Mower | South Eastern Connecticut Landscaping

19 May

How to mow a lawn and keep it healthy

Author: admin // Category: landscaping ideas, Tips

Lawn mowing is usually seen as a chore, but it can be good exercise, a mental relaxant and an important way to maintain a lush growth in your lawn. Always try and mow the lawn when it is dry, at least twelve hours after it has been watered. Mowing a wet lawn helps spread weeds and fungi, because they get a conducive environment to grow at a new spot. If a lawn is mowed when dry, chances of this are reduced.

Additionally, your mower would fare better in the long run.When mowing your lawn, it is good to let it grow to at least 2-3 inches of length, and cut only 1/3 the grass length. This is because cutting more traumatizes the grass and leaves it unable to recover from the mowing. If for some reason you have let your lawn grow longer, maybe 4-6 inches, you still cut 1/3 the length, wait for some time, and cut the rest of the length at a second session to bring it down to 2-3 inches.

Always remember that a higher mowing lets the grass retain its strength, and scalping a lawn leaves it vulnerable to diseases and parasites, as well as making it unsightly.Direction of mowing is important, alternately mow the lawn vertically and then horizontally. For a neat look, mow diagonally. Ensure your mower blade is sharp, so it cuts easily, instead of hacking and cutting, damaging the grass all the while. Leave the cut parts on the lawn so they can naturally decompose and provide nutrients to the lawn.

Lawn Mowing: Is It Better To Mulch Or Catch?

Author: admin // Category: Tips

I bet the biggest debate in the yard care world is “is it better to mulch my clippings or catch them in the bag?” In fact, in my years in the lawn care industry, I have had customers swear by one way or the other and they just would not listen to reason! Let me break this down for ya ok?

Why Mulch Clippings When You Cut

Mulching lawn mowers are ones that clip the grass blades and then grind, slice and cut the pieces into super fine bits before dropping them back into the lawn. This is a very good and “green” practice because you are literally recycling the clippings back into the yard. Remember, 90% of the grass blade is water and the rest is organic nutrients. When you mulch with a properly powered mulching mower, those small clippings dry and shrivel up withing hours and drop their precious nutrients right into the lawn.

A common misconception with mulching is that doing it over and over all year will contribute to a lawn thatch buildup. This is a complete fallacy as I mentioned above, the clipping shrivel almost immediately. Now I will tell you that many homeowners go wrong by trying to convert a non-mulching mower into a mulching mower, and this is asking for problems.

What I mean is they take a cheap, bagging mower and take the bag off and let the clippings fall as they may. Problem here is the mower does not have a mulching blade so clumps drop out! Those clumps will contribute to thatch and kill sections of the lawn! ouch!!!

Another big issue I have seen is that people buy underpowered mulching mowers. Even if you have a mulching lawn mower with a good mulching blade, if it does not pack enough RPMs the bits will fall out in clumps. I dunno why, but many companies make mulching mowers that are just not powerful enough for thicker lawns. I always recommend you get a mulching mower that is a minimum of 5 horse power. This will be enough!

Wait, there are more things to consider: Even if you have a good mulching mower with plenty of power, if the lawn mower deck is not deep enough, the clippings will still fall out too quickly and clump! You want a deep deck!

That’s a lot to consider, so what is the best mulching mower? Look.

Why Catch Grass Clippings

Now that I have hopefully convinced you to mulch, there are a few situations where it will be best to catch and the first one is if your lawn mower is not able to mulch correctly (like I already talked about above). If you can’t go buy a new mower, then just keep catching, but DO NOT try and convert your mower… it ain’t gonna work and it’s a safety hazard anyway!

When to Catch Grass Clippings

I do want you to catch the clippings when you notice a lawn fungus or disease present. If this happens, you want to suck up the clippings and get rid of them. No sense is spreading the spores around. In addition, you need to catch if you have let the lawn grow too tall between cuttings. This can happen if you go on vacation in May, for example, and the lawn overgrows. In this case, even the best mulching mower will leave clumps, so you should catch the stuff just to be safe.

I also recommend you catch at least every 3rd or 4th mowing and use the grass clippings as mulch around annual flowers in your garden. Grass clippings will do a nice job of holding in moisture around annuals. I don’t think grass is a good mulch for regular shrub beds, but it works well for annual flowers.

