A lot of people still think that the secret to a healthy green lawn has to do with all the chemicals and fertilizers you dump on the grass and little else. But you can save yourself a lot of money and keep your lawn healthy in a more natural way with the proper use of one of your favorite power tools: your lawnmower!

Follow these grass cutting tips for a healthy green lawn.

Here are some grass cutting tips and tricks which will help your lawn grow more and more healthy and stay lush and green throughout this season and into the next:

Cut Your Grass High: This doesn’t mean you should let the grass in your lawn reach two feet high, but you should try setting your mower on the highest setting and cutting your lawn at that height all the time. Longer blades of grass means the root system below the ground will also be longer and healthier. Longer blades of grass tend to collect more light and grow healthier and higher blades often help block out crab grass. As an added bonus taller grass often looks more “lush” and dense than grass that’s been cut very short.

Mow Only When The Grass is Dry: When you mow your lawn when the grass is wet you’re just going to get clumps of grass, uneven cuts (wet blades of grass slip and slide away from mower blades, creating “chops” instead of fine cuts), invite all sorts of fungus to grow in the damp clippings and endanger yourself. Wet grass is slick and slipping into a running lawnmower is no fun.

Mow Only When The Grass is Cool: I’ve been unintentionally following this one for a while. Try to mow your grass when it is cooler, not in the middle of the day, especially if you’re going through a dry period or your grass is wilting. Grass like any houseplant you may have in your home: extreme temperatures or handling can hurt it. Cutting it while it is extremely dry only hurts it. I tend to mow my lawn in the early evening or late morning because I don’t like pushing a mower around in the heat of the afternoon.

Really, Cut Your Grass High: Yes, I’m repeating this one. It makes a big difference. The general rule of thumb is to only ever cut off a third of the height of your grass. So if you most of your grass is about three inches high from the ground, you should only ever cut off about the top one inch. Don’t obsess about this and take a ruler to your lawn, but if you keep your mower on the highest setting and mow regularly you should be okay.

Don’t Use A Bagger: Some people are obsessed with bagging cut grass and turning it to compost. But as good as that compost is for plants in beds, it’s even better for the grass itself. By cutting your lawn without a bagger and leaving the clippings on the lawn you’re adding extra nitrogen, water and nutrients back in the soil as those clippings decompose. You also get to avoid emptying the bag every 20 minutes. Do you occasionally get little piles of clippings on your lawn? Read the next tip!

Change Direction Each Time You Mow: I never thought much about this until recently, but I’ve found that it not only helps my lawn but also breaks up the monotony of mowing. When you cut your lawn in several different patterns you’ll avoid creating ruts or pathways in your lawn from repeatedly going over the same spot each week. If you’re leaving your grass clippings on your lawn and you have some small clumps, try going over your lawn again quickly in another direction to disperse them. For a rectangular lawn you have lots of cutting pattern