When it comes to lawn care service, you likely fall into one of two categories.
You approve of hiring a company to take care of the ins and outs of manicuring your yard, or you feel like that's the job of the homeowner and it's a job you take pride in doing.
If you fall into the latter category, you should avail yourself of all the information you can when it comes to taking care of your yard.
That includes knowing when to mow and how that decision affects the health of your grass.
Most people don't give much thought to the time of day they mow their grass.
This is often true of even a professional lawn care service, as they have a schedule to maintain and that means one or two yards will be mowed at the inappropriate time.
What is this inappropriate time? Well, fortunately it's the hottest time of the day, a time when most people don't care to be out doing yard work anyway.
Mowing the yard in the early afternoon, when the sun is beating down at its hottest, can actually put undue stress on the grass.
It's also unwise to mow right after it rains or when there is still dew on the grass from the night before.
When you cut a wet yard, it can leave the grass open to several kinds of fungus and disease which can inhibit growth and actually kill the grass.
Another aspect of mowing that is important to keeping a healthy yard is the frequency with which it is done.
Most companies involved in lawn care service will come on a regular schedule of once a week.
This may or may not be an optimal schedule for your grass.
A lot of it depends on what type of grass you have.
The general rule of thumb for any yard is to cut off no more than one-third of the grass at a time.
For cool grasses such as bluegrass, try to keep the height of the grass at just under three inches.
Warm grasses such as bermuda grass can be trimmed shorter.
Finally, you should be cognizant of how you actually mow the grass.
This is where it pays to hire a lawn care service.
These professionals are experts in how to cut the grass so that it retains its health and looks its best.
Of course, this is nothing the average homeowner can't learn.
Long, straight lines are the way to go for most of the yard.
While this is typical practice, many people do not think to alternate these lines with each session.
This alternating is important to keeping the grass alive and healthy.
In other words, if you mow vertically this week, mow horizontally next week.
Your yard will thank you.