Garden Advice

How Often Should You Mow Your Lawn?

Fantastic Team
Published: January 29, 2020
7min read
Views: 603

We all enjoy the look of a fresh, green lawn, don’t we? A perfect solution to brighten up your garden, give the kids and pets a nice place to play, or improve your summer barbecue experience, lawns can bring many benefits to your home. However, they do require frequent and consistent care.

One of the main tasks on your gardening to-do list should be mowing. But you may be asking, how often should you cut grass? Or perhaps you’re wondering just when to mow the lawn?

Well, don’t worry! If you:

Are wondering how often you should mow your garden lawn;
Want to know which seasons are best for mowing;
Are looking for some extra grass cutting tips,

Then read on! In this post, you will find the answers, plus a few improper mowing practices to avoid.

How often should you mow the lawn?

When wondering how often to cut grass, keep this in mind – aim to keep it at the recommended height for the specific type. Usually, this means you should mow once a week.

That is just a guideline, though, and it might change, depending on how fast your grass is growing.

Keeping the grass at the optimal height is important to its wellbeing. If you cut it too short, your lawn will be at risk of yellowing and shorter, weakened roots. The grass blades are what make the food for your lawn, after all, and cutting too much off means it won’t be getting the nutrients it needs to thrive.

On the other hand, if you let your grass grow too long, it will limit the amount of sunlight, weaken the blades underneath and may even smother lawns. So, keep the grass blades at the required height for a lush, green, and healthy lawn.

If you aren’t sure what height you should aim for, check out this helpful table by Dummies. It includes several types of grass and lists the best height for each one.

What determines how fast grass grows?

There are many factors that might affect the speed at which lawns grow. The type of grass that you have is one of them, as different grasses may shoot up at different speeds.

The season and the weather also matter when it comes to grass growth since the temperature is more suitable at certain times of the year.

Another factor is how you take care of your lawn. The amount of water and fertiliser lawns get will greatly affect how fast they grow, especially during the active season. Naturally, the more you water and feed your lawn, the faster the grass will grow, meaning you’ll have to mow more often.

When to mow the lawn

When you need to mow the lawn depends on several things, including where you live and the type of grass you have. Typically, though, you should start mowing lawns at the beginning of spring and stop in mid-autumn, usually around October.

As a general rule, you should mow the most when lawns grow the fastest. This depends on the type of grass.

Warm-season grasses grow the most during summer. Cool-season grass shoots up the fastest during spring and autumn and slows its growth in the summer heat. Here are some examples of both types:

Warm-season grasses

Bahiagrass
Bermuda grass
Carpet grass
Zoysia grass

Cool-season grasses

Ryegrass
Bentgrass
Fescue
Meadow grass

During your lawn’s active season, you may need to increase the mowing frequency to twice a week, depending on the factors mentioned previously.

When winter comes around, you can put away the mower and take a well-deserved break. This is the time when the grass stops or slows its growth due to the cold weather, so there’s no need for frequent lawn care.

For extra tips on when to mow the lawn and perform other garden care tasks, head over to our year-round gardening calendar!

Lawn mowing tips and tricks

The One-Third rule
You may have heard of this guideline, and for good reason. What it means is that you should never cut more than one-third of the grass blade length at a time. Taking too much off at once will cause yellowing, weakened blades and roots, and lawns will lack the ability to create the nutrients they need. So, avoid excessively close mowing to keep your grass healthy.
Mulching
After mowing the lawn, you can leave the grass clippings spread across it. They make for excellent fertiliser and will return the lost nutrients to the grass. Just make sure they are short and not long or clumped together. Otherwise, they can retain moisture too much, limit the amount of sun your lawn gets, and ultimately smother it, doing more harm than good. If you have a mulching mower, it will take care of longer grass clippings on its own. And, if you don’t want to leave them on the lawn surface, just toss the clippings on your compost heap.
Avoid strimming wet grass
When your turf gets wet, your lawn mower will have a hard time getting a clean cut of the grass. This can rip the blades and cause significant damage to your lawn. If the weather doesn’t allow the grass to dry out completely, make sure your lawn mower blades are as sharp as can be.
Maintain your tools and blades
Speaking of sharp blades, you should always make sure your mower is taken care of. Clogged or dull mower blades can cause the same issue as strimming wet grass, rupturing and damaging it.
Gradually reduce grass height
If you have neglected your lawn for too long and are aiming for a shorter height, always follow the One-Third rule. Don’t be tempted to chop off the overgrown grass all at once. Start with the blades at the highest setting and slowly lower the cutting height over the course of the week.

No time to cut the grass?

Sometimes a busy schedule can get in the way of proper garden and lawn maintenance. Do you have too much on your plate already? Why not let the lawn mowing specialists at Fantastic Services help? You can keep your grass looking lush without lifting a finger!

We always send two experienced gardeners to inspect and take care of your lawn. Need help on a weekend or a bank holiday? Not a problem – we work seven days a week, even in bad weather!

Put away the mower and spend your time where it matters. Let Fantastic Services take care of the rest. Simply contact us using our booking form!

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Takeaways

How often you cut the grass depends on how fast it’s growing, but usually, once a week is enough.
Mowing your turf little and often is the key to a happy, healthy lawn.
You should mow the most during your grass’ active growing season. This will differ depending on the type of grass.
Find out what the optimal length and mowing height for your specific lawn type is.
Always follow the One-Third rule – mow no more than a third of the grass at a time.
Avoid cutting wet lawns. If you can’t wait for it to dry out, make sure the blades are as sharp as possible.

If you’ve decided to enlist the help of the professionals, you might want to take a look at our helpful post where we explain what’s included in a lawn care service and how much it costs.

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Did you enjoy this article? Do you have any other questions about lawn mowing, or maybe some maintenance tips of your own? Let us know in the comments below!

Image source: shutterstock / shablovskyistock