Every homeowner with a yard desires a beautiful, healthy, and green lawn. But the task isn’t always easy. An average homeowner spends 3.8 hours a week on maintaining the yard.
Approximately, they mow it more than 30 times a year. While you need to invest time and effort to improve the health and look of your yard, the task is not as daunting as it appears to be.
All you need is to keep the roots of the plants hydrated, choose a good fertilizer, and aerate your lawn. But above all, you need to regularly mow it.
Regularly mowing the lawn can help you have a lush green, healthy lawn. But one of the biggest landscaping questions of all time still is “how often should you mow?”
Most people believe that letting the grass grow on its own is the best way to keep your lawn healthy. This is because the grass appears yellow after it has been mowed.
Others believe that mowing to often can cut the grass very short which will spoil the look of your lawn.
On the other hand, some people are of the view that mowing too often can help you maintain the look of your lawn.
In the article below, you will find the answer to this challenging question. You will get to know when you should mow and how often you should mow.
It provides a detailed overview of the factors which can affect your mowing decision. But first, it is important to know the benefits of mowing regularly.
Benefits of Mowing the Lawn Regularly
Mowing is one of the most critical practices when it comes to maintaining the health of your yard.
Similar to other plants, grass to tends to grow fast.
The growing points of the grass need to be clipped.
This not only makes it easy to maintain the lawn but is also essential for the health of the grass.
Some of the benefits which will encourage you to regularly mow your lawn include the following:
Improves the Look
On the surface, one of the fundamental benefits of mowing your lawn is improved appearance.
A neatly mowed lawn is soothing and looks pleasant to the eyes.
It reflects the taste of homeowners and many people consider it as a matter of pride.
Provides Better Access to Sunlight, Water, and Other Nutrients
When you mow the lawn regularly, the grass will grow uniformly and consistently.
This is because mowing provides equal access to all areas of grass bed to sunlight, water, and other nutrients.
When all parts of the grass bed have improved access to sunlight, this reflects in a greener and healthier appearance.
If you are consistent about mowing the lawn, you will observe a significant improvement in the appearance of your lawn.
Helps Combat Weed
The healthy appearance of regular lawn mowing is not the only advantage of mowing.
Regular mowing helps fight the growth of weeds.
When the lawn is mowed regularly, the grass can recover faster compared to weeds.
Thus it becomes easier to combat weeds.
Aids in Controlling Pests
An overgrown lawn can provide a perfect place for pests and other kinds of rodents.
They can hide in the grass and can damage the health and look of your lawn.
One of the biggest advantages of mowing your lawn on a regular basis is that it can help control pest infestations.
Acts as a Cleanup Job
Yards get dirty.
When not cleaned regularly, debris, dried leaves, and animal waste can accumulate in the yard.
If not attended well in time, long formed debris can take up too much time to clean.
It can also become a breeding ground for pests.
Mowing acts as an opportunity to clean your lawn from time to time.
This will allow you to give a neat appearance to your lawn leaving it free from debris and other pollutants.
Revitalizes the Soil
If you are using a mulching mower for mowing your lawn, you can revitalize the soil and improve the health of the grass.
A mulching mower cuts the grass but returns the grass clippings back to the soil.
When these grass clippings decompose, they act as a natural fertilizer.
So with regular mowing, you can manage the look of your yard.
At the same time, the clippings can be a source of nutrition to your yard.
When Should You Mow Your Lawn?
Looking at the benefits, you must now be aware that mowing is critical, and all lawns can thrive when mowed regularly.
Now is the time to understand when you should mow the lawn.
The need to mow your lawn varies with the growth of grass, which in turn varies seasonally.
In the spring, when the growth of grass is in full swing, you will need to mow frequently.
In other months when the growth of grass slows down, you will need to reduce the frequency of mowing.
You can use the following guidelines to mow your lawn.
- In spring, when the grass is thriving, mow twice a week.
- During the summer, you can continue to mow twice a week if the weather is humid and the grass is growing. But if there are periods of drought, you can reduce the frequency to once a week.
- As fall approaches, maintain the frequency of mowing the lawn once a week. This will also help in cleaning up the lawn from debris and fallen leaves.
- Mowing is usually not required during winters unless the grass is growing. If the grass is frozen or the soil is too soft, mowing can actually damage the turf.
When mowing the lawn, you should not be aware of the seasonal variation but should be taken care of the time of the day.
The ideal time to mow your lawn is in mid-morning.
Between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m., the sun is high in the sky and the grass is dried from the morning dew.
If you cannot manage to mow the lawn early in the morning, then mowing later in the afternoon is the second-best time to mow the lawn. By that time, the grass has dried and the temperature has cooled down.
How often should you mow your lawn?
Everybody knows that regular mowing is critical. But not many of you are sure about how often you should mow.
The answer to this question depends on various factors. Some of the guiding principles which can help find the answer this question include
Type of Grass
Different types of grass grow at different rate. Thus they have different mowing requirements. Types of grass which grow rapidly, needs more frequent mowing. This could mean mowing twice a week.
While other types of grass which have a slower growth might need mowing once a week. So the type of grass is an important consideration when it comes to how often should you mow.
Growth of Grass
While sticking to a required schedule is often recommended, it is not best for your yard. Each yard is different.
The type of grass and the weather conditions affect the growth of the grass and eventually the mowing requirement.
As a general rule, if the grass is growing quickly, then it needs mowing more often and all the factors which can affect the growth of grass will eventually affect the frequency of mowing.
Most landscaping experts recommend that you should follow the 1/3rd rule for maintaining a healthy lawn.
This means that never cut more than 1/3rd the height of the grass. So if the grass in your lawn has a height of 3 inches, never cut more than 1 inch.
Different types of grass grow at different pace so observe the growth closely and then decide the need of mowing.
Cutting the grass too short is as damaging as letting the grass too tall. So if you stick to the 1/3rd rule, this will give you a good to how much of the grass blade you need to cut.
Time of the Year
Since seasonal variation is one of the biggest influences on the growth of the grass, it can significantly affect your decision to mow the lawn.
During the growing seasons such as spring, most homeowners need to mow their yards twice a week.
However, during winter, you can reduce the frequency.
Use of Fertilizer
Regular use of fertilizers can keep your lawn healthy and improves the growth of grass.
This in turn will increase the need of mowing the lawn.
Conclusion On Mowing Your Lawn
Mowing the lawn is vital and mowing it often is helpful in maintaining the health of your lawn.
But always make sure that the blades of your lawnmower are sharp and you do not cut the grass too short.
Only then you can maintain a lush green, healthy lawn which is not only pleasant to you but for all others who look at it.
