In a previous post we encouraged you check on your mower blade to ensure that it didn’t have any damage so that come warmer months, you were able to effectively use your mower. Since we are still in the middle of February, despite the warmer weather, it’s not too late to get your mower serviced if needed. The last thing that you want to deal with during the summer is a broken down mower while you watch your grass grow to unruly heights.Keep your mower blades sharp to reduce chances for disease in your grass. The most common type of disease that your lawn can contract is fungus. If this isn’t treated it can spread to and kill your entire lawn. The length of your grass is also important. We recommend you keep your mowing height at 3” or higher, and when you mow, make sure you’re only removing 1/3 of the grass blade per cut. Mowing under these guidelines should help to avoid brown spots on your lawn.
Compaction is a problem that you want to try to avoid with your lawn care. We recommend changing your mowing patterns week to week to avoid the heavy traffic of the lawn mower in the same routine repeatedly. Additionally, you want to try to mow when the ground is dry. This can be difficult especially as we enter into summer because we all know that Western North Carolina summers can be pretty wet, but mowing the grass while the soil is still wet also leads to compaction. If compaction is something your lawn is struggling with, we suggest aerating. If your grass receives heavy traffic, it will best survive if aerated once or twice a year. A heavy clay soil also needs more frequent aerating. Lawns receiving light traffic or established on a sandy soil can be aerated once a year or every other year.