The lawn mowing jobs we do on our own can be rather rough and inadequate at times. This usually comes due to us misunderstanding the complexity of the lawn mowing itself and the little details that go into it. It’s very easy to get into a routine of always turning your lawnmower on the same height and speed and just going over the yard without much consideration for the finer details.
While it may work a decent chunk of times, it’s also likely to run into issues or simply get a much worse job done than you would with proper preparations. However, if you are doing commercial lawn maintenance, mediocre jobs showcases may put you out of business. Here are some tips and rules you should stick to for optimal impact.
Know how to mow grass right
Your first concern should be tied to the actual act of mowing. While it may seem like all you need to do is put down the lawnmower and get going, there’s far more complexity to the act of mowing than we usually take into account. One of them is the height of our blades when mowing.
While some may think that cutting everything to be the same size is fine, the truth of the matter is that carefully cut grass lends a much better look to the lawn. You don’t want to cut the grass too short. By doing so you increase the chances of damaging the plant.
Damaging the lower parts of the grass means lowering its ability to sprout out new grass.
Crown, the part of the grass that’s located at the base of the plant, shouldn’t be even close to the blades when mowing.
With the trim that’s too low to the soil, there’s a chance the grass won’t grow as big next time. This is because the grass takes a lot more nutrients to grow back to a proper height when cut too low. By cutting the grass to a proper height, you are allowing the plant to spend less energy growing new blades of grass which allows it to grow much healthier and reinforce its other parts.
If you cut them short there’s also a higher chance that weeds will grow in between the grass. It allows them to spread easier which can ruin the appearance of the lawn.
Inform yourself on the type of grass you are cutting and how it should be cut before actually engaging in lawn mowing. You can easily find information on proper lawn care online easily so you should be able to find information on any type of grass without any issues.
Don’t cut wet grass
If rain has recently fallen it is not advisable to cut grass. Wet grass, in general, should not be cut so any mowing activities should be restricted to situations where the grass is dry.
Cutting wet grass can have a lot of negative effects. These can wary from making issues for our tools to impacting the quality of the cut we are doing.
The first reason not to cut wet grass is that the cut won’t be as clean, the grass itself could have been slumped down due to the water falling on it which can easily cause bad cuts and increase the likelihood of damaging the crown. Additionally, the cut could be compromised due to blades of grass sticking together and messing up the standard line we’d have when doing the cuts.
Weaker or older lawnmowers could take far longer when cutting wet grass due to the amount of grass that could stick to them. Wet grass can wrap around the blades, making us clean them off more frequently. This can heavily extend the amount of time we spend cutting and is one of the factors of uneven cuts as the wrapped grass could result in blades not cutting the next area of grass at an even height.
Of course, the wet grass could also cause troubles when moving into the bag itself, sticking along the way and sometimes even causing clogs to happen. Along with that, wet grass can be considerably heavier, making the emptying of bags a bit more cumbersome. While not hugely impactful details, they do detract from the speed of our job.
Lastly, and most importantly, by cutting wet grass you are putting yourself in danger. Wet grass is slippery and even with full gear, there’s a chance we could slip up. The fall itself may not be as harmful, although it still is a very real danger, but the fact we have a lawnmower near could result in some serious lacerations.
Considering that all of these factors can be avoided by scheduling mowing the lawn for a drier period of time, you should aim to do so always. If your employers are urging you to cut it right now make sure to inform them of the possible dangers.
A few pieces of advice to keep in mind
Along with the details mentioned above, we should also mention some other advice that impacts your quality. These have to do with maintaining your lawnmower, keeping it in top shape all the time.
First and foremost, take care of any dull blades. If mower blades get dull their cutting power goes down hard making it rougher to actually get the grass cut. It increases the chances of damaging the grass itself as the blades will get pulled rather than cut, resulting in potential uprooting of the grass.
No matter what powers your mower make sure that the holding capacity of its fuel is topped off. It will keep the job going with no sudden breaks that could ruin a perfect cutting line. It will also keep us safe as some types of fuel could be dangerous to pour into a hot tank.
You should avoid newly grown grass too as it needs time to grow. Instead of getting it cut, make sure there are no weeds or other detrimental factors around it.
A mower that’s properly maintained is one that can easily finish off any job you have.
Struggling to cut or keep a straight line is a warning sign that you may need to commit some repairs or maintenance on your mower.
