The Great MOWING Debate đŸŒ±

by Mary Josey

 

Did you know that you could be mowing your lawn WRONG?! What the? Seems completely nuts that of all the things that could be going wrong with your grass, it could be they way you mow it. There’s good news though...once you know these helpful tips, you will NEVER get it wrong again! 

GET YOUR LENGTH RIGHT

Depending on what kind of grass you have will determine the length should be cutting it to. An important rule is no matter what the ideal length for lawn is, NEVER cut off more than 1/3 of the grass. If it’s super long, you just have to slowly get it back down. Cutting off too much at once can be a recipe for disaster. 
Couch: 15-30mm
Zoysia: 10-50mm 
Kikuyu: 30-50mm
Buffalo: 30-50mm
During the warmer months, cut your grass a little longer to protect it from burning and in the cooler months, mow a little shorter to let the sun reach the soil and roots. 

AVOID MOWING A WET OR DAMP LAWN

Yep, you’ve heard it a million times but no one really knows why. Well here’s why. Mowing a wet or damp lawn has a few downsides.

  1. The cut of the blades won’t be as good - because the grass sticks together you will find that the grass when dry looks uneven.
  2. Wet grass clippings are a breeding grown for harmful bacteria and disease and can be an easy way for it to spread throughout your lawn.
  3. You will end of with clumps of grass getting caught in the underside of your mower and clogging up your blades - which more than anything else is just annoying.
So what did we get from all this? Just don’t mow your lawn when it’s wet - but if you do, make sure you catch your clippings and thoroughly wash out your mower afterwards to prevent rusting. 

TO CATCH OR MULCH

Ahhh, the dreaded “catch” or “mulch” setting on my mower was something that confused me for a lot longer than I would like to admit. Here’s the deal. If you’re following the rules of mowing no more than 1/3 of the grass length, and mowing to your ideal lawn length - it’s fine to let those grass clippings mellow (aka use that mulch setting, there’s no need to use a catcher). If, however, you might not be all over it and you’re grass is a little too long - unfortunately you’re going to have to catch it. Leaving a trail of clippings behind is just going to kill the grass buried underneath and cause your lawn to get a huge “thatch” layer, which is a whole other topic in itself, but let’s just say it is less than ideal. 

FOR THE PROFESSIONALS

If you want to be really picky about mowing your lawn, another tip is to have sharp mower blades. Blunt blades can cause damage to the “cut” end of the grass and you might find that there is some brown spots in your lawn the days following mowing. There’s also a whole thing about “thatching”, so if you’re really into it you might want to check on your thatch layer too. 
I could go on and on about the technical details of a brilliant lawn, but for now I will leave you here. Stay tuned for next week’s article - we will be talking about all the exciting plants that will flourish this Autumn and giving you handy tips on how to get them GROWING! đŸȘŽ
Until next time, 
Mary.
#stopcuttingmygrassman - sorry, I had too...

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