Mowing tips for an established garden lawn

The perfect lawn does not appear overnight. It requires time, patience, and a great deal of hard work. The grass is greener where it has been mowed, but where to begin? 

Here are a few pointers for creating the garden lawn of your dreams. Useful for even the greenest of fingertips, as well as the unpredictable English weather.

What is the ideal mowing height?

The goldilocks zone for your lawn’s height is often a compromise between aesthetics and good health.  A lawn cut too short will not have enough blade surface area to take in sunlight and water, which in turn will weaken the root system, giving way to the growth of weeds and moss, and the development of disease.

On the other hand, lawns regularly cut too high can suffer from loose, weak, and superficial root growth, as the roots don't have to deepen in search of nutrients and moisture. 

Most lawns in the UK will do well when mowed to a length between 2 and 4cm. However, your mowing height should be adapted accordingly to the seasonal weather and type of use the lawn gets. 

Set the mower blades higher as you enter dry or cold periods and lower during periods of moderate weather and good growth, when your grass can easily recover from regular low mowing. Similarly, areas of high wear should be mowed higher, and even more so when those areas are in the shade. 

If your lawn has grown too long due to bad weather or time restraints, increase the mowing height to the highest setting and work down over a few weeks, to avoid putting unnecessary stress on the grass plants by removing too much of the leaves in one go. 

How often should you mow your lawn?

You should never remove more than a third of the grass blade length in one cut. As such, how often you should mow your lawn will depend on the time it takes your lawn to grow enough so that your desired length post-mowing makes up for two-thirds of the blade. 

As a rule of thumb, mowing little and often, about once or twice a week, will encourage your grass to grow thicker and healthier, and keeping a regular mowing schedule will help avoid putting unnecessary stress on your grass plants. 

What to Do Before Mowing

To ensure a smooth experience for you and your lawn, there are a few things you should do before mowing. 

1. Check your equipment

Preparation is crucial when it comes to your garden lawn. That’s why we suggest sharpening the blade of your lawnmower every year, just before the start of the mowing season. Furthermore, if you frequently scrape the ground or hit pebbles, you'll need to sharpen it again around halfway through the season.

A blunt blade will tear rather than cut the grass, creating ragged edges that are more prone to illness and fungal disease. For more information on how to look after your mower, check out this blog. 

2. Remove debris and obstacles

Make sure to free your lawn of any bits and bobs like twigs, rock, and toys that might interfere with your mowing and damage your mower.

3. Make sure that the lawn is dry before mowing

Mowing your grass when wet is likely to result in an uneven and damaged lawn. When grass is dry, the blades stand taller, making it easier to mow evenly. Additionally, wet blades are more likely to tear than cut cleanly, opening the door for fungus and disease to settle in.

Mowing 

The actual process of mowing your lawn is fairly self-explanatory, but if you would like to take your garden green to the next level, why not check out this blog on how to stripe your lawn to find out everything you need to know about the process!

What You Should Do After Mowing

Remove Grass Clippings

We recommend that you always remove grass cuttings off your lawn after mowing, to avoid excessive thatch build.

A build up of thatch will prevent essential nutrients, air, and water from reaching your soil, and create the perfect environment for moss and disease to develop. Removing grass clipping will help avoid this issue, and make regular scarification easier for yourself down the line! 

Keep your garden lawn established throughout the year with So & Mo

To keep your lawn healthy and well-established throughout the UK's unpredictable seasons, you can rely on So & Mo’s Performance Liquid Lawn Feed Plan. 

Our 12-month plan consists of six feeds, each designed to provide your lawn with the right nutrients throughout the season to ensure peak performance and take your gardening efforts to the next level! Find out more about the magical composition of our feeds here or keep reading about how to look after your lawn on our blog!