You have probably noticed that a lot of British people take pride in their perfect lawns. London certainly has its fair share of wonderful looking lawns and gardens. But all of it does not come out by itself. Most of it is because of hard work invested and professionalism when it comes to taking care of a lawn.
It seems easy enough, but there are a lot of things that can go wrong when mowing a lawn. If you approach mowing as a chore and something that you need to do quickly you will end up with an unhealthy lawn that will struggle to survive. Actually, there are many gardening companies that provide mowing services, Handy Gardeners is one of them. If you don’t want to deal with your lawn by yourself you can have experts to do it for you. However, if you are a hand on kind of a person here are some tips to help you do it yourself.
Never Scalp Your Lawn
Many people make a mistake when they decide to scalp their lawn. However, lawns with very short grass are sustainable to draught and have poorly developed root systems. Also, due to short grass, the sunlight reaches the weed seeds directly and boosts their growth. Eventually, you might end up with a lot of weeds in your lawn.
Scalping a turf also makes it weak and spares, resulting in a lot of soil being exposed. A scalped lawn is highly vulnerable to weed infestations and diseases. Avoid doing this as much as you can.
Keep Your Mowing Blade Sharp
You have to maintain your mowing materials which means keeping the blades sharp. You need to sharpen them regularly and it would be best if you do so at least a few times during the mowing season. Try not to maw over thick branches in order not to damage the blades and you can always keep a spare one as a backup.
Sharp blades provide the best mowing results for a lawn. With a sharp blade, the grass will be even and beautiful. On the other hand, dull blades do not cut the grass they simply tear it apart. The grass blades are now jagged and it leaves them open to pests and disease. You can easily spot a lawn cut with a dull blade as the top of the lawn will turn brown or whitish. The result is also a lot of grass tips dying out.
Mow the Lawn When Dry
Mowing a damp lawn does not provide the best results. That is why it is always best to maw your lawn while it is dry. Both the grass and you lawnmower are going to be damaged if you do it in such conditions. Wet grass will fill in the mower and clog it. You can avoid this by spraying silicone on the lower side of your mower or by applying oil.
Cutting a wet lawn will also result in an uneven cut. Also, due to the ground being damp most of the grass will end up being torn out and not really cut. While cutting grass clumps of wet grass is also created. As they fall off the mower, you risk killing healthy grass. Make sure to remove the clumps as you work if you really have to mow a wet lawn.
Mow In Shade
Mowing grass is highly stressful for the lawn. The grass goes through a traumatic experience while being cut. It needs to recover and replenish its water supplies. When you cut the grass the tips release water so if you do it in hot weather it will simply evaporate and dry out the grass.
In order to avoid this, you need to do it during cooler periods of the day. The best would be to mow the lawn in shade or in the afternoon when it is not so hot. It will give the grass enough time to recover.
Grasscycling
Many people don’t realize that grasscycling has a lot of benefits. After cutting the grass most people collect all the clippings and dispose of it. You lose time and invest added efforts just to do that. You also have to buy additional bags to store all of it and find favorable ways to dispose of it all.
But if you just leave it on the grass you do not only save money and time on collecting it, you save money on fertilizer. You can use a mulching blade for your lawnmower so you cut the grass into smaller pieces. That way it will decompose faster and give your lawn the necessary fertilization.
Don’t Make Mowing Patterns
Cutting your grass in the same pattern every single time is harmful to the health of your lawn. If you continue to do so you risk of creating roots and compacting the soil. This is very bad for the health of the lawn and weeds also thrive in compacted soil.
In order to avoid this and to keep your lawn as healthy as possible, always maw in a different direction. Never make the same pattern twice and you will be good to go as your lawn will booth look good and feel good.
