Mowing Perfection – Six Tips to Achieving a Healthy Looking Lawn

Mowing Perfection – Six Tips to Achieving a Healthy Looking Lawn

A healthy looking, lush green lawn is always a welcome sight, and maintaining your lawn can be therapeutic as well as useful. Whether you are a professional, responsible for maintaining grassed areas of all shapes and sizes, or a homeowner with a thirst for achieving the ultimate lawn, check out our top tips…

Water it…

The best time to water a lawn is in the morning, before the sun is at its peak, you should also aim to to water less often but for longer periods of time when you do, this will encourage the lawn's roots to grow deeper, leading to healthier grass and fewer weeds. Signs that your lawn is thirsty include blades that look wilted and grass that doesn’t ‘bounce’ back after being walked on.

While watering less frequently and for longer is the way to go for existing lawns, for newly installed lawns and grass seed, a daily water, to give the roots the best chance of establishing, will be required.

Be sure to feed it…

As the weather starts to improve, aim to feed the lawn every four to six weeks to encourage healthy growth. There are plenty of lawn fertilizers available on the market; simply select the right one for your needs and be sure to follow the package instructions.

Don’t clear away the cuttings...

Mulched grass cuttings are great news for lawns because they will cost you almost nothing. These very small cuttings break down to help add nutrients back into the soil and thus retain water. With the Husqvarna LB553S grass is finely chopped and then returned to the lawn with a minimum fuss. Designed for heavy duty use by professionals, the LB553S is perfect for those who take lawn care in a passionate and conscientious way.

And give the lawn plenty of air...

Aerating the lawn is a task that shouldn’t be overlooked as it can significantly improve the quality of the grass. With aeration, grass is encouraged to grow strong as the roots are able to go deeper and water and other essential nutrients are also able to reach deeper down, helping to boost overall lawn quality.

Depending on the type of soil, it may be appropriate to fill aeration holes with coarse sand which can help to improve airflow to the roots as well as water drainage.

Making the task quick and easy is the Husqvarna towed lawn aerator, which is simply attached to a garden tractor, such as the Husqvarna TS243T traditional side discharging garden tractor, and then towed behind with the nine spikes making light work of efficiently aerating large grassed areas.

Make the most of technology...

There are few things we do these days without the aid of technology and mowing the lawn does not need to be any different. Offering significant time and labour saving benefits, automowers can be used in both residential and commercial settings, and depending on the model chosen, are capable of handling large areas and complicated lawn layouts.

Take for example the 430X Automower from Husqvarna, which is packed with features such as GPS assisted navigation, the ability to tackle a wide range of awkward terrains and electric cutting height adjustment. This very low-noise automower delivers an outstanding cut whilst maintaining the lawn’s health, thanks to super-sharp blades that ensure the grass is finely cut and returned to the lawn to act as fertilizer.

Cutting little and often, Automowers adopt a random cutting pattern, which means the lawn is unable to get into a growing pattern, which would typically cause it to lie in one direction. With random cutting however, the lawn is encouraged to grow in a variety of directions, leading to a fuller, better looking appearance.

Adjust the cutting height...

It is easy when it comes to mowing the lawn to adopt a ‘one-blade fits all’ approach. However, adapting the mower’s blade height to suit the lawn is extremely important, cutting more than a 1/3 of the grass’ height in one mow can be harmful to the grass, damaging the root system. The perfect height for your lawn will be dependent on the type of grass it is, some grasses can withstand short cuts of under 1.5cm while other grasses thrive at 7cm tall.

UK-based lawn care specialists Fantastic Services warn of the risks of damaging the lawn by cutting at the wrong height:

"It is easy when it comes to mowing the lawn to adopt a ‘one-blade fits all’ approach. However, adapting the mower’s blade height to suit the lawn is extremely important. When you cut more than a 1/3 of the grass’ height in one mow there’s a good chance that you’re harming the grass, damaging the root system."

The perfect height for your lawn will be dependent on the type of grass it is, some grasses can withstand short cuts of under 1.5cm while other grasses thrive at 7cm tall. Mowing at the right height will make your lawn more drought-resistant and will significantly reduce the overall maintenance needed. You can learn more about grass mowing heights here.

Remember, your cutting blade should always be sharp; a dulled blade can lead to poor cutting which in turn could damage the grass and even cause it to turn brown.

Offering a three-step cutting height, from 10 – 30mm, is the GX560 from Husqvarna, which has been designed for both professional and residential use and with its air cushion design, tackling banks and complex conditions is easy.

Use a striping attachment to achieve perfection…

Striping attachments are basically weights that are mounted to the back of your mower. They are the same width as the mower and do not hinder the process itself. When cutting the grass they will push the grass to run in the same direction of the mowing. This way when you mow back and forth you will achieve the “stripe effect” which will basically make your lawn stand out as professionally mowed.

Make sure to turn directions only when you've finished the row, meaning you need to be outside of the grass. You can even make this your DIY project with a couple of cable ties and a metal rod that weighs enough.

For more information on any of the Husqvarna products mentioned, call the Red Band team on 0116 260 2601.