Rain or shine, wet or dry, one of the easiest (and simplest) things you can do for a better looking lawn is avoid certain mowing habits.
That is, if you’re in the habit of mowing your lawn in the same direction every week…change your habits. Here’s why.
If you continue to mow in one direction you do a number of things.
1) You can create ruts from the mower wheels. Believe it or not, even an 80-pound push mower is heavy enough to eventually create ruts in a lawn, especially during a wet season. One can imagine, then, what an 800-pound zero-turn riding mower might do.
2) By mowing in the same direction constantly you tend to mash down grass under the wheels that never gets cut…and after so long a time, never grows, either. Worse, mashed down flat against the ground week after week, disease and bacteria begin to form. When that spreads it affects the rest of healthy grass around it.
3) Believe it or not, a grass plant is a living, breathing thing, just like the commercial says. And if you continue to mow in the same routine for the course of the summer your plants can become somewhat dormant and fail to grow with their customary, or normal, vigor and health.
4) Finally, changing the pattern can create better looking lines in your lawn. Any time you criss-cross you’re going leave a better-looking result (see adjacent photo).
So, by changing the pattern (or direction) in which you mow: 1) You avoid mashing down the same grass week after week. 2) You avoid creating disease and unwanted fungus. And 3) you actually send a message to the roots of your plant that something different is going on up above, thereby creating a natural impulse to grow with more vigor. If you doubt any, or all, of the above, simply change your weekly mowing habits for a month and see the results for yourself.