Mowing your lawn is a necessary evil when it comes to maintaining a beautiful yard, however, this dreaded task has multiple benefits for your landscaping that can make your home the jewel of the neighborhood! Having a beautifully landscaped yard often means a well-manicured lawn with healthy and lush grass. While there are many different types of grass and the maintenance for each varies, trying to maintain a perfect “carpet-like” appearance for your lawn takes a lot of dedication, time and effort. Homeowners often try to boost their curb appeal by investing time into their landscaping, however, there is so much more to creating and maintaining a perfect lawn than grabbing the lawn mower once a week.
How Often Should You be Mowing Your Lawn?
What many people aren’t aware of it that when it comes to cutting your grass, it isn’t just for the appearance or aesthetics of your lawn, it’s helping contribute to the grass’s health. By mowing regularly your grass will thrive by creating denser growth and you’ll even notice less weed growth while you grass boasts a neat and tidy appearance. As tempted as you may be to mow your lawn rather frequently, it’s important to try and remember the “one third” rule. This simply means that you should never remove more than one third of the grass’s blade in a single mow.
With keeping the one third rule in mind, most grass thrives by being mowed once a week in peak months, meaning your grass is thriving and growing rather than dormant which you’ll notice many PNW grasses tend to do during the winter months. Kentucky bluegrass, fescue, and ryegrass are common grasses that are planted in the pacific northwest and most of these grasses thrive when kept between 2.5-3.5 inches in height, so pending on how quicky your grass grows, you might have to either lessen or increase the frequency of mowing your lawn to ensure your grass is at optimal height. e
Benefits of Regularly Mowing Your Lawn
While appearance is often the most thought of “perk” when it comes to mowing your lawn, there are multiple other benefits that come with the task. With regular mowing you’ll notice things such as:
- Less Weeds: When following the recommended grass height for your lawn, your soil stays shaded properly which lessons the potential for weeks to germinate.
- Pest Control: Many pests thrive in overgrown grass and can quickly infest your yard and ultimately your home, regularly mowed and maintained grass is harder for many pests to thrive in thus limiting the pests throughout your lawn.
- Drought Tolerance: Keeping the one third rule and optimal grass heights in mind, properly maintained grass will retain moisture better which can help increase your lawns resilient to drought conditions and keep your lawn green throughout the warmer summer months.
Simple Tips for Mowing You Lawn
- Don’t mow wet grass, ensure the grass if fully dry before you start to mow.
- Change your mowing patterns to avoid creating ruts or uneven surfaces. Following the same patterns each time you mow can also lead to dense patches of grass and uneven growth.
- Make sure you keep the blade on your lawnmower sharp so your grass blades have a clean cut, this helps keep you grass blades from having frayed edges which can lead to disease and stress.
With a little patience and practice, keeping your lawn lush and well-manicured can be easily achieved as long as you do your research and take your time to find out what works best for your lawn. When in doubt, feel free to contact one of our landscaping professionals at First Fruit Landscaping to assist you with any of your landscaping needs!