If you’re keeping up with the Joneses, you know that as soon as the last snowflake melts away, it can be a mad dash to see who in the neighborhood can get their lawn in mid-season form the fastest. Some homeowners shock their yards with chemicals before winter, while others hire landscaping companies to revamp their entire property.
As a proud do-it-yourselfer, you wouldn’t dream of hiring somebody to mow your lawn for you, but what if you still want your yard looking like a green on an 18-hole golf course? While landscaping crews and chemicals can do wonders for your lawn, knowing how to properly mow your grass and purchasing a top-of-the-line Husqvarna lawn mower to work with will make a big difference. If you’ve ever wondered how you can get a checkerboard pattern into your lawn or what the ideal cutting height for your grass is, check out these three tips on how to mow the perfect lawn.
Maintaining a beautiful lawn starts with taking care of each blade of grass.1. Find your level
The most common mistake rookie mowers make is not knowing the right cutting height for their lawns. Just like with your haircut, mowing a lawn too short can ruin any look you were going for.
So how short should you cut your lawn? It depends. Cool-season grasses like bluegrass, fescue and rye can be left on the longer side, about 2 to 3 inches. Warm-season blends like Bermuda grass, though, should be kept under an inch.
If you cut your lawn too short, which is known as “scalping,” you risk developing brown patches that can be tough to resurrect. However, if you leave it too long, your grass could grow unsightly allergen-producing flowers that also provide a home for parasites like tics.
“Hot, dry days can quickly dehydrate you – even if you’re riding in style on a Husqvarna Yard Tractor.”
2. Some like it hot
Chores are chores – nobody likes getting up at the crack of dawn to get a head start on the to-do list for the day. If today’s the day you need to tackle the front lawn, you’ll want to make sure the weather’s agreeing with you first.
Unless you want to pull clumps of damp grass out of your lawn mower every five seconds, you shouldn’t try to mow your lawn after it rains. Moisture can not only cause cut grass to stick together and clog your mower, but if there was a heavy rainfall, the blades may even be bent over from the extra weight. Your mower might have a harder time cutting in these conditions, and you’d have to lower your blades to a dangerous height if you really wanted to get the job done anyway.
You’ll also want to avoid mowing your lawn when the temperatures start to climb. Hot, dry days can quickly dehydrate you – even if you’re riding in style on a Husqvarna YTH22V42 Yard Tractor. Try to get the job done in the early or late afternoon when you can reduce your exposure to the sun.
3. Style points
When Major League Baseball starts up every spring, millions of Americans flock to the nation’s ballparks to marvel at some of the greenest grass they’ve seen for months. Most professional grounds crews go a step further and put intricate designs into the grass to give it extra pizzazz – would you believe that you can, too?
While grass is a sturdy plant if you take care of it right, it’s not the most physically stable – even a light step on your lawn will leave footprints. You can use this to your advantage by pressing areas of your lawn with an attachable roller or similar add-on. If you make alternating passes with your mower on different parts of your lawn, you can press a checkerboard, crisscross or any other custom design into your yard.