appeal of your lawn, you should keep in mind the above-mentioned points and keep your lawn healthy and lush.
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