Mowing your lawn regularly is an important part of maintaining a healthy lawn. Regular mowing can help your lawn look clean, beautiful, and healthy. While it is important to mow your lawn regularly, there is such a thing as mowing your lawn too often.
Mowing your lawn regularly is not necessarily a problem but keeping your lawn too short is a problem. When thinking about keeping a healthy lawn, it is important to look at the length of your grass and decided if it needs mowing.
How Do You Know if Your Lawn’s Grass is Too Short?
Overmowing your lawn is a thing to look out for. If your lawn is starting to look yellow and dried out, you are probably mowing your lawn too short (often referred to as “scalping it”).
One great rule to follow when determining how long you should keep your lawn and how often to mow your lawn is the “one-third rule”:
Experts recommend that you cut one-third of the length of your lawn each time you mow it.
This rule of thumb will actually differ depending on the time of year, and that’s why we’ve decided to dig in with this article and provide information to those wondering how often to mow lawn areas in spring, summer, or fall.
So, let’s find out how often you should mow your lawn in every season.
How Often to Mow Lawn in Spring
Springtime! The birds are chirping, the sun is shining, and it’s pretty much the first time of the year that you break out your lawn mower and get the grass ready for barbecue season.
My advice? Don’t get too eager.
It is important to not run to the lawnmower at the first sign of spring.
Before you start up your mower that has been sitting for your first trim of the season … take time to assess your lawn. This is important. If you have a healthy lawn in the spring, it is more likely that your lawn will stay healthy for the balance of the year.
Here are some things to consider before starting a springtime mowing schedule for your lawn:
- How tall is the grass? Make sure your grass is at least two inches long before mowing. After checking the initial length, follow the aforementioned “one-third rule” and set your mower’s height appropriately.
- Have your fertilized recently? Make sure that your fertilizer is fully absorbed before mowing your lawn.
- Are you overseeding your lawn? If you are overseeding this spring, plan on waiting until late Spring to mow. Mowing too soon can either rip young seedlings out of the ground, or smother them if you’re using a mulching mower.
- What is your weather like? If your lawn is thawing from a harsh winter, keep the lawn longer. A longer lawn will have a greater chance of staying healthy.
After the initial mow, you should plan on mowing your lawn every three to five days to keep a clean and healthy lawn.
You may need to adjust this schedule depending upon where you’re located, what type of grasses you have in your lawn, and how much rainfall you’re getting. Generally you’ll be getting a lot of rain in the spring, which makes mowing more frequently normal.
How Often to Mow Lawn in Summer
Summer brings warmer weather, out of school kids, and thriving lawns.
After a cold winter, things are flowering, and everything is looking up. Because of the warmer weather, your grass will grow faster than in the colder months, and in early summer it might even grow faster than it did during the spring.
This means that you will have to mow your lawn more often. The question is, how often do you need to mow your lawn in summertime?
Keep in mind as you read, all lawns are different. Just because your neighbor might mow his or her lawn every two weeks and his lawn looks great, doesn’t mean that you should do the same.
As I detailed in the spring section, the amount your grass grows depends heavily on your lawn care routine.
- How tall was your grass initially?
- Are you planning on fertilizing your grass this season?
- Are you going to overseed?
- Will it be hotter or colder?
- Do you have an irrigation system or are you relying on mother nature to supply the water for your grass?
Like in Spring, it is important to follow the “one-third rule” when mowing your lawn … so the length you want to keep your lawn will determine how frequently you need to mow it.
However, experts recommend that you keep your grass longer in the summer than you would in the springtime. The recommended length for your lawn in the summer months is roughly three inches.
Longer grass helps to sustain your lawn during periods of drought, which can happen during the summer months.
The average amount of time that it takes for your grass to grow about one inch in the Summer is between three and five days. So if you’re mowing to just under 3 inches I recommend that during the summer months you cut your lawn every four days so that the average length will stay right around the ideal length.
This will ensure that your lawn will stay healthy and hydrated during the hottest months of the year.
How Often to Mow Lawns in Fall & Winter
Unlike in the Summer, grass will not grow as quickly in the fall or winter months (even in regions where you don’t get snowfall).
Even if you don’t get snowfall during the winter, it may seem like your lawn has stopped growing altogether in the cooler months.
The truth is, when the temperature drops below 40 degrees Fahrenheit, mowing your lawn every week becomes a thing of the past.
Especially in cooler climates, you might not need to mow your lawn at all.
Here are some things to consider when thinking about mowing your lawn in the autumn or winter months:
- Try to avoid mowing your lawn when it is wet. Maybe it has just rained, or the ice is melting on your grass. Whatever the case, try to avoid mowing your wet lawn. Mowing a wet lawn leads to uneven mowing because of an unsettled base under the grass. The cooler temperatures can also cause issues with mold or mildew growth.
- Don’t cut your grass on the one hot day of the Winter. Just because it is hot for one day, does not mean you should rush out and mow your dormant lawn. I recommend a short mow for your lawn at the end of the season, but once that’s done, leave your lawn alone to ensure it will be able to handle the cold to come.
- Proceed with caution is you do mow your lawn at this time of the year.
The amount you should mow your lawn in the Winter differs greatly from the recommendations I’ve made for mowing frequency in the Spring or Summer.
For the most part, if you live in a climate that experiences colder winters, you do not have to worry about mowing your lawn at all. The best thing you can do once it stops growing is to wait until spring.
My Mowing Frequency Advice: Always Use Your Eyes & Judgment
Lawn care differs greatly person to person and lawn to lawn.
It depends greatly on where you live, and the temperature and rainfall you receive.
It also depends on what you do to care for your lawn. If you’re tossing down a nitrogen fertilizer every few weeks and you water it every day you’re going to have to mow more often.
Just remember to never cut more than one third of the blades of your lawn’s grass and you’ll maintain a happy, healthy, beautiful lawn.
You know how your lawn looks when healthy better than anyone else. Trust your eyes and use your best judgment, and your lawn will be healthy all year long.
