Why Can't I Wait Longer Between Mowings, Reducing Time Spent on Lawn Care?

Many homeowners not thrilled at the prospects of cutting grass, regularly, wonder, "Why can't I wait longer between mowings, thereby reducing the time that I spend walking behind a lawn mower each summer?" On the surface, this reasoning seems to make sense, right? If you are a busy professional living in a private setting (so that there are no neighbors around to complain that your yard is unkempt) and are not obsessed with the manicured look, why wouldn't you want to save yourself the time, energy, and annoyance?

Why We Mow Grass

But, alas, it is not that simple. This question really boils down to a more basic question: Aesthetics aside, why do we bother mowing lawns, in the first place? After all, one does not push a lawn mower around for one's amusement. If we take the factor of mere appearance off the table (that is, if we assume that a slightly unkempt look in the yard is not something that you lose sleep over at night), is there any other reason to keep to a regular mowing regimen and follow all of the rules?

As it turns out, there actually is such a reason to be faithful in your mowing. It pertains to the health of your lawn. If you wait longer in between mowings than you should, thereby minimizing the overall number of mowings for a summer, you are sacrificing the health of your grass in the long run. Sure, such a policy would reduce the time spent on lawn care. But you get out of a lawn what you put into it. Is the trade-off worthwhile? Some will say yes, others no. It is a personal decision. Just make sure that you have all the facts before making it.

How Is Mowing Related to Lawn Health, and How Regularly Should You Mow?

It may come as a surprise that mowing the lawn is about more than just keeping your lawn's height under control, so that your landscape does not look like a mess. If done properly (which is discussed in this lawn care article), mowing stimulates the grass of your lawn to lushness and better health. Think about the way you pinch an annual plant or prune a shrub to make it more compact and cause it to put out healthy new growth, rather than becoming leggy. Well, your grass profits from such TLC, too. Thus proper mowing technique is an important aspect of overall lawn care.

Now that you know that proper mowing promotes healthy grass, your question may be: "All right, well, just how often should I mow, then?" You may not like the answer, because, once again, there is an inconvenience. You will need to mow the lawn when the grass is ready, rather than according to a schedule that you can count on. Happily, the grass furnishes an indicator that lets you know when it needs to be mowed. That indicator is its height. Learn about the height at which grass should be mowed here.

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