Creating lawn mower stripes
It is the goal of many lawn owners to achieve that classing lawn
mower stripe look. This striped lawn effect although pleasing to
the eye is not a sign of a lawns quality. In fact to achieve a neat
striped lawn effect is relatively simple if you have chosen the
right lawn mower type. Both rotary lawn
mowers and cylinder lawn mowers
are capable of producing the striped effect.
Lawn mowers that have a rear roller will produce the best
striped effect.
Lawn stripes can hide imperfections in a lawn such as slight differences
in colour across the lawn. This is because they visually break up
the lawn surface with narrow bands of different appearance so gradual
changes across a wide area are not so noticeable.
To achieve the striped effect on you lawn you must follow a systematic
pattern of mowing. The lawn mower should only ever be pushed forward
when creating lawn mower stripes. This is because it is the direction
of the mower (and the roller) that makes the grass to sit up in
different directions thus creating the striped effect. When mowing
make sure that the current stripe, slightly overlaps the previous
stripe so that you do not have thin strips of uncut grass left between
the stripes. If you have a lawn mower with side wheels make sure
the side wheels are over the preceding stripe.
Work out which direction your stripes are going to go.
- Cut along the edge of the lawn at right angles to the way that
you want the stripes to be and then back across the lawn making
sure to overlap the first stripe. These stripes are not your final
lawn stripes, they are simply to ensure that the grass is cut
right to the edge of the lawn.
- Turn the mower 90 °
- Create your first permanent stripe by going down the edge of
the lawn in the direction that you want your stripes to go.
- Repeat step 1 (now at the other end of the lawn)
- You can now create the rest of the lawn stripes and 'fill in'
the middle section of the lawn by repeatedly turning the mower
180 °. After this you should have mown the entire area of
the lawn and have a neat pattern of lawn mower stripes.
The correct pattern is shown in the diagram below.