So what do you think? Wanna argue with me? Go ahead, I’m good with it… maybe you guys can give me some better tips?

Five Winter Lawn Maintenance Tips

Author: admin // Category: Tips

Winter is the time to carry out some much needed lawn maintenance. Below are five tips you can think about as the big cold envelops your garden and lawn.

Maintenance Tip #1

As winter approaches, gradually lower the mowing height of your mower. Winter should begin without any young, tender growth that makes your lawn more appealing to winter diseases.

Besides, new growth on the lawn is vulnerable to dry out after the first winter winds come through, which will give you a brown winter lawn. So for the sake of lawn maintenance, as winter approaches, begin to gradually reduce the cutting height on your mower, until you are almost, but not quite, shaving the lawn. However, be sure to do this in several steps to avoid suddenly removing all the green leaf tissue and damaging the turf.

Winter Lawn Maintenance Tip #2

In late fall, be sure to give your lawn a final fertilization. Inactive during winter, your lawn won’t use the fertilizers immediately. Much like mammals bulking up for the cold, your lawn will store these nutrients in its root system and take full advantage of them at the first signs of spring.

Winter Lawn Maintenance Tip #3

Clear your lawn of any debris like logs, toys, or gardening equipment. Once snow comes, these objects can smother your grass, damage your turf, and leave your lawn more vulnerable to diseases.

Winter Lawn Maintenance Tip #4

Be sure to aerate your lawn before the first freeze. Thatch will only get worse with the affects of winter. A good aeration, along with a round of fertilization, will set the stage for bountiful spring growth.

Winter Lawn Maintenance Tip #5

Winter is a great time to learn more about your garden and your lawn in particular. Take this time to buy some lawn maintenance books and research the Internet for tips on how to keep a beautiful lawn and garden.

Proper Leaf Cleanup

Author: admin // Category: Tips

Proper Leaf Cleanup

Trees are beautiful because of their leaves, but it is inevitable that leaves fall. Historically, homeowners have raked up the leaves, bagged them and thrown them out with the garbage. Now, that is no longer possible.

We need to remember that eons ago, no one raked leaves. Before people stepped in. leaves fell to the forest floor where they mixed with the twigs and were stirred up by small animals. They provided natural mulch in the winter and then broke down, enriching the soil and fertilizing the trees the rest of the year. We need to take a cue from nature and use leaves in our yards as much as possible.

Different parts of your landscape have different needs. You can use leaves all over your yard, but there are some inappropriate places to put them as well.

If you are trying to grow grass on your lawn, allowing the leaves to remain where they fall is not practical. The weight of the wet leaves can suffocate grass and moisture will build up under the leaves and cause a host of fungal diseases. If you have a mulching lawn mower, use it to cut the grass and chop the leaves at the same time. But, if you end up with more than one-fourth to three-eights inch on your lawn, it’s time to go to Plan B.

Put the bagger on your lawn mower and collect the chopped leaves and grass clippings. Then, place them around your shrubs for winterizing mulch. In the past, I didn’t like to recommend using leaves as mulch because they tended to compress and mat down, but when they’re chopped, they tend to loft up slightly. This allows air circulation and prevents them from compacting as quickly into an imperious layer that limits water and air from reaching plant roots. Chopped leaves will also biodegrade more rapidly.

If you mulch your shrubs and still have leaves left, put a four inch layer over your garden and spade it under. This will provide nutrients for next growing season. You can do the same in flowerbeds.

For areas of ground cover, don’t try to remove all leaves. Allowing some to work down into the soil will add nutrients to the soil in these beds as well. Now, don’t allow the entire tree to shed all its leaves on one bed of ground cover. The plants may suffocate and dies. For these areas, I like to use an electric or gas powered vacuum-type leaf remover and take most of the leaves from the bed without having to continually stomp through it or damage plants with a rake.

If you still have some leaves left, add them to your compost pile. Don’t forget to turn it. If you have children, you might want to leave one big pile of leaves in the yard until it really gets cold. Leaf piles, as you may remember, are great for jumping in, throwing around and just generally having a lot of fun with.