Spring means lawn mowing

Blue skies, sunshine, and the smell of freshly mowed grass. It’s spring!

As you turn your attention outside for some lawn and landscape work, we’d like to offer some advice to help bring out the best in these areas. Spring means lawn mowing. There is no way around it. One of the very best things you can do for your lawn is proper care. And we’re not talking about our lawn care treatments. Keeping up on your mowing is paramount in maintaining optimum health.

This time of year, you need to be mowing at no less than 3 inches, increasing up towards 4 inches as summer draws near. And, you need to ensure you are mowing often enough that you cut off no more than 1/3 the leaf blade. Bagging is generally not advised, unless you must mow off significantly more than 1/3 the grass blade. Mulching or discharging your clippings is ideal and will return a significant amount of nutrients back into your soil.

And most importantly, please make sure you are using a SHARP mower blade. Don’t assume a new blade is sharp. You need to have it sharpened professionally to ensure clean cuts on your grass tissue. Clean cuts reduce moisture loss and help your lawn avoid funguses.

Spring also means mulching. We all love the color and fresh look new mulch brings to your landscape. But, there are some things to avoid here too. First, make sure you choose a premium, natural bark mulch. Many pallet-based mulches break down much more slowly.

Further, these natural mulches add nitrogen into your soil while pallet-based mulches will remove nitrogen from the soil. It goes without saying, you certainly don’t want to cover any plants or foliage while mulching and usually only need to add an inch or 2 to existing beds.

And finally, ensure that your mulch doesn’t come up past the foundation of your home. Doing so will allow various bugs access to your home and can allow moisture in your mulch to sit against wooden trim on your home.