Mowing is a necessary and simple practice to keep your lawn looking pristine, but it is often performed incorrectly leading to ruptured or destroyed garden turf.
Mowing may be an easy turf management process but it is one of the things most responsible for damaging lawns. There are certain things to consider ensuring you avoid abusing your turf when you mow.
Avoid infrequent mowing as it leads to excessive clippings at each occasion; conversely, mowing too frequently can leave grass shorter than it should be. The height of cut is important to recognise; shorter mowing means the plant may have to obtain food from its reserves in order to grow; insufficient mowing will leave your lawn turf looking ragged. The total leaf surface that should be removed at each mowing should be between about a quarter and a third of the length of grass.
It is important when mowing that you have a fully working, sound mower and not what we call a ‘dull mower’. If you have ever cut your garden turf and it has become brown and discoloured this can usually be attributed to dull mowers with poor, run-down rotary or reel-type mechanisms. Make sure that you mower is sharp and properly adjusted before performing any kind of mowing on lawn turf.
Other issues to be wary of are ‘scalping’ and ‘washboard effect’. Areas with a steep gradient may cause you to cut closer on one side of the mower than the other because of the angle it is cutting at. This can leave uneven areas of turf if you try to mow crossways, a process known as ‘scalping’. Lawn turf areas may develop wavy ridges through them with regular mowing; this ‘washboard effect’ can be limited by alternating directions in which you mow.
On the Turf Growers site you can read our blog for expert gardening hints, tips and advice and you can also buy turf of outstanding quality, made to last.If you do happen to damage your lawn whilst mowing, you can view our guide on how to lay turf for tips on recovering your garden's image.