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Articles of Interest

Lawn mowing and edging

Landscape maintenance budget

Unfortunately, mowing grass is such a common practice that it becomes routine. Since mowing is usually the most costly item in a landscape maintenance budget, small changes can result in significant savings with little sacrifice in turf quality. Some of these are cutting height, frequency and clipping removal.

Cutting height

The height of the cut depends on the turf area and its uses. As a rule, low cut turf requires more care than high cut turf:

golf course greens and lawn bowls greens are cut very short, between 3-6mm.

recreational parks are generally cut around 15-20mm.

home lawns are mowed at the persons preferred height which is normally 10-15mm.

Lawn Mowing frequency

This is best determined by the growth rate and time of year. During early and late periods of the growing season mowing may only be necessary every 2-3 weeks. During periods of maximum growth (Spring, Summer) it may be necessary twice a week, ideally once a week would be preferable depending on the area.

Grass Clipping removal

The pros and cons of clipping removal have long been debated. When left to decay on the lawn it can make use of the nutrients and water it contains. The labour and expense involved in the removal of clippings is great and clipping removal can significantly decrease soil nutrients available for plant growth. On the other hand clippings can increase thatching of lawns and they can also be unsightly and messy. There are mulching mowers that chop clippings into small pieces so that they rapidly disappear into the turf canopy, however these do not work well when the turf is tall or wet.

Lawn Edging

Edging can be done by hand, whipper snipper or a motorised edger with whipper snippers being the most commonly used. The results are satisfactory but sometimes tend to be a bit jaggard where as a motorised edger will give the lawn a professional and manicured look with the minimum amount of time and effort.

A neat straight edge is required for a motorised edger due to the vertical rotation of the blades which will be blunted very quickly if the edge, in particular concrete edge, has jagged pieces etc. In this case a whipper snipper would be best suited.