Keeping up with lawn care work during the summer months can seem time-consuming, but there are some lawn care tips and tricks to help get the most out of every minute spent tending to the yard. Use these helpful summer lawn care tips and tricks to save time and reduce the workload when tending to your lawn.
Keep Your Lawn Mower fueled and Prepped.
Before you begin mowing, spending a few minutes to ensure your mower is fueled up and ready to go will save you time in the long run. Needing to refuel at any point once you’ve started to mow means wasted time because you’ll have to wait for the engine to cool before you can safely refuel it. Not to mention, time spent venturing back and forth to get your gas can.
And, if you haven’t yet sharpened your mower blades for the season, do so before getting started. A sharp mower blade provides a clean, even cut and will prevent your mower from ripping grass from the roots, which can make large sections of your lawn more susceptible to disease and damage. Keep in mind though, mower blades should be replaced after they’ve been sharpened several times.
Mulch Around Trees.
Adding a ring-shaped layer of mulch around the trees in your yard can help reduce the need for trimming around those trees and makes it easier to mow around them. Just keep the mulch a few inches away from the tree trunk to reduce the risk of disease and prevent harm to tree roots. Mulch should be between 2 to 4 inches deep. If the soil is damp or doesn’t drain well, then you’ll want to keep the mulch depth closer to 2 inches.
Trim First, Then Mow.
Use a string trimmer to trim around lawn edges before you begin mowing so you won’t be distracted by these areas while mowing. You may also be able to save time by mowing around obstacles in your yard, such as trees, gardens or flower beds, before mowing the main part of the lawn.
Think About Your Mowing Pattern.
Once you begin mowing the lawn, the most efficient and fastest way to get the job done is by mowing in rows, orienting those rows with the longest part of your lawn. This pattern reduces the number of turns you have to take with your mower, saving both time and energy. That means if your yard is deep but narrow, then you’ll mow faster by mowing front to back, versus side to side.
You can also try mowing in large concentric circles around the property, which is another way to reduce the number of turns you have to make and makes turning itself an easier proposition. The only problem with mowing a single, concentric path is that you’ll wind up in the center of your yard when the job is done and will have to mow or push the mower out.
If you’d rather end up where you started, then you can also try mowing in a double spiral pattern, where you mow in concentric circles, skipping a concentric circle on each pass. Then, once you reach the center of your yard, all you have to do is turn around and repeat the process, mowing the concentric paths you’ve skipped until you’re back out and where you started.
Another timesaving and visually interesting pattern is mowing in diagonal rows, making the first pass on a diagonal through the center of the yard, then mowing back and forth through the center. Reversing the direction of the first diagonal cut each week (upper left to lower right or upper right to lower left) keeps grass from becoming worn down in one direction.
You can also add visual interest to your yard by mowing the diagonal rows in a zigzag pattern. The reflection of the light on the different angles of cut grass will help make the pattern look more pronounced.
Regardless of the pattern you use, when using side-discharge mode on your mower, the grass clippings should always be directed into the grass that has already been cut and not toward the uncut grass. The clippings will provide additional nutrients and shade to the lawn as they decompose. Clippings directed into the uncut area will build up as you continue to mow and can make cutting more difficult.
An important exception to this rule, however, relates to the hazards of discharging grass clippings into the street or sidewalk, where they are a hazard for motorcycles and bicyclists. To avoid this, make the first two passes on the outside borders of the lawn with the grass discharging toward the center of the yard. Then, reverse mowing direction for the rest of the mowing time. Doing this also eliminates the need to use a leaf blower or broom to remove the clippings from the street later.
Mowing Frequency and Timing.
Mowing your lawn extra short in the hopes you’ll be able to go a bit longer before the next mow can actually weaken your lawn over time while also encouraging weed growth. A better plan may be allowing your grass to grow a bit longer between mows, up to 3-2/3 inches in height depending on the grass type and whether it’s a warm- or cool-season grass. Going a bit longer helps to provide extra shade to the grass’s roots, which may help prevent the lawn from drying out and will also encourage thicker growth. When you do mow, remove no more than the top third of the grass’s length. This strategy helps keep clippings manageable while also helping to keep roots cool.
Be sure to cut the grass when it’s dry, but not during the hottest part of the day. Cutting wet grass can cause grass to clump up inside the mower, requiring cleanouts. It can also leave large clumps of wet grass all over your lawn, which if not raked through, could damage or kill the grass in those areas.
To keep weeds in the yard at bay, Eric Rochow of GardenFork recommends mowing the lawn before weeds are able to flower and drop seeds into the lawn. Additionally, Rochow says, a thick, healthy lawn is the best defense against weeds because if the grass is thick, with blades covering the soil, then any weed seeds that have dropped to the soil won’t get as much sunlight and may not germinate.
Follow these lawn care hacks, and you might be able to save time and effort throughout the season, which hopefully means more time spent enjoying the fruits of your labor.
