# Explain this lawn mowing strategy to me **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 6, 2013, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-lawn-mowing-strategy-to-me/668214 "2013-09-06T23:00:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2013, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-lawn-mowing-strategy-to-me/668214/21 "2013-09-07T17:11:35Z")
It’s best not to remove more than 1/3 of the grass height when mowing. And yeah, I’d always start as early as possible without disturbing the neighbors. Use a mulching blade. I’ve gone completely organic too and that helps w not having too much growth each week. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2013, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-lawn-mowing-strategy-to-me/668214/22 "2013-09-07T17:20:29Z")
Mowing early in the day sounds good, but too often the dew hasn’t totally dried. * * * I was mowing my lawn years ago during a rainstorm, because it had to be done and I had plans for the following two weeks. I was barefoot. My neighbor stopped over to tell me their friend, a cop, was on his way over to visit. I looked :dubious: at her, and she reminded me that mowing barefoot was illegal and she didn’t wanna see me get ticketed/arrested. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2013, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-lawn-mowing-strategy-to-me/668214/23 "2013-09-07T18:17:13Z")
For a few years we used sheep. mrAru’s grandfather paved his yard and painted it green. [He lived in Redding at the time, this would have been 50s/60s] I personally love the idea of several tons of gravel and specific tree and shrub plantings, with perhaps a couple of plots of purpose planted herbs and flowers. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2013, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-lawn-mowing-strategy-to-me/668214/24 "2013-09-07T18:43:59Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > It’s best not to remove more than 1/3 of the grass height when mowing. Maybe so, but the world won’t end if I opt to remove more than that. > [@Shoeless](#): > > Step 3. Struggle to mow your yard as your mower chokes on the foot-high grass and leaves huge clumps of cut grass in it’s wake. 😕 What struggle? The mower’s pissant 4-horse engine is what’s struggling, not me. I just walk a little slower in some spots. The yard grows really unevenly; some spots barely need mowing, while others really bog the engine down. Why let those vigorous patches dictate the schedule for the entire lawn? I’d rather wait three weeks until _most_ of the lawn needs mowing, instead of just mowing everything once a week to keep those few hypertrophic zones in check. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2013, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-lawn-mowing-strategy-to-me/668214/25 "2013-09-07T18:45:46Z")
My strategy is to pack in, as much fun as I can, into my every day. Around that, I try and schedule things like yard maintenance. Such are the vagaries of weather that it sometimes rains and I must put it off to another day. Sometimes it rains a lot, like this summer, and the lawn needs to be cut more often. Sometimes more pressing life issues require further time constraints on lawn work. Besides, in the end, it’s just a lawn. I make a good effort, but refuse to be a slave to it. I assume the same of all my neighbours too. When their lawn gets over grown I think, they may be on vacation, maybe their Mom is sick again. Oh, and I quite enjoy watching people have a go at their overgrown yards. Some are quite good at it! The trick seems to be to cut a swath only one half the width of the mower. Goes a little slower but doesn’t jam up frequently. Yes, I will make tea, sit in my porch seat and enjoy your adventure along with you! ---
**Author:** ![Minnie\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Minnie\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Minnie_Luna)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2013, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-lawn-mowing-strategy-to-me/668214/26 "2013-09-07T23:04:44Z")
In our case, the lawnmower broke and needed a part that was on back order for three weeks. Sorry, neighbors… ---
**Author:** ![Apocalypso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Apocalypso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apocalypso)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2013, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-lawn-mowing-strategy-to-me/668214/27 "2013-09-07T23:44:29Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > We have a guy in our neighborhood who we call the “Perfect Lawn” guy. He’s one of these older, probably retired, guys who has the time to go out and meticulously water the lawn by hand every day. His yard looks great. His house is across the street from a house we call “The Crack House”. You can guess what their yard looks like. It must kill him to have to look at that every day. You’ve perfectly described us and our neighbors on both sides. Hint: We’re not the “perfect lawn” ones. We try to mow it at least every couple weeks, but it’s more weeds than grass, a couple of our pine trees are dying, there’s poison ivy all along one side of the house, and every shrub seems to have these hard to get rid of vines strangling it. The bottom line is we work full time and both have health issues and a lot of other things to deal with. I could make our lawn look like the neighbors magazine-cover showcases, but I don’t have the time, money, or energy. So the bare minimum of lawn care it is! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-lawn-mowing-strategy-to-me/668214.md?page=1)