Some things always look better when you leave it to a pro.
Those frosted cupcakes with the fancy swirls. Dog grooming. An oil painting for over your couch.
What about lawn mowing? Professionally mowed lawns always look so neat and tidy, right? And proper mowing isn’t just about looks — it actually affects the health of your lawn.
If you try to groom your own dog, those results are on you.
But if you want to mow like a professional, check out these lawn mowing tips:
1. Mow Tall
If you mow too short, it actually hurts your grass.
When you mow, you’re removing a portion of the leaf surface, right? And that leaf surface is what creates food for your grass through photosynthesis.
Take off too much, and your lawn is starving. Also, when you mow too short, the soil heats up, helping pesky weed seeds to germinate.
So how much is too much?
To properly mow a lawn, no more than a third of the grass blade should be removed during each mowing. Grass should be 3 to 4 inches tall after mowing.
2. How to Mow a Lawn Professionally? Change Your Mowing Patterns
Grass tends to lean in the direction you mow. So change it up a bit and switch the direction each time you mow. That encourages the grass to grow straight up instead of leaning in one direction. (It’s more interesting for you, too!)
3. Keep That Mower Blade Sharp
Yes, it’s one more thing to remember, but to mow like a professional a sharp mower blade really is important.
A dull blade damages your grass, leaving a jagged edge that invites pests and disease.
But a sharp blade makes a nice, clean cut. That helps the grass heal faster and stay greener.
Think about the last time you tried to slice a tomato with a dull knife. You had a big mushy mess on your cutting board, right? But a nice sharp knife slices that tomato into perfect slices. (If you’re suddenly really craving a BLT, sorry about that.)
4. Don’t Mow Too Close to a Lawn Treatment
If your lawn is getting a dose of fertilizer or weed killer, hold off a bit on the mowing.
Don’t mow 24 hours before the treatment or for 24 hours after it. You want as much surface area of the weeds’ leaves available to "catch" the weed killer.
Mowing before a lawn care treatment will cut off those leaves.
And after the spray is applied, you want to give the plant time to absorb the weed killer. If you mow it right off, it doesn't have time to make its way through the weeds.
Same thing for fertilizer. Mow like a professional, and don’t mow and fertilize on the same day.
5. Properly Mow a Lawn: Pay Attention to Weather
Nobody wants to mow when it’s super hot or rainy, right? Good news! Your grass doesn’t like it, either.
Mowing when it’s really hot stresses your grass. And avoid mowing when your grass is still wet from rain, or even with dew.
Why?
Mowing wet grass makes it easier for lawn diseases to take hold.
Your mower won’t cut as cleanly when the grass is wet. Wet grass clippings can clog your mower and cause it to toss out clumps of wet grass. Gross.
Wet grass is slippery. If you break your leg, you want a better story than you fell mowing the grass, right?
6. Collect Those Clippings
How to professionally mow a lawn? At Outback, we collect and haul away all the grass clippings. Wait a minute — isn’t mulching them better? Good question.
Here in Idaho, mulching lawn clippings works in the hottest summer months. But in other seasons, we don’t have the high temperatures and humidity needed to break down the grass clippings between mowings.
Those excess grass clippings can be a real nuisance, sticking to your shoes or bare feet, staining your kids’ clothes and getting tracked into the house.
Bagging the clippings keeps everything neater.
Also, when grass clippings hang around on your lawn, unable to break down, a thick layer of dead grass, called thatch, builds up and blocks the flow of important oxygen and nutrients to your lawn. The grass will begin to get thinner.
7. Mower Maintenance Matters
Your hard-working lawn mower gets a real workout during the busy mowing season.
We already mentioned the importance of a sharp mower blade, but your mower needs other attention, too.
Mow like a professional, and make sure the tires have air. Keep the oil changed. Stay on top of this each month to get the best performance from your mower.
Too Much Trouble?
Nobody said lawn mowing was fun, but when you want to mow like a professional, all those extra steps are kind of a pain.
There’s lots to remember: keeping your mower blade sharp; changing oil; airing up tires; changing direction every time you mow; bagging your clippings.
And that old mower you bought at a garage sale seven years ago doesn’t do nearly as nice a job as the top-of-the-line mowers the pros use.
The Best Way to Mow Like a Professional? Hire a Professional
Sure, it’s kind of fun impersonating a lawn care pro. Those trucks they drive are pretty sweet.
But if you want legit professional lawn mowing, hire skilled landscape maintenance in Idaho Falls and Boise, ID
In addition to mowing, you’ll have access to a full list of lawn and landscape services to keep your lawn healthy and looking great, including aeration; disease and pest control; fertilization; seeding; soil amendments and weeding.
Call us at 208-607-3776. Or fill out the contact form to schedule a no-obligation meeting with one of our team members.
We can’t wait to hear from you.
Image Source: lawn mower blade, mower