Glasgow Lawn Care School of CARE !
MOWING 101
This John Deere 930A
is for Commercial propertys ONLY !
John Deere 652R
This John Deere 930A
is for Commercial propertys ONLY !
John Deere WH48S
Extreme Striping Machine
Arrive @ Property (mowers job)
First things first ... Before you lower your tail gate, Check grass for dampness.
This is easy, just run your hand through the grass.
Is the grass wet ?
Look over the lawn for downed limbs, debris, Children & pet toys & send your helper to pick up all debris from lawn before mowing !
Mowing Height (mowers job)
We generally cut only 1/3 of the blade of grass. When you only remove 1/3 you will not leave grass clumps because it will be mulched & grass will work next week on bottom growth & deeper roots. When a lawn cut at this height will have a deeper root system and be more resistant to weeds and disease than shorter cut grass.
When you remove more then 1/3 of a blade of grass, expect clumping & longer clean-up time. This will also trigger the grass to work on top growth next week rather then working on the roots. Cutting grass shorter also produces a lawn that looks thin, spotty or burned.
Custom height for each site to customers needs or desires. As a general rule, we never cut more than one-third of the length of the blade of grass at a time. However the customer is always right, so cut @ the customers desired height !
Frequent mowing helps a lawn resist weeds, insects and disease. Infrequent mowing causes too much grass to be removed at one time.
Border the Property (mowers job)
Smaller equiptment = smaller foot print. Chose the proper lawn mower for lawn.
Set the mower for the proper height and then start mowing starting from the far right of the property and follow along the street side with about an inch or two over hanging the street & discharge chute pointing to the center of the lawn.
Border the whole property. When lawns have a fence between front & back yards. Border the area you will be working first. Stay an inch or two away from house, fence, beds & obstacles.
(this is the Line Trimmers job to get closer then the mower will get)
NEVER DISCHARGE : (mowers job)
1) IN TO THE STREET
2) SOMEONE ELSES LAWN
3) FLOWER BEDS, DRIVES OR WALKS
4) TOWARDS THE HOUSE OR CARS
(the discharge chute side is dangerous)
Chose a Pattern (mowers job)
Now that you have a border for the area your working in. It is time to chose a pattern to cut the lawn.
We recommend that you have 2 or 3 patterns for each lawn & rotate each time you mow. By switching the patteren on each mow, it will reduce strees on the lawn caused by tires, turns & equiptment
Always make your turns & U-turns from with-in the borders. Again ... think about the RULES about your discharge chute !
While crossing the lawn making your pattern & you have an obstacle ...
(tree, flower bed, fountain, pond)
Ring the obstacle counter clock wise to place a border around the obstacle ... Again ... think about the RULES about your discharge chute ! ... NEVER DISCHARGE ON OR IN THE OBSTACLE !
IF this is a new pattern for the lawn, it is a good idea to choose your first path accross the lawn with some thought as not to have an obstacle in the path. It is hard enough to make a stright line, but to ring an obstacle & come out the other side with a stright line is impossable. It will be easer to do with something to follow. So always make your first path accross the lawn obstacle FREE.
Now lets talk about those stright lines ...
So you just finished bordering your work area & about to make your first path accross the lawn. Looking for a clear path, look beyond the lawn & lock on to a point with your eyes. Now mow to that point until you reach your border.
Now we got to talk about making all turns & U turns with in the border ...
The discharge rule needs observed here. You have just crossed the lawn and reached the other side sitting in your border. Always make a right turn. Make sure while turning that both left & right drive wheels are turning so that you do not turf the property each time that you must turn. Now you are back in your border pointing in the right direction. Sometimes you will need to back up to make next path accross the lawn. Whitch ever way you need to go (back or forth) do so & then make another right turn to line up aginst your last path. You will need to keep doing this until lawn is finished & nothing else needs cut.
VICTORY LAP (mowers job)
This step is very important.
Border the Property or your work area one last time. This will erase every thing with-in the border & make the final stripe around the entire lawn.
Line Trimming (Helper's job)
Line Trim every where the mower could not reach. Use caution as not to let line dig in to dirt, but rather keep it level to make it look as if the mower did every thing. The ONLY time you should hold the line trimmer up on its end, is to edge beds that are lower then the turf.
Edging (Helper's job)
Always use an Edger to do all edging & NEVER use the line trimmer to do this step. It is a small cost, but is very worth the price to achieve perfection. The STEEL blade will always hit the same exact spot as it did last mow & never trench around the hard surface.
Edge any where turf meets a hard surface ...
(walks, driveway, patios & curbs)
Blow (Helper's job)
To top off the lawn cut, always walk around the property with a blower & blow all debris from all hard surfaces.
Start with blowing off the street, driveway & walks next. Then go around the house. While going around the house, blow off basement window ledges & bottom of the siding. Cob webs form under the last row of siding & catches grass clippings.
