Secret #1 – Mowing
The most important aspect of a weed free lawn.

You MUST follow this mowing advice to achieve a weed free lawn:

In the Spring, on the first cut of the season, you want to set your mower to one or two (maximum) steps lower than the highest setting. DO NOT scalp your yard… ever!

You should be cutting ¾ of an inch to an inch off the top and leaving 2 ½ to 3 inches. On the first cut, blow the yard out completely and don’t leave any nasty grass laying around. After the first cut, you can leave the clippings (remember they’re only ¾ of an inch long) in the lawn. You might just make sure there aren’t any thick wet clumps of clippings anywhere.

As the weather heats up and you approach Summer, you’ll want to start mowing on the highest setting on your mower. Again, you should be cutting about ¾ of an inch and leaving the rest. This might be 4-5 inches depending on your mower. Do this ALL Summer long. At first, your lawn might look fine leaving the grass long, but most lawns don’t–at least not initially. Things might look worse before they look better, but remember: you are creating the conditions to train your lawn. The take-home here is: cut short in the cool season and leave the grass long in the hot season.

You might be saying, But I like my lawn short and tight! Well, you’re going to have to sacrifice your preferences here, at least for a little while. There might be a day in a couple years, after you’ve cultivated healthy strong roots and great soil that your lawn can withstand being cut short. But that day is probably a long way off. Again, patience is key.

One note about cutting during the Summer: You should be careful in the dry times. Even if you’re watering regularly (another secret in this guide), you need to watch for wilting. If your grass is wilted (brown, not dead), water it, but don’t cut. If there isn’t more than three inches to cut, keep your mower in the garage. Wait till you can successfully cut off ¾ of an inch and have 3 inches remaining. Ideally, if you’re watering like you’re supposed to, you’ll probably have grass to cut each week–even in the hottest Summers.

When Fall approaches, you can start to lower your mower setting again. Just one notch or two (max) should suffice. Still, cut weekly. Do not stop cutting just because the yard looks like it doesn’t need it. You aren’t going to burn up your yard, so keep cutting!

As the mowing season starts to end, and winter arrives, you’ll want to lower your mower setting even more. You don’t want to turn the yard to dirt, but a bur-short (not scalped) cut is a good idea here. The third secret in this guide discusses properly fertilizing your yard. It includes a winterizing fertilizer application that you will want to apply on the last winter cut of the year.

Recap:

1. Mow Frequently

2. Mow on the Highest Setting in late Spring and all of Summer; lower during Fall and the end of the mowing season

3. Remove ¾ of an inch, and leave the clippings in the yard