How To Mow Your Lawn
You’ve probably read this title and are now thinking, “Boy, he really doesn’t know much about gardening. Especially if he has to resort to the basics of ‘how to cut your grass!’”
Well, I was planning on writing an article titled Strawberry Hills Forever to tell you about my anticipated success in using strawberries as ground cover on the hill in the back of my lot. Since it doesn’t appear that my plan is working as I had hoped, I thought I would write this article and have it tie in with the subject of my last one: Zen and the Art of Lawnmower Maintenance.
I bet your now thinking, “Hey, I’ve been cutting the lawn since I was 10-years old. What could you possibly tell me that I don’t already know?” While that is probably true, and at the risk of appearing self-important, please consider that cutting grass may just be a little more involved than we think.
If you had followed my advise in my last column and adequately prepared your lawn mower for its winter hibernation, you’ll have to do a little more this summer than just filling your machine with gas and oil and pulling that starter cord. But before you do that, it would be prudent for you to take a walk around your lawn and first look for thatch. Thatch is a buildup of grass roots and stems that seems to grow into itself. It usually results in thick brown spots in your otherwise green lawn.
Thatch can choke off grass and create dead spots, so obviously it should be removed. The simplest way to go about this is with a thatch rake, which you can easily find available at your local home improvement store. When you take the specialty rake through your grass, it pulls the thatch from the turf. Or, a simpler way to remove this nuisance is to rent a mechanical thatcher or a power rake or an aerating machine, also available at your local home improvement store. A power rake is a little bit like a tiller with teeth that pull up the thatch. The aerating machine pulls little plugs of dirt and grass from your lawn and deposits them right back on top of the lawn.
For any of you golfers reading this, you’ll probably remember the times when you arrived at the golf course after they have aerated the fairways and greens, and how annoying it was when you had to walk across the fairway to find your ball amidst the littered “dirt plugs.” This is what the aerator does. However, these plugs permit the soil to better access oxygen. After it rains, the plugs generally decompose and are supposed to have added some sort of benefit (unbeknownst to me) to help your grass grow and prevent thatch accumulation in the future. Just annoying “dirt plugs” or worth-the-trouble “magical dirt plugs?” I’ll let you make the call.
You should start mowing your grass soon after it begins to turn green and you have thatched or aerated. If you follow a fertilizing program and have applied the first treatment, your grass should be growing fairly rapidly (considering the good amount of moisture that we had this spring).
Early in the season, you will usually need to mow more than once a week. Don’t panic; this does not create too much stress on the grass. Conditions are still ideal for the grass to grow rapidly and become strong. As the season progresses and there is less moisture and more heat, then you will need to decrease the amount of times you mow your lawn.
The optimal time to mow your grass is in the evening after the sun goes down. By this time, you’ve probably finished dinner and are already sitting outside on your deck having a few beers. This is the time that truly allows you to focus and contemplate whether or not you are even going to go undertake the lawn cutting. Sound familiar, anyone?
Most people wait to cut the grass on Saturday afternoon. This is usually the worst time. The mid-day sun, heat and wind can stunt the grass and prevent it from continuing to grow, especially as the weather keeps getting hotter. Likewise, watering the lawn at this time is also a waste. The sun is at its highest and the heat prevents the grass from maintaining its new moisture. This should also be done late afternoons or early evenings after sunset.
If you’re like me, I used to think that it made complete sense to cut the grass as short as possible. I concluded this meant that I wouldn’t have to cut the grass as often. Resist that temptation, please, or else you will actually increase the amount of cuttings you’ll need for your grass to remain at 2 to 3 inches. It is also important to check the type of grass that makes up your lawn because some grasses should remain higher than others.
At any rate, Good Luck with your lawns this summer. I hope to regale you with successful tales of my strawberry ground cover in the future. Merry Mowing!
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