Healthy Mowing Techniques

This FIRST blog post will cover maybe the most important aspect of keeping your lawn nice: mowing. In this essay, we'll discuss what you should do before, during, and after you mow to cultivate a lawn to make your neighbors drool. Let's dive in!

The first thing to do before you mow is to check your mower. The most important part of your mower and the one that comes into contact with the grass is the blade, and you want to make sure this part of your machine is sharp and ready to go. A dull, marred, or otherwise damaged blade can hurt your grass more than help it: you want to get a clean cut both for appearance purposes and because ripping, tearing, or pulling up the grass with a bad blade will permanently damage the earth that your grass grows in. You do NOT want this. 

If the state of your blade concerns you, don't panic. You don't need a new mower or an expensive "operation" to fix this issue. Pay between $20-$60 at your local repair shop--be it Lowe's, Home Depot, or the Lawn Mower Hospital--and they'll do the job for you. In just a short amount of time, your mower will be back in perfect shape and the blade will be ready to cut!

The second and last thing to do before you mow is to check the state of your mower gas. Fundamentally, whether your gas is new or old won't change how the mower cuts but if you put "bad" or "spoiled" gas in a good engine it could seriously hurt the engine. (Obviously, this doesn't apply to you if you use a battery or cord-operated mower). If you haven't mowed in a long time--say, over the winter--then there are two things you can do.

Before the winter or other long hiatus from mowing sets in, put stabilizer--a combination of chemicals you can find at any department store--into the gas can. This will keep the gas from spoiling during the time it isn't being used so that when summer rolls back around you can use the gas as if there had never been a break. 

If you didn't put the stabilizer in the gas, DO NOT PUT THIS GAS IN YOUR MOWER. This will severely hurt the engine when you try to run the mower as the gas is not at all fit to be pushed through the engine and turn the blade. Safely dispose of this gas at a local municipally operated waste disposal facility and go to the gas station to fill it back up. Only then will it be safe your you, your grass, and especially your mower if you start cutting.

Now that you're mowing, there are a couple of things to keep in mind. First--how high do you set your mower blade? Generally, there are two schools of thought around this. For those of you who don't want to put in the work for weekly or two times a week mowing, set your mower blade LOW. This will cut the grass to a lower height and mean that it will take longer to grow back to the height where you need to cut it again. The downside to choosing to do this is that your lawn will look less lush.  Additionally, this is less healthy than if you set your mower blade high as it puts more stress on each blade of grass. If you are willing to put in the work for a gorgeous and healthy yard, then set your mower blade HIGH. Though you will have to put in more work--not always a viable option for everyone--it will mean that your yard will get a nicer, more lush look while keeping each blade significantly healthier. 

Related to grass health: the lower you cut to the roots of the grass, the more stress is put upon the grass. Now, we're not saying that cutting your grass low will kill your lawn. It more than likely won't, but your grass may struggle more to grow and get that healthy green look. If you set your mower high and cut farther away from the soil and the roots of the grass, then the grass will grow more freely and lushly.

The second thing to think about once you're mowing is the pattern of your mowing. A good general rule for mowing is to cut the grass in different ways each time you mow. Something most lawn experts will recommend is to cut your grass in this pattern: one week, cut diagonally from bottom left to top right. The next week, cut diagonally from top left to bottom right. This means that each time you mow you will be cutting the grass in different ways. This will contribute to grass health because when you cut grass one way every time, you essentially teach it to grow horizontally in that direction. This will give your lawn a "flat" look because the grass isn't growing straight up and down. Not only is this unattractive, but it can also restrict air and water flow and damage your grass in a lot of ways. 

Now your lawn is ready to go! You know exactly what to do before and during your mowing process. Make sure you follow these processes every time you mow (however often that may be), and your lawn will almost certainly thrive. 

Published July 30th, 2023.

"Selective-focus Photography of Gray Bagging Push Mower, Lawn Mower, HD Wallpaper." WallpaperFlare, www.wallpaperflare.com/selective-focus-photography-of-gray-bagging-push-mower-lawn-mower-wallpaper-zzpaw. Accessed 30 Jul. 2023.