Re: 5 Things You Should Know Before Mowing Your Lawn

[Dave]

Cutting your lawn properly can lead to a healthy growing lawn. Although it

> seems like a chore, lawn mowing can give you a great workout and be > relaxing. The smell of fresh-cut grass gives you a wonderful sense of > accomplishment. Before you mow, here are a few things about mowing that > you should take note first. > > 1. Never mow a wet lawn > > You should avoid mowing when the lawn is wet. The grasses will settle in > big globs and cause clumping of the lawn. It will help to spread lawn > fungus quickly too. Schedule your mowing task to the evening as the > weather is cooler and your lawn has ample time to dry from the morning > watering. > > 2. Adapt your mowing schedule to the grass growth > > Different type of grass flourish in different seasons. Warm-season grasses > will grow quickly in summer and thus you may need to mow once every three > to four days during the summer period. You can reduce the mowing to once a > month during a drought period. Observe how your lawn grass is growing and > adapt your mowing schedule accordingly. > > 3. Check your mowing height > > A good practice is to cut off top one third of the grasses at any one > time. If your lawn grasses have grown to six inches and you like to bring > it back to two inches, do not cut off four inches in one mowing session. > Cut off the first two inches and let the lawn rest for a couple of days. > This will allow your lawn to recover and adapt to the new height before > mowing the next two inches. > > 4. Change Your Mowing Patterns > > If you often mow your lawn in the same pattern and direction, streaks or > stripped lines can develop and make your lawn look horrible. Try to > alternate the mowing direction each time you mow. Mow side to mow during > the first pass and then top to bottom for the next pass. This ensures your > lawn will not be matted or trampled in the same place each time you mow. > > 5. Mulch your lawn > > You should try to get a mulching mower that can cut and re-cut the grasses > to drop back into your lawn. Clippings are actually a form of natural, > slow-release fertilizer and they can help you reduce your fertilizer > requirement by half. You have to keep the mower blades sharp so that the > mowing action will cut the grass blades and not tear them. Tearing the > grass blades can lead to development of thatches, which are harmful to > your lawn. > > Mulching your lawn is good practice during a drought season and after > fertilization. It can provide cover to help the soil retain the water it > received. In addition, the clippings contain water and small amount of > nitrogen (plus a host of other nutrients in small quantities) which will > provide the fertilization that your lawn need. In the long run, the cost > saving from a reduction of fertilizer purchases can really add up. > > Proper mowing is one of the most important practices in your keeping your > lawn healthy. Keeping these five points in mind and integrating them into > your mowing session will ensure your lawn stays green and healthy for many > years to come. > > Hundreds of FREE Home Improvement Tips! > > >

Most important is amongst the mulching section. Use a sharp blade. Works better if the grass is moist or dry. Chops up the ORGANICALLY degradable mulch better, making it easier to blend into the soil. If you're too lazy or don't know how to sharpen it, replace it every season.

Spam target newsgroups removed in response. Dave

[Garden Guy]

I don't buy the mulching argument.

In my experience, mulched grass creates a sponge layer at the surface and any rain that comes in the summer (we're having a drought, like we usually seem to do every summer, here in SW-Ontario).

When we get our pathetic quick thunder storms, the rain rolls quickly off our hard-packed clay soils. Any rain that doesn't run off gets absorbed by the dried mulch layer, which then gives it back to the atmosphere when it dries. It prevents the moisture from reaching and being absorbed into the soil surface.

You might say "well, just add better top soil to your lawn". That doesn't work if we're talking about city-owned portion of your front yard, or the grass circle in the middle of a court.

It is universally said that mulched grass contains nutients that are great to give back to your lawn.

Well, if cut grass was so great, then why don't municiple yards that collect yard waste accept it? These places take yard waste (tree branches mostly, maybe pine needles and other stuff you rake) and mulch/compost it and sell it. But they won't take grass. Why not I ask? Everyone says that grass contains all these nutrients? Grass should be great, perfect to add to the ground-up yard waste? But no, they don't take it. If they take it, they charge you $1 a bag.

The truth is that municiple garbage collection and yard-waste management knows that cut grass is useless and nutrient-poor (full of carbon mostly) so they create this con-job and tell people it's better for your lawn to mulch. They just don't want to deal with cut grass so they want you to just leave it in your grass, where it will create thatch that will thin out your grass, harbor bugs and disease and soak up the little, precious water you get in the summer and act like a barrier to prevent the water from getting to the parched soil underneath.

[Eggs Zachtly]

/Valid/ reasons?

I'm sorry, but the above sentence appears as an incomplete thought. "...and any rain...", what? Are you saying that the dried grass clippings soak up all of the rain? You have a source for that?

Ever consider watering between the rains? If you soak your lawn, properly, you shouldn't have the runoff. You can't blame the grass clippings for your neglect.

How much rainfall? Saying a "thunderstorm", no matter how "pathetically quick", usually involves rainfall on the heavier side. There's not enough surface area on the (especially, dried) grass clippings to absorb any measurable amount of moisture. It may slow the water down, in route to the soil, but it certainly doesn't absorb all of the water.

You'll lose /some/ to evaporation, but being shaded by the grass itself, a good amount will reach the soil. A lot will be determined by the weather conditions (does the sun come out, right after the storm, or does it remain overcast?, etc.), as well as the general conditions of the area (full sun? shade? etc.).

Why can't you improve the turf's conditions at the easement?

Who cares? That's the city's problem, not the homeowners.

And, you disagree with that? Are you saying that grass clippings have no nutritional value to turf?

Because of all of the chemicals that people put on their lawns.

Do you apply chemicals to your trees and shrubs, on a regular basis (as regular as your lawn?).

[...]

Wow, Einstein, "full of carbon mostly"? They're living organisms. Of /course/ they're 'mostly carbon'. They're also absolutely loaded with nitrogen (and a lot of other nutrients). Do some homework, eh?

"Truth"?

Source?

Again, source?

Please, give us your understanding of what "thatch" is.

They exist quite well in a lawn that gets "bagged". What bugs and diseases do you speak of, that only exist in "mulched" lawns? Or, alternatively, provide a source stating that bugs and diseases are higher in lawns that are "mulched".

Go buy a sprinkler and quit blaming the grass clippings for your poor lawn conditions.

Good grief, you /really/ sound like Stubby.

[CWatters]

Yeah right. It allways rains at the weekend.

[Jim]

[....]

wrong....

when creating pasture grass for animals to graze on you'll learn after doing some research and reading how there are a vast number of lawn products that are strictly forbidden and extremely unwise to use on pasture grasses. these are products commonly used by the typical home owner seeking a green lush healthy lawn. the reason behind this is because these products do indeed end up in the grass and are then ingested by the animal doing the grazing.

as for your problems with mulching, I suspect you're waiting to long in-between cuts and therefore producing more clippings than the lawn can properly absorb before your next cut. for example: the typical recommendation for mowing fescue is to mow when the grass reaches 4 inches in height and to cut back to three inches. when mulching the 4 inch height the cut should only remove 1/2 inch leaving the height at 3.5 inches. proper mulching techniques require more frequent mowing. so, cut and mulch at a height of 3.5 to remove 1/2 inch returning the fescue to the recommend height of 3 inches.

[Dave]

Uhh, I didn't write that, the original poster did. You needed to reply to that, not my later reply... Dave

[CWatters]

Sorry for my in accurate cutting.