Oh, the Places We’ll Mow, & Edge, &…

Nebraska is known for its farmland and prairies. As residents here, Arlington homeowners are probably more in tune with the seasons than the rest of the country. But whether you’ve spent time on a farm or not, chances are, you’ve pushed a lawn mower a time or two. But, a mower does not a landscaper make. There’s much more to lawn maintenance than just keeping your lawn lush, trimmed, and green. And it takes more than mowing to do it. Today, Wheatons will break down the fundamentals of mowing and other lawn fundamentals.

Beginning with Mowing

Since mowing is where most people already have some lawn maintenance knowledge, let’s begin there. While we pointed out earlier that there’s more to maintenance than mowing, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t matter. On the contrary, it’s the foundation from which we build the rest of your maintenance routine.

Benefits of Mowing

The most apparent benefit of mowing your lawn is the aesthetic one. Most homeowners mow because they like the look of a trimmed, green lawn. It’s become a status symbol. But that look also has practical benefits. Good landscaping can boost your home’s value by 10 to 20 percent! Not bad, huh? In addition, regular mowing keeps your lawn healthy, that is, as long as you do it right.

Fundamentals

Here’s what people get wrong: grass is not a monolith. There are over one thousand grass species, but we call it all lawn! So it’s easy to see how treating them all the same can cause a problem. Knowing your grass species (or having a pro landscaper like Wheatons on your team who pays attention to that sort of thing) allows you to care for it correctly. Different species require different nutrients and have different ideal mowing heights. Not only that but the mowing height changes with the seasons. Generally speaking, we leave the grass longer in warmer weather to protect it from getting cooked by the sun. Likewise, when the grass doesn’t grow in the Winter, we leave a little bit to insulate the roots from freezing. However, in either case, height is a delicate balance. If you leave grass too high, it can collapse and smother itself. Tricky!

The Sharpest Blade in the Mower

Finally, one of the biggest mistakes that home landscapers make is not sharpening the blade often enough. A dull blade can damage your grass. On the other hand, a sharp blade makes a clean cut without causing yellowing or dead grass. If that’s not apparent enough on its face, imagine trying to prepare a salad by slicing up your lettuce and tomatoes with a butter knife. You may get it into pieces, but it won’t be pretty!

But Wait, There’s More!

Now we fulfill the promise of our introduction. There’s more to lawn maintenance than mowing. While mowing is a great start (when done well), edging, trimming, and blowout are necessary for an exceptional lawn.

Edging

Eyes have a liner, comics have inkers, and lawns have edging. What they all do is create bold lines. Those bold lines help what they contain (eyes, comic characters, and lawns) stand out! We edge by using an edger to dig a short and narrow trench. In addition to providing aesthetic value, this trench stops your lawn from creeping into the place it doesn’t belong, ruining your gardens and hardscaping. The edge also makes the rest of your lawn maintenance easier. It prevents you from spending as much time on detailed work when mowing or trimming. But what is trimming?

Trimming

To the novice, mowing and trimming might seem like synonyms (along with cutting), but trimming is what you do after you mow in landscaping. It’s how you catch all the little grass blades sticking up that your mower missed. Your lawn is not perfectly even. Very few yards are. And all those little bumps in the ground can make it challenging for your mower to cut each blade evenly. Trimming takes care of what mowing leaves behind, either because of those bumps or because the mower couldn’t get close enough to an object (such as a tree or boulder) that sits on your lawn.

Blowouts

And the final step in our grass maintenance routine is blowouts, which are precisely what they sound like. We use a blower to blow any grass trimmings off your hardscaping and out of your gardens or anywhere it doesn’t belong.

Let Wheatons Handle All Your Lawn Maintenance

Are you ready to take your lawn to the next level? Call Wheatons for all of your lawn maintenance needs! There’s a lot to a healthy property, but you just need to remember Wheatons.