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Avoid These 10 Lawn Mowing Mistakes for a Healthy Lawn

By Payal

remi muller intro

Lawns are one of the best parts of your house to spend some time with your family. As the temperature soars up, it is essential to take care of your lawn or else it might lose its beauty. Even after following a strict regime to mow your lawn, if you are not getting desired results; chances are high that you might be making some mistakes. In this article, we will talk about top 10 mistakes to avoid while mowing your lawn with a lawn mower. It would keep your exteriors beautiful, in a synchrony, and would enhance the beauty of the place. Follow these tips to improve the appearance of your space and make it healthy.

Things to avoid

Listed below are 10 lawn mistakes that you should always avoid to maintain the health of the grasses and enhance the beauty of your lawn:

Mistake 1: Cutting the grasses too short

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Mowing your lawn perfectly is a tricky art. You would have to look after a lot of aspects to avoid the common mistakes. One of them is, you should never mow your lawn grasses too small. Always cut one-third of the grasses, and avoid mowing if the grasses are not big enough.

The main reasons behind this is, if you cut the grasses small and too often, it would interfere with their capabilities of producing food. So, in order to keep the grasses healthy and green, you should avoid cutting them too short.

Mistake 2: Overwatering

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Another thing that people go overboard with in order to maintain their lawn is, they overwater the grasses. To stay healthy, grasses need only an inch of rainwater every week. You can easily install a rain water measuring gauge in your lawn to the overwatering mistake.

Also, you should not water the grasses too often. Do it on a specified day every week which would also help you to avoid the overwatering issues.

Mistake 3: Overuse of fertilizers

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Fertilizers can help the grasses to grow, but overusing it can be bad for them. You should use fertilizers in a controlled amount and at the right time. Too much fertiliser can give rise to various plant diseases, which is not at all desirable.

Read the instructions on the fertilizer packets, and check up with a local plant expert or nursery about the right quantity of fertilizers. Remember that it would vary from one region to another, depending on soil texture and temperature of the place.

Mistake 4: A dull mower blade

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The sharpness of your mower blade can bring in a lot of difference in your lawn maintenance. When you mow with an old and dull blade, it would hamper the health and appearance of the grass.

To get a cleaner cut, you should keep the blades sharp always, no matter which lawn mower you are using. A dull blade can injure the grasses rather than cutting them, which is not at all desirable.

Mistake 5: Mowing every other day

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You should avoid mowing your lawn every alternate day, depending on the season. You should avoid mowing them frequently during spring and fall, when the grasses grow the most (depending on their types). Let the grasses grow big enough so that you can mow 1/3rd of it and the remaining height is still considerable.

It would also depend on the actual height of the grass. For example cool-season grass can be mowed upto 4 inches whereas the warm seasoned ones can go upto 2 inches. Maintaining this rule would give your yard a fuller look, and the grasses would be healthy too.

Mistake 6: Mowing Wet Grasses

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You should never cut grass while it is wet. Doing so would stick the mowing blades together, making uneven cuts on the grass. It can also damage the mower by clogging it and it can create a mat over the grass, which would hamper their food producing process.

Mowing wet grasses can also lead to the spread of fungus and other infections. And wet grasses are slippery too; mowing on them can cause potential accidents. Thus, ensure the grasses are dry before you start to mow them.

Mistake 7: Quick mowing practices

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Busy schedules can lure you to complete your mowing tasks quickly but you should never rush through it. To grow grasses that are straight and healthy, you should mow them properly taking some time. Uneven grasses can cause a lot of inconvenience by causing clumps and making your lawn look clumsy.

Mistake 8: Mowing the lawn in the same pattern

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You should never mow your lawn in the same way every time. A varying pattern would lead to healthy grass which would enhance the overall beauty of your lawn. You would notice that grasses generally grow on the direction in which they are mowed.

As you alternate the pattern of mowing, it would lead to a straight grass, which looks much better. Also, it would prevent the development of ruts in your lawn.

Mistake 9: Not mulching while mowing

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Bagging up the grass clippings and throwing them out would not do any good to your lawn. You can rather clip the grasses and keep them as mulch, which is a great way to retain moisture in the soil. It would also add nutrients to the soil, which is great for your plants.

Thus, clip your grasses and keep them in your lawn for better growing conditions. Do follow the one-third cutting so that clipped grasses decompose soon. You can also add a mulch attachment to your mowers so as to get smaller clips of grasses.

Mistake 10: Improper mower height

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You should adjust the mower properly throughout the growing season of the grass. For example, during summers the grass grows taller and hence you should increase the deck height of the mower. Having taller grasses come with many benefits including higher moisture retention, better drought withstanding capabilities, etc.

Similarly, during the winters, you should lower the deck height in order to avoid snow molds on the grasses. By adjusting the grass mower properly, you will be able to have better grass health.

Conclusion

These are some of the top mistakes people make while mowing their lawns, and thus, you should avoid all these. With proper knowledge and good lawn maintaining skills, you would get the perfect outdoor space to spend time with your family.