Today I took my time mowing to be sure my stripes were straight and uniform. In addition, I double cut to make sure the clippings were well distributed.
Lawn Striping Tips
When striping lawns the light-colored stripes go away from you and the dark-colored stripes come toward you. If you want to go over a stripe a second time match the direction of the stripe and the width of the deck to the existing stripe.
Going over stripes a second time will give you a more uniform height and darker stripes in addition to spreading the clippings more evenly.
When making your first stripe select an object on the other side of the lawn and focus on that as you move forward. I start making my stripes in the middle of the lawn, preferably where the stripes will be the longest.
You will probably have a little bend at the end of the stripe, nobody gets it perfect the first pass, at least not me. When you make the return stripe straighten out the bend and then go over the first stripe parallel to your second stripe.
Another tip for lawn stripes is to match a part of your mower to the edge of your lawn stripes so they are uniform. I use an anti scalp roller on one side of the mower and a front caster on the other. Take your time and enjoy the mow.
At the end of rows to avoid spinning the tires if you have a zero-turn mower. Sharp turns dig up the grass and leave a patch of dirt. Turning on a driveway is preferred for it leaves less wear on the lawn.
When done striping your lawn avoid driving across your stripes or you will leave one random stripe across your masterpiece. Go around the outside of the lawn, preferably where you made your first outside pass.
Lawn Mowing Tips
I sharpen my mower blades three or more times a year. You can never have too sharp a mower blade or sharpen your blades too often. If your mower blade is dull you will see a brown hue to your lawn after a couple of days because the shredded grass tips turn brown.
Cool-season grasses should be mowed as tall as you can tolerate. I use a zero-turn mower and set my blades at 4 to 4.25 inches. The taller the grass is the longer the roots will be. Also, tall grass shades out weeds.
When grass is growing rapidly mow twice a week and preferably at the end of the day. Mowing grass during the heat of the day stresses it out and there’s already enough stress in the world.
Don’t mow wet grass, it makes a huge mess, compacts soil and leaves clumps of grass all over the place. Avoid mowing wet grass at all costs unless an absolute necessity.
If the lawn is wet from rain wait until the next day or raise your mower a notch or two.
I don’t bag my lawn and you shouldn’t either. Grass clippings return vital nitrogen to the soil.
For what it’s worth, I don’t use synthetic fertilizers or insecticides and herbicides. Yes, I have some weeds but I have significantly more earthworms and soil microbes. When a Robin plucks a worm out of the soil I know it is eating a healthy and certified organic (not certified but organic nonetheless) snack!
The secret to having the ‘best lawn’ on the block is to keep your lawn neat. Mow often, especially when the grass is growing quickly and keep the edges trimmed and the drive and sidewalks blown off. A neatly mowed and trimmed lawn beats a deep green hayfield every day of the week.
A couple of weeks ago I performed a spring seeding of my lawn and would like to share some spring seeding tips. My goal was to fill bare spots and overseed my dog’s run. Overseeding the run is most likely a waste of time but I had to give it a try.
I live in USDA Hardiness Zone 6 where we grow cool-season grass. In a nutshell, cool-season grass goes dormant in the winter when temperatures are cold and over the summer when temperatures are hot.
My goal is to complete spring overseeding as early as possible. Definitely before forsythia bloom. If there are a few warm days at the end of winter and the ground isn’t muddy I take advantage of the opportunity to overseed thin spots.
The ideal time to plant cool-season grass is late August to September when temperatures are cool and rainfall abundant. I don’t plant new lawns in the spring unless absolutely necessary. However, spring overseeding and filling bare spots is acceptable.
The first thing I did was run my Aerovator over the bare areas. If you don’t have an Aerovator you can rent an aerator or use a metal rake to roughen the soil. Grass seed wants to grow and if kept moist it will.
The Aerovator has solid tines, unlike an aerator’s hollow tines, which penetrate the soil and vibrate.
Again, you don’t need an Aerovator to do the job but once you see the results you’ll be amazed. The machine leaves the lawn spongy soft with holes that allow air, water, nutrients and seed to enter.
While the Aerovator is an aggressive machine, you can control the amount it disturbs the soil. However, if there is no grass cover, like my dog’s run, the results are very similar to using a tiller.
Once I aerovated the lawn I generously spread Lesco Shady Select Grass Seed. I have a lot of sugar maples that provide plenty of shade.
Most cool-season grass seed mixes contain bluegrass, fescue and ryegrass. If you have shade you want a seed mix with more fescue. The amount of fescue in this seed mix is off the charts! I can’t wait to see how it does.
When seeding I always go heavy. Clients like to see grass as soon as possible and I like to grow grass as thick as possible.
I used the back of a bamboo rake to incorporate the seed into the soil. While I know every tutorial ever written on planting grass says to do this I admit I often skip this step and the seed does wonderfully. Again, the secret to growing grass is to keep the seed moist.
Finally, I top-dressed the area with a light coating of compost. I would say the compost is 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick.
I selected well-aged compost with little debris. I picked some debris out while shoveling the compost into the wheelbarrow.
