Speaking of lawns...

[wolf08gang]

I'm going to give you the best advise about lawn care that you will ever read.

Cut it tall. Raise your mower deck as high as it goes. If you are even slightly handy, fab it up to be even taller.

Here's pic of my lawn on the left, and my neighbors lawn on the right:


The difference is I cut my lawn at about 5", and his is about 1". I don't water my lawn, I only fertilized once this year, I don't use herbicides or pesticides.

Guess what? Your grass hates being short. When you cut it short, the roots die back. When the roots die back, the grass can't tolerate drought. When your grass is short, weeds take over. Then you go to the store and spend ridiculous amounts of money on weed killer and fertilizer.

I'm no lawn guru, I'm just sayin'.

[Ó Flannagáin]

Nice! I got my aunt's old mower and it only has one setting which is probably around 3 or 4"

[wolf08gang]

Yeah, mine didn't go all that high on it's own, so I took some flat stock I had laying around, cut it to length drilled some holes, and BAM! Instant monster truck mower.

[No Fish]

We only mow ours low once in the spring when the growing is good.

I agree 110 percent with the cut it high plan. Also, as a result, I do not need to water like the other folks. If you water too much/often the roots have no reason to grow deep and then when the heat of summer comes, their shallow root system is no help at all.

[shrekfx]

I just learned this after cutting it short a few times. I'm still playing with my mower to get the right sett, but might just move it all the way up and call it good. Also found out that bagging is one of the worst things to do to your lawn.

[Lerxst]

IIRC the general rule is to keep it around 3" and never cut more than 1/3 of the blade height in one mowing (unless you have something like bent grass which is supposed to be cut short). Switching up your travel paths is recommended too. The taller grass develops a deeper and stronger root system that makes it more drought and stress resistant.

[wolf08gang]

I just learned this after cutting it short a few times. I'm still playing with my mower to get the right sett, but might just move it all the way up and call it good. Also found out that bagging is one of the worst things to do to your lawn.

It'll look like crap for about a month till it grows in, but that's what I did.

If you are patient, you could adjust it up a little bit every week or two till you reach the max height.

+1 on bagging being a horrible thing to inflict on your lawn. The exception being that it's not a bad idea to bag in the fall when the crabgrass has gone to seed. I've pretty much got my crabgrass under control though, so I just pull it up any time I see it. Same with dandelions and broadleaf.

The only weed I really have trouble with is clover, and I just decided to live in peace with it. It's actually beneficial as it's a nitrogen fixer, so I just leave it alone, and reseed over it in the fall after the first hard frost.

[wolf08gang]

IIRC the general rule is to keep it around 3" and never cut more than 1/3 of the blade height in one mowing (unless you have something like bent grass which is supposed to be cut short). Switching up your travel paths is recommended too. The taller grass develops a deeper and stronger root system that makes it more drought and stress resistant.

That is the general rule. The problem for me was that, in order to avoid cutting more than 1/3 in a mowing, I had to mow twice weekly. I got tired of that pretty quick.

I jacked my deck height up this spring on a whim, just to see what happened, and my grass has never looked better. I'm curious to see what happens in August, as that's when my lawn generally turns to poo.

I'll post some pics of my hillbilly, monster truck mower here at some point.

[ohiobrewtus]

Yup. I keep mine at about 4" or so. Cut it every 5 days and usually only take off 1".

[zoebisch01]

Definitely the way to roll. Until you get asshat neighbors saying shit like "Lawn's lookin a little high there". I didn't say much and when the dog days of late July early August hit and my lawn was the only green one, I didn't say anything either. So glad I don't live there anymore.