Mowing your lawn is an essential part of your home maintenance schedule. It keeps the lawn looking pristine and homely. While you can always hire someone to mow your lawn for you, sometimes you just want to do it yourself. Here are a few tips on how to mow a lawn professionally.
- Best Mowing Time
The ideal time to mow your lawn is during mid-morning. By this time the dew or irrigation water will have dried up and it is before the day’s heat sets in. The timing is very important as turf stress occurs when you expose a short lawn to the sun.
How often you mow your lawn varies from one season to the other. It can also vary based on where you’re located. You can create a schedule to mow your lawn after every two to five weeks throughout the seasons. However, you may need to do it a bit sooner in summer. Also, mowing in spring depends on the levels of rainfall your location receives and sunny days too.
- Ideal Height for Your Lawn
How high you leave your lawn mostly depends on the type of grass you have. The simplest rule to follow is how your lawn looks. If your lawn looks untidy, it is probably time to trim it. Typically, every time you mow your lawn, aim to get rid of thirty to forty percent of the grass blade. If you go any lower than that, you risk reducing the root growth of the lawn, which is not healthy for your lawn.
Kikuyu grass should be kept at 45mm while buffalo grass should be kept at 50mm at most. Couch grass can be kept at 30mm. if your lawn is in a shaded area, you can keep it longer. This is also ideal for cooler months.
- Making A Checkerboard Pattern on Your Lawn
You haven’t learned how to mow a lawn professionally if you haven’t learned the checkerboard trim. It is easy to obtain the checkerboard pattern commonly used in sports fields. Also referred to as lawn striping, you achieve the look by making use of the lawnmower blades to bend your grass in specific ways.
Bend your grass forward to look darker and backward to look lighter. You can mow the edges of your lawn in a straight line. Turn around and mow in a straight line in the opposite direction. Alternate directions until you mow the entire lawn. Alternate your direction to 90 degrees and mow against the lines in opposite directions until you’re done. This will give you the checkerboard look.
- Mowing A Wet Lawn
Never mow a wet lawn. When you do, you spread fungi and bacteria which can cause disease. The wet lawn can also cause mechanical issues for your mower since it sticks to the undercarriage. Also, mowing a wet lawn can compact your soil which will become a problem in the long run.
If you must mow your lawn when wet, a reliable landscaping Mississauga professional can help with the job. Otherwise, you would do well to do it with sharpened mower blades.
- Picking the Right Mower
Consider the lawn size and terrain when selecting a mower. You have a choice between electric, cordless, petrol, a ride-on and hand-drawn lawn mowers. If you have a steep terrain, you might want to avoid the hand-drawn mower.
