During the spring, it’s necessary to provide your lawn with proper care and maintenance. This ensures that the grass and greenery continue to grow and stay healthy throughout the growing season. By following proper mowing techniques and best practices for lawn maintenance, you give the lawn a sturdy foundation from which to grow. Here are a few of the best tips for proper mowing and maintenance for your Pennsylvania lawn this spring.

Proper Mowing

Mowing Height

The most consistent lawn care task all year is mowing. Without proper mowing, the turf grows out of control, resulting in an ugly and unhealthy lawn. Improper mowing practices lead to pest infestations, lawn diseases, and fungal growth. The first thing to keep in mind is mowing height.

The ideal mowing height for your lawn depends on a number of things, including grass type and weather conditions. As your grass grows, it creates more surface area to absorb sunlight and perform photosynthesis. This means that as the grass grows, it’s the ability to generate and store energy increases as well. 

For fine fescues and Kentucky bluegrass, the ideal mowing height is between 1.5-2 inches while ryegrass and tall fescues need to be cut around 2-3 inches in height. These grasses can’t provide enough energy if they are cut too short, so maintaining an adequate height is essential to the health of the lawn. During the spring, when the weather is wet, and the grass is growing fast, it’s essential to mow frequently. However, during the heat and drought-like conditions of summer, when grass growth slows down, and water retention becomes more important, infrequent mowing and longer grass is a health-boost to the lawn.

The One-Third Rule

The most important rule for proper mowing is the one-third rule. The one-third rule means never to cut more than one-third of the entire height of your grass. Cutting anything more than one-third of the blade of grass often results in scalping the lawn. This is extremely damaging to the turf and leaves it vulnerable to pests, weeds, and diseases. Not only that, but the excess clippings quickly smother the grass and create an unhealthy layer of thatch in the lawn.

Maintaining Your Equipment

Finally, it’s important to maintain your mowing equipment throughout the year properly. Not only does this protect the grass, but it also protects you by ensuring you are mowing the lawn as efficiently and safely as possible. Dull mower blades are a quick and easy way to damage your grass and encourage diseases, fungi, and the overall decline in lawn health. Keep the mower blades sharp to avoid tearing the blades of grass. Getting a clean and even cut is less stressful to the grass and is much easier to recover from. It’s also important to ensure the mower is properly cleaned. This prevents the spread of diseases and fungi to other parts of the lawn.

Spring Lawn Maintenance

Trimming and Pruning Your Trees and Shrubs

The grass isn’t the only thing in your lawn that needs to be properly maintained throughout the spring. Your trees and shrubs could use a little upkeep as well. Before the leaves grow back in, take a look at the overall shape and structure of your trees. Identify any unnecessary, dead, or diseased branches and trim them away. Encourage fast growth for new interior branches by pruning away some of the exterior branches.

With proper maintenance, you can create healthy, growing conditions for your ornamental trees and shrubs. The result of proper tree and shrub maintenance is thicker, fuller plants, and a more robust landscape.

Sprinkler System Maintenance

Now is the time of year to ensure your sprinkler system is up and running. Winterizing the sprinkler system is an essential part of fall lawn maintenance for Pennsylvania lawns. That means in the spring; we need to start the sprinkler system up again. 

When starting up your sprinkler system in the spring, it’s important to do it slowly. Go zone by zone and pay careful attention to any inefficiencies or damage done to the lines or sprinkler heads. By doing this early in the spring, you give yourself enough time to make any repairs or adjustments before the heat of summer is upon us.

Trust Your Lawn Care to the Experts at Showcase Lawn Works

Proper mowing and maintenance help give the lawn a healthy foundation to grow from, but there’s, even more, you can do to ensure a healthy and beautiful yard this year. With a lawn care program along with tree and shrub care services from Showcase Lawn Works, your lawn will look better than ever. Give your greenery the missing piece it needs by calling the experts at Showcase Lawn Works.

Give us a call today at (717) 354-3226 or send us a quick message here. Keep up with all of the latest trends and tips for lawn care, tree care, and pest control by following our blog and be sure to follow us on Facebook for deals and information.