Trim a Little (or a LOT) Off the Top

Like most everything else, Lawns do better when there’s a routine to care for all the details. For instance, you wouldn’t start making a cake until you checked to ensure you have all the ingredients, right? So you go to the pantry and take out the flour, sugar, flavorings, everything that will make your cake great.

Keeping a lawn in the state of perfection that you enjoy the most is like that. First, you trim and edge your yard. But, wait, you do that last? So let’s see what the best strategy is for maintaining your lawn.

What do the pros do?

Your Rish lawn professionals take care of your lawn, but you might see that they do things differently than, say, other pros do things at other houses. For example, some pros edge and trim, some mow first. 

Pros have ultimately excellent control of their tools – lawnmowers, edgers, trimmers, cutters, long- and short-handled hand tools, saws, clippers, snippers, etc. But, on the other hand, we have only the knowledge we have experienced, which might not be much, or our experience might be far in our past. 

So, let’s look at this from a non-pro point of view.

Get ready…

Are your tools ready? Mower blades sharpened, and mower cleaned out underneath? If you don’t have knowledge on how to sharpen your blades, take your mower in for a tune-up and blade sharpening. You’ll be glad you did.

Tools where you can easily reach them from the floor? You don’t want to be trying to step off a ladder or stepstool with sharp tools in your hand.

Are your grass and other plants to be mowed or trimmed dry? You don’t want to be working with wet grass; it can clog up your mower.

Do you have water to hydrate nearby? What about one of those neckcloths that hold water and keep you cool? Those are amazing; if you’re doing yard work or gardening, you should think about getting one.

Get set…

Let’s get the trimming and edging out of the way first. If you prefer to do the mowing first, you might find that trimming and edging will help get it done faster. 

For one thing, trimming and edging first will eliminate the longer grass around the base of trees, fences, hedges, bushes, irrigation, and posts so that you don’t have to worry about getting too close with the mower. 

Get the areas next to walkways and hardscape paths done next. Your patios or other outdoor living areas also need to be trimmed around the grassy edges, so let’s tackle that while we have the weed wacker handy.

You can trim as far out as you like and never have to do crazy zigs and zags to keep the mower blades away from tree roots or other easily damaged obstacles.

It will also help with your landscape plants, so you won’t have to move the edges of the grass out of the way by hand while you’re trying to mow.

Trim the grass around your mulched areas. Having a defined line between the grass and the mulch will help keep the mulch bits from getting caught up in the mower – that can sting a bit when it comes flying out the other end!

Mow!

Now that you have the mower out and you’re working it through the grass, you can see that you don’t have to go through any extra twists and turns to avoid obstacles. Those areas are already trimmed and shortened, and you can do your mowing in straight lines or spirals, or whichever way you usually do it.

Alter your mowing pattern. This will keep your grass growing upright and reduce soil compaction.

Some rules for cutting your grass?

1. Mow grass when it’s dry. The micro bits of grass can stay on your lawn, where it will behave like a light coating of mulch. These bits will decompose into the soil and provide nutrients to your grass roots.
2. Don’t try to mow wet grass. Wet grass will cut unevenly, and the grass blades will be ragged instead of a straight cut. The clippings will get matted, and you’ll have to rake up the clippings instead of leaving them in place. Clumps of wet grass will stick to your mower blades and the inside of your mower. Good luck scraping it all off. 
3. If the mower has clumps of grass left behind, you’ll want to rake those up. Chances are they are too big for your lawn to absorb.
4. Sweep the walks and other hardscaping after mowing. It will not only look neater, but if the clippings get wet, they can pose a slip-and-fall danger.

Enjoy your grass

Admit it, when your grass is newly mowed and looks like that beautiful emerald green carpet you see in landscaping ads and movies about treasure hunters and mansions, your feet start tingling. They kick off your shoes or boots before you get back into the house, and your toes become adept at peeling off your socks. Before you know it, you’re walking across your lawn.

The kids follow your example and start running, jumping, and dancing around on the newly mowed lawn. Feels great, doesn’t it?

Expand your choices

Your life is probably pretty busy if you have kids and work out of the home. It’s busy even if you work from home. Mowing and making sure your landscape is kept to perfection might be a thing that is seldom achieved. You might be giving up time you would have spent on something else. Or you’ve expanded your landscape beyond your ability to take care of it all every week. Your enthusiasm for creating the perfect space for your family and friends to gather shows.

But you shouldn’t have to choose whether to do yard work or take the kids to the beach. Instead, give your pros at Rish’s Complete Lawn Service a call, set up a free consultation, and find better uses for your time.