Once finished composting I walked away and didn’t water once. It’s been a relatively warm, yet dry, spring and I’m happy to say after two and a half weeks there’s a green fuzz in the backyard. We did get a couple of rainstorms.
I would have better results if I watered the new seed, and you will too, but it’s early enough that mother nature will do most of the work. Seeing the seedlings motivated me to start watering though it’s supposed to rain the next couple of days.
As you can see above seeding my dog’s run was an exercise in futility. However, if you use these spring seeding tips in your yard you’ll have great results.
The lawn mowing tips below will make a huge difference in the health and appearance of your lawn.
Lawn Mowing Tips
1. Mow often. In the spring mow your lawn twice a week to keep up with growth.
2. Remove 1/3 or less of the grass-blade when mowing. Removing 1/3 or less of the grass-blade minimizes stress on your lawn.
If your lawn is overgrown raise the mower 2-3 notches before mowing. A few days later mow at the proper height to decrease stress. The worst thing you can do to an overgrown lawn is scalp it like a hay-field.
3. Mow high. Set your mower at 2.5″ for the first mowing of the season. Mowing lower the first cut helps grind up winter debris.
Raise the mower a notch each mowing until you reach 3.5 – 4″. Tall grass means deeper roots that reach into the soil for moisture. Tall grass also shades out weeds such as crabgrass and chickweed.
Lower your mower a notch at a time as leaf cleanup season arrives.
4. Keep mower blades sharp. Grass cut with a sharp blade cleanly cuts the grass-blade. Grass cut with a dull blade tears the grass-blade.
You can tell how sharp a mower blade is by looking at the lawn from a distance. If you see a brown cast the blades are dull.
Start the season with a sharp mower blade. After the first few cuts, sharpen the blade again. Mower blades often gets nicked or dulled the first few cuts of the season. Then, sharpen your mower blade half way through the season.
Keep two sets of mower blades so you have a sharp blade available when you need one.
5. Leave clippings on the lawn. Grass clippings return much-needed nitrogen to your lawn. Some people believe grass clippings create thatch. They don’t. Over fertilizing lawns kills microbes that break down thatch. Removing more than 1/3 of the grass-blade creates more thatch than microbes can break down.
6. Mow late in the afternoon. The cooler temperatures and higher humidity during the night reduce stress from mowing.
7. Mow when grass is dry. Mowing wet grass encourages the spread of disease. Mowing wet grass also pushes grass over leaving a ragged cut. Finally, mowing wet grass leaves unsightly clumps that make a mess of everything. Wait for you lawn to dry before mowing.
8. Alternate mowing patterns. Mow your lawn in a different direction weekly to prevent pushing grass-blades over and prevent ruts. Alternate mowing direction at 90 and 45 degree angles .
Vary the direction you mow weekly by alternating between perpendicular and angular patterns.
9. Use a mulching blade. Mulching mower blades cut clippings into fine pieces before leaving the mower deck. This is the only type of mower blade I recommend.
The lawn mowing tips above take a little extra effort from your mowing crew or the designated mower of the house (You know who you are). While it’s OK to break the rules once in a while the closer you can come to them the better your lawn will look.
In this video I show you how to renovate a lawn using a tool called a Rotodairon.
If your lawn is not growing well look at the big picture to see what is causing the trouble.
Some, of the many, causes of a poor lawn are:
Sandy soil
Too much shade
Soil has a low ph
Soil has a high ph
Low organic matter content
Buried debris under the soil
Too damp of an area
Too dry of an area
Mowing too short
Too many tree roots (Please don’t cut them all, there’s a better solution.)
The key is to look around and figure out why your lawn isn’t growing well and don’t make assumptions. This is a situation where like Joe Friday says you have to look at, “Just the facts.”
If you have any questions about lawn renovation please post them below.
A few hours aerating your lawn this weekend will give benefits for a long time.
Why should I aerate?
Aerate your lawn if you have compacted soil, the grass is getting thin or you would like to overseed with a more vigorous type of seed.
When should I aerate?
I prefer to aerate from late summer to early fall because grass can set up before the heat and drought of the following summer. Aerate an established lawn every two to three years, yearly for a poor lawn until you get it back under control.
What type of aerator do you recommend?
You can rent an aerator for the day or a few hours at most rental centers. If you have a small lawn a few hours is all you need. Aerators are heavy. Have a friend help you load and unload the machine.
There are many different types of aerators. Some have hollow tines which move up and down to punch holes in your lawn, some have a drum with hollow tines that remove cores from your lawn and some are a solid drum with solid tines that you pull behind a tractor. I recommend a machine that removes a core and is easy to maneuver.
What type of grass seed do you recommend?
There are many types of grass seed and just as many types of lawns. Grass seed mixes for our climate here in Connecticut include ‘Landscapers Mix’ or ‘Sun and Shade Mix’. These mixes have bluegrass, ryegrass and fescue for a nice lawn.
Avoid ‘Contractor Mix’ grass seed which establishes quickly but not give a quality lawn in the long-term.
Do your research before purchasing seed and always buy the best. The biggest factor in determining you lawns success or failure is the seed you plant.
A word of caution
Before aerating mark all sprinkler heads and wires less than four inches deep.
If you run the aerator over a sprinkler head or wire you may break it.
