How frequently should you mow your lawn?

Every 3 weeks.

 

Once every 3 days until the Goat starts to look sickly....

 

Whenever it is tall enough to make good hay (and the weather is suitable, of course).

 

What lawn??? Traded a single famly home on an acre for a loft and my weekends and evenings are all mine, no yard work, exterior maintenance etc. If I feel like wiggling my toes in grass, I go to one of the 4 parks within 2 blocks. Will NEVER own a lawn mower again!!!

 

Every 4 weeks if the neighbor complains.

 

You are supposed to mow that stuff? Now I know why I live in the sticks...l

 

Perhaps, but I believe grass length has more to do with watering requirements. If it is too short, the sunlight reaches the soil and dries it out. The roots might even get burned in high temperatures. In addition to shading the soil, taller grass might have a deeper root system.

I try to mow every one to two weeks. Any longer and the mower won't properly mulch. I already have the blade at or close to the highest setting. Too tall grass impedes cleaning up after the dogs.

 

Your profile says CA - what part of the state are you in, what type of lawn do you have (warm or cold season grass) and how much water does it get, and what do you do with the clippings?

I live in the Philly area and have a cold season lawn (fescue). I mow it to a height of 3.5 inches or so. We have an in-ground sprinkler system and water deeply once a week (each zone for 2 hours) and whenever possible I try and use the mower on the recycle/mulch setting to keep the clippings on the lawn. I find that I need to mow every 7 - 10 days - any more and I need to bag the clippings.

 

If you need to water your lawn, you are growing the wrong things. Fresh water is far too precious a thing to be wasted on the wrong plants, especially ones that aren't feeding you (or anything for that matter).

 

Lawns are no longer politically correct.
And swimming pools - forget about it!

 

my lawn is feeding the canada geese. we mow as to not remove more than 1/3 from the blade. similar as steve mac, 3" in hot weather so mow at 4 1/2". 2 1/2" in cooler weather so mow around 4". this gives the best recycling and less fertilizer needed. if you wait and take more off, it is harmful to the plant and will require more water, fert. and pesticides.

 

that's why we have both.

 

Our cool season grass has been mowed about every 4 weeks lately. We've kept it longer this year (mowed at 4 in) so the roots are longer and can survive better with the higher heat and lack of rain.

 

I have centipede grass and it requires mowing once a week in this part of the country. I have a shallow well that I use for irrigating.

 

I agree with keeping the blades of grass as high as possible, as this helps lower watering requirements and helps keep the soil damp as it's harder for the sun to dry out the soil. I think the guy that cuts my grass (yes, I pay someone to do this - damn allergies), has me around 3.5" right now and he comes weekly. I've got a buried sprinkler system for my yard also, and it now uses the smart sense controller by Toro that gets satellite weather updates and adjusts watering requirements automatically. I have also manually adjusted it to account for subtle changes that may be necessary after all the programming, etc.

 

Just mowed tonite probably been 3-weeks. Little too long. Directionally yes longer should hold up better with less water. Here in Northeast we try to grow cool season grass but joke is its 100F and near-zero rainfall from July-Oct. You do not want to mow short (3-in+), and you do not want to mow often. But most of my neighbors in suburbia mow same day, every week, very short.

You do need to water cetain amount or its dead. And I mean dead and gone. We usually reseed heavily every Fall. Crazy.

 

I mow once a week - so that weeds don't show - to keep HOA somewhat less unhappy.

No pesticides or watering.

 

The correct answer is never! That said, we mow the orchard as required, perhaps every ten days in the spring, monthly by July just to keep the trees happy. We also mow a very small grassy section outside the front door, as needed. The rest of the yard is native plantings. We never water or fertilize the grass. Why would anyone encourage grass to grow faster?

Icarus

 

I have the perfect joke for this thread!

GOD: St. Francis, you know all about gardens and nature. What in the world is going on down there in the USA? What happened to the dandelions,violets, thistle and stuff I started eons ago? I had a perfect, no-maintenance garden plan. Those plants grow in any type of soil, withstand drought and multiply with abandon. The nectar FROM the long lasting blossoms attracts butterflies, honeybees and flocks of songbirds. I expected to see a vast garden of colors by now. But all I see are these green rectangles.

ST. FRANCIS: It's the tribes that settled there, Lord. The Suburbanites. They started calling your flowers weeds and went to great lengths to kill them and REPLACE them with grass.

GOD: Grass? But it's so boring. It's not colorful. It doesn't attract butterflies, birds and bees, only grubs and sod worms. It's temperamental with temperatures. Do these Suburbanites really want all that grass growing there?

ST. FRANCIS: Apparently so, Lord. They go to great pains to grow it and keep it green. They begin each spring by fertilizing grass and poisoning any other plant that crops up in the lawn.

GOD: The spring rains and warm weather probably make grass grow really fast. That must make the Suburbanites happy.

ST. FRANCIS: Apparently not, Lord. As soon as it grows a little, they cut it, sometimes twice a week.

GOD: They cut it? Do they then bale it like hay?

ST. FRANCIS: Not exactly Lord. Most of them rake it up and put it in bags.

GOD: They bag it? Why? Is it a cash crop? Do they sell it?

ST. FRANCIS: No, sir -- just the opposite. They pay to throw it away.

GOD: Now, let me get this straight. They fertilize grass so it will grow. And when it does grow, they cut it off and pay to throw it away?

ST. FRANCIS: Yes, sir.

GOD: These Suburbanites must be relieved in the summer when we cut back on the rain and turn up the heat. That surely slows the growth and saves them a lot of work.

ST. FRANCIS: You aren't going to believe this, Lord. When the grass stops growing so fast, they drag out hoses and pay more money to water it so they can continue to mow it and pay to get rid of it.

GOD: What nonsense. At least they kept some of the trees. That was a sheer stoke of genius, if I do say so myself. The trees grow leaves in the spring to provide beauty and shade in the summer. In the autumn they fall to the ground and form a natural blanket to keep moisture in the soil and protect the trees and bushes. Plus, as they rot, the leaves form compost to enhance the soil. It's a natural circle of life.

ST. FRANCIS: You'd better sit down, Lord. The Suburbanites have drawn a new circle. As soon as the leaves fall, they rake them INTO great piles and pay to have them hauled away.

GOD: No. What do they do to protect the shrub and tree roots in the winter and to keep the soil moist and loose?

ST. FRANCIS: After throwing away the leaves, they go out and buy something which they call mulch. They haul it home and spread it around in place of the leaves.

GOD: And where do they get this mulch?

ST. FRANCIS: They cut down trees and grind them up to make the mulch.

GOD: Enough! I don't want to think about this anymore. St. Catherine, you're in charge of the arts. What movie have you scheduled for us tonight?

ST. CATHERINE: Dumb and Dumber, Lord. It's a real stupid movie about ....

GOD: Never mind, I think I just heard the whole plot FROM St. Francis.