So you want to mow like a pro? Well, this page for you. Our crews are trained in a systematic way to go to any property hop out of the truck mow, trim, edge, and blow off in the quickest way without losing quality. When mowing a property there are three distinct jobs, mowing, trimming/edging, and blowing off.
Mowing
Mowing you would think is pretty straight forward. Just hop on the mower and go, right? In the grand scheme, yes, but what separates the best from the rest are the small things. The mower should first do his perimeter pass first. When he does this pass he needs to be mindful of where his grass clippings are blowing. You do not want to blow grass clippings into the house, in landscape beds, and limit the amount blown on hard surfaces like the driveway and road. The less you get on the hard surfaces the less the guy blowing off has to do.
Also, those grass clippings, if blown into the lawn, will get mulched when stripping. When mowing try to get ahead of the guy that is trimming. This will give him less grass to trim and he will know what the mower can’t get to. Lastly, the last first step is to start in the front yard first. This is where the trimmer spends the most time and where the guy blowing off will start. Alright now that you are ahead of the trimmer and have done your perimeter pass around the house and property line you can do the easiest part of mowing, Striping.
Now the keys to striping are let the equipment do the work, maximize your deck width and three point turns. Your mower should have been made to go straight on its own so let the equipment make the straight lines for you. Just like when your driving all you do is give it gas and brake and hold the steering wheel straight, mowing is the same. Just hold the controls straight and it will go straight its just the easy.
Hold the controls loose so if and when you hit a bump you don’t knock the controls around too much. Second is maximizing your deck width to have the best-looking stripes and to do the minimum number of passes. To do this line up the outside of your deck to the previous strip. Typically there is a small guide wheel on the deck so you know what to aim for. Now don’t look down there constantly while striping because this will lead to your stripe bending in that direction. Same thing happens when you look to the left or right while driving you will start to veer in that direction. The third key is to make three point turns.
Professional mowers are zero point turn mowers. Well, thats all fine and dandy but if you do a zero point turn in a lawn your pivot wheel will make a turn mark on the lawn and tear out the grass. Make a three point turn so that you don’t have a pivot wheel mark. When you get to the end of your stripe turn in the direction of the grass you need to cut. Then back up to line up with your next stripe and then correct it as needed as you drive into the next stripe. Some side notes to striping are, pick the stripe that will be the longest this will minimize the number of stripes you have and minimize your turns.
If you want to put a different direction stripe on the lawn only do it once. If you do it more the striped will get too crowded and not be distinct. The last side note, do not shoot grass clippings in landscaping beds. You should ruin your stripe before shooting grass in the landscaping beds. Some tricks you can use are, throttle down the mower so the grass doesn’t shoot as far, do a three point turn and do the strip in reverse, or do enough perimeter passes around the landscape beds so when you do your stripe the grass is already cut there and there will be little grass that is blown into the beds. Now, mowing is the quickest thing to learn trimming and edging are where fines come into play.
Trimming and Edging
The first thing you do is check your gas level. If you are close to out fill it up when your close to the truck. You lose valuable time if you run out in the middle of the property and have to go back to the truck fill up and then go back. Second is to make sure you have the extra line so when you run out you don’t have to go back to the truck to get more. Now that you have everything where do you start? With trimming, you want to do the least amount of backtracking possible and still hit everything you need to. You want to start with edging the road on the far left corner if you looking at the house.
Why, because when you edge you want to be standing on the grass and hold the trimmer so that the string makes an edge that is straight up and down. The picture at the top is an example of this. Now as you go down the edge trim around objects when you are the closest to them while edging. This will limit how much you backtrack. You have made it to the driveway, if the home has a sidewalk you will then go down from the driveway to the end of the sidewalk. You now should have the strip of grass by the road on the left-hand side completely edged and anything in it that needs to be trimmed around (mailbox, tree) done.
Now move to the other side of the sidewalk and edge down it to the driveway and then up the driveway to the garage. Keeping in mind trimming around objects when you are closest to them while edging. When you get the garage you should have the left front yard edged and trimmed. Instead of going to the house to the back you should finish the front. You do this so that the blower can immediately blow off the front, which is the bulk of what he has to do. Run over to the sidewalk to the front door or the edge of the driveway depending on the property. All you do if flip the path you just made on the left side and trim things when the closest to it on the path.
You should now have finished the front. Run back to the left side of the house and trim around the house or the closest thing to the house whether it be landscaping beds or a patio. While making this path around the house trim objects when you are the closest to them. As you wrap around to the front of the house to complete your path you should have trimmed everything in the back, unless there is a fence.
If they have a fence hop off the house path when you get to the fence on the right side of the property if you’re looking from the street. Trim the fence and objects closest to you while you’re on that path. Double check yourself to make sure you didn’t miss anything as you go get a blower.
Blowing Off
Alright, we have made it to the clean up a portion of mowing. This is the thing the customer will see the most easily if you don’t do it right because of the contrast of the debris on the hard surfaces or landscape beds. Make sure you have enough gas before you leave the truck.
Only blow off areas that are completely done being mowed or trimmed otherwise your wasting time. You start on the left or right side of the property standing in the road facing the house. Blow the debris towards the house and walk towards the driveway. When you get to the driveway blow off the opposite side of the road in which you started. Then blow off the sidewalks making sure that you are blowing the grass towards the house and not the road that you just blew off.
Blow off the driveway by going up the middle of it blowing from the left and the right sides as you go up it. Once done with this blow off the sidewalk to the front door and the front porch. Now make a loop around the house blowing off landscaping beds and the deck or back patio. The blower is the last person on the property, so double check trimming and mowing for errors.
If you follow these steps you will be a pro!