When tending to your garden, it’s easy to get caught up focusing on your plants, vegetables, and the overall design to make it look pleasing.
Many people forget that the lawn is often the centerpiece that will make a garden turn heads. If your lawn is dull and the grass is patchy, it will make the rest of your garden look sad no matter how many flowers you have in bloom.
Luckily, cultivating a thick lawn isn’t difficult or too time-consuming, so it’s well worth the effort. Lawn care may not be the most exciting part of yard maintenance, but it can often give you the most results for a relatively small amount of effort, so we have these simple tips to bring your lawn back to life!
Does your lawn make the cut?
1. The way that you cut your lawn can be the difference between a garden that looks unkempt and messy to one that looks like you’ve had a professional working on it. The main thing to ensure is that you’re using a electric lawn mower with sharp blades, which will give you the even cut you’re looking for. Dull blades will make your cut irregular, and may even pull out tufts and cause your grass’ tips to yellow.
2. Mowing in the same direction every time can cause the grass to lean in one direction as it’s cut in the same way repeatedly. To avoid this, try to change the pattern that you cover your lawn when you mow it to promote grass to stand upright.
3. The condition of the grass is also important to get the even cut. Avoid cutting your grass when it’s wet after rain or morning dew, as this can create an uneven look and can clog up your lawnmower. If you have no choice but to mow when the grass is wet, then regularly remove clippings from your mower to prevent damage.
4. The height that you mow your grass can also make a huge difference in your lawn’s health and overall look. The first cut of the season should be a low cut, which will promote new healthy growth for the rest of the year. The remaining reductions should be a little longer to create shade, which will stop weeds from growing, and then for the final cut of the year, move to a shorter cut again to prevent the grass from becoming a jungle when you start again next year. If your lawnmower doesn’t have cutting ranges, consider investing in one that does – the quality of your grass will show for it.
5. Grasscycling is another technique you can use to improve the quality of your grass while also being lazy! Rather than gathering the grass clippings and composting them, leave them on the lawn you’ve just cut. They will naturally decompose and feed the rest of the lawn, acting as a natural fertilizer. Ideally, you want to have a mulching blade attached to your mower to make the blades of grass smaller and easier to decompose.