There is truly nothing more satisfying to a hardworking homeowner than a freshly manicured lawn. When done right, your freshly mowed lawn can take on the look of lush, green carpet. Here are some essential lawn care tips that will help you up your lawn mowing game.
Mow on a dry day.
Mowing on a dry day will allow your mower to make clean cuts instead of pulling out chunks of grass.
Mow high.
It might seem like a good idea to mow lower in order to make mowing a less frequent job, but taking off too much grass at one time can damage your grass and allow weeds to take root. Make it a habit not to cut off more than ⅓ the height of your grass at a time.
Maintain a sharp mowing blade.
A dull mowing blade is only going to result in a lawn that is grayish brown in color. Be sure to sharpen or replace your mower blade at least once per mowing season.
Follow up mowing with a trimmer.
Even if you use an edger over a string trimmer for the majority of your edging needs, it’s important to follow up any mowing job with a string trimmer to catch any spots you may have missed. As we will discuss in a moment, a string trimmer is also useful for edging around difficult obstacles such as trees, fences, and light posts.
Master the art of edging.
What truly sets a manicured lawn apart from a mowed lawn is edging. You can use either a power edger or a string trimmer (weed whacker) for this task, but keep in mind that a dedicated edger will do a better job at maintaining a crisp edge along the perimeter of your lawn. Many homeowners will use an edger to get the main perimeter of the lawn while using a string trimmer around obstacles like shrubs, walls, and light posts. The main areas of your lawn that will require edging include along the sidewalks, along the front walk, and down the sides of the driveway. Don’t forget to trim around any garden beds, shrubs, trees, walls, fencing, and light posts as well.
Make your garden beds edging friendly.
While on the topic of edging, you should know that it’s highly important to make your lawn edging friendly if it features any sort of landscaping. This means adding features around your garden beds that will make trimming and edging a breeze. Here are a few of the option you have:
- Install a discreet metal strip along the perimeter of your garden bed to separate the bed from your yard.
- Install pavers to create a wide border around your garden beds.
- Give your garden beds a raised paver border while including a mulch edge to separate the paver border and your lawn.
