The Best Way to Cut the Lawn, According to Pro Landscapers
Follow this three-step plan for a yard that’s the envy of your neighbours—and a total breeze to maintain.
You want your grass to look good, but you don’t want to spend a lot of time mowing. When it comes to lawn care, there is a right and wrong way to mow the grass. Here’s how to mow a lawn like a professional landscaper, in three easy steps.
1. Conquer Edges First
First, take care of your yard’s edges. To do this, Cardinal Lawns, a full-service lawn and landscape company in Ohio, recommends taking two passes around the lawn’s outside edges (three if your yard is surrounded by a fence). By doing this first, you’ll have room to turn the mower around, which will make the job go faster with less hassle.
2. Pick a Pattern
One of the most common (and easiest) patterns to mow the grass is with stripes. You’ll do one pass with the mower, then make a 180-degree turn to make the next pass, slightly overlapping the first pass. Do this until the lawn is mowed.
Cardinal Lawns recommends alternating directions each time you mow the lawn, so if you mow vertically one week, go in a horizontal pattern the next.
Lawn experts note circling is probably the easiest and most efficient pattern when mowing the lawn. After mowing the edges, just keep making passes in a circular pattern until you make your way to the middle of the yard. This is an efficient method for most lawns, as it cuts down on all the sharp turns you’d make if you mow in rows.
3. Mix it Up
No matter what pattern you chose to mow the lawn, mix it up each week. This will prevent grass from growing in one direction, which not only makes your lawn less attractive but it makes mowing more difficult.
Helpful Hints:
- When you’re ready to mow, Scotts, a lawn care service company, says you should only cut off the top 1/3 of the grass blades at any one time. Doing so will help grass blades develop a deeper root system to find water and nutrients in the soil.
- The best time of day to mow the lawn is in the early evening when the grass is usually dry and the sun isn’t as intense, which gives your lawn time to recover before the next day’s heat.
- Finally, keep your lawn mower’s blade sharp and leave grass clippings on your lawn. The clippings will add beneficial nutrients to the soil. (Check out more organic lawn care tips worth trying.)
Now that you know how to mow a lawn the right way, discover a genius hack to patch lawn gaps.
