How Short Should You Cut Your Lawn

This Summer? (Shorter Isn't Better)

Now that summer's settling into Kitchener-Waterloo, we get this question a lot: "Can you just cut it really short so I don't have to mow as often?" We get the logic, fewer cuts sounds great. But in the middle of a KW summer, cutting your grass too short is one of the fastest ways to wreck it.

Here's what's actually going on, and how to keep your lawn green through July and August instead of brown and patchy.

Short grass cooks in the heat

Long grass blades shade the soil underneath them. When you scalp a lawn right down low, you expose that bare soil to the sun, it dries out fast, and the roots get cooked. That's when you start seeing those crispy yellow patches by mid-July.

Taller grass does the opposite. It shades its own roots, holds moisture in the soil, and stays green with a lot less water. In a hot KW summer, a little extra height is basically free shade for your lawn.

Taller grass grows deeper roots

Grass roots tend to mirror what's happening above the surface. Keep the blades a little longer and the roots dig deeper, which means your lawn can reach water further down and ride out a dry spell without going dormant.

Scalp it short and the roots stay shallow, so the first hot, dry week leaves your lawn gasping. Longer grass is simply tougher grass.

Tall grass chokes out weeds

This is the one most people don't expect. A thick, slightly longer lawn shades the soil so weed seeds, especially crabgrass, never get the sunlight they need to sprout. Cut too short and you're basically rolling out the welcome mat for weeds.

So if you've been fighting weeds all season, your mower height might be part of the problem.

What we actually do

For most KW lawns, we keep things around three inches or a touch higher through the summer, and we never take off more than about a third of the blade in a single cut. We also keep our blades sharp, because a dull blade tears the grass instead of slicing it, and those torn tips turn brown and invite disease.

A couple of things you can do between visits: water deeply but less often, early morning is best, and leave the clippings on the lawn when they're short. They break down quickly and feed the soil for free.

The short version

Resist the urge to scalp it. A slightly taller lawn through a Kitchener-Waterloo summer means greener grass, deeper roots, fewer weeds, and less watering. Shorter really isn't better.

And if you'd rather not think about any of it, that's what we're here for. We mow at the right height, keep our blades sharp, and keep your lawn looking sharp all season long. Book a cut online in seconds, and remember, around here, pink is the new green.