MOWING HEIGHT

If there is one thing you remember about mowing your lawn, remember the Golden Rule:

The Golden Rule:

Never cut more than ⅓ of the height of the blade of grass (this decreases to ¼ on new lawns) 



The height of your mow should be adjusted throughout the year to ensure the healthiest lawn:

First cut - Highest Setting and then 1.5 to 2 inches

When you come to do your first cut, your lawn is going to be the longest it has been throughout the year. Depending on the weather, you will likely be doing this first cut in March.

Ultimately, you want to get down to 1½ inches for the first cut, but do not forget the GOLDEN RULE. So with this first cut, you will likely be cutting at the highest setting possible and then only cutting off ⅓ of the height of the grass each time. Continue doing this for the first few cuts until you get to the 1½ inches height. 

Spring -1.5 to 2 inches

As you start to get some warmer weather, you can drop the height of the mower. You will have plenty of rain and enough sun to get to a shorter cut. 

Summer - 1 to 1.5 inch 

Throughout the summer, you can keep the lawn shorter, unless you start to see a lack of rain or a drought. 

Summer (drought) - 1.5 to 2 inches

If we start to get a lack of rainfall, you will want to leave the height of the cut a lot higher. If you cut short during a drought, you will expose the lawn, open up opportunities for weeds to appear and reduce the amount of water that the grass can hold. So when the rainfall is lower, you should water the lawn heavily and leave the lawn longer to ensure it makes it through. 

Autumn - 1 to 1.5 inches

Autumn is very much like the spring - we have plenty of sun and rain, so you can keep the lawn relatively short. However, we will have one eye on the winter, so you should start to let it get a little longer with each cut. 

Last cut - 1.5 inches

When it comes to the last cut, this may vary, but it will normally fall in October or November. Through the last few weeks of the mowing season, you want to leave the lawn around 1½ inches after mowing. You will find that the rate of lawn growth is pretty low in October/November and the opportunities to cut will be very weather dependent. So keep an eye on this and make sure that your lawn is around the correct height by your last cut. 

By leaving the lawn at a longer length, this will give us protection throughout the winter and help prevent weeds popping up in the lawn. This will make your Spring work a lot easier!

Summary

Throughout the year, you will be changing the height of the lawn, so keep the GOLDEN RULE in mind and ensure that you make gradual changes to the height of the cut. If you are wanting to cut more than ⅓ away, stagger this process. Make the gradual changes by leaving a day or two between cuts and take it easy on your lawn. 

There are 2 signs to look out for which may indicate if you are taking too much off the height of your grass:

1. The mower will start to struggle or labour when cutting if you are taking off too much height. Generally, you will hear this, either by the lawn mowing sounding like it is cutting out or making an especially loud noise.
2. The speed at which the grass box fills up. If this is filling up quicker than usual, then you may be taking too much off.

If you want to receive reminders on how high to cut your lawn, sign up to the Lawn Club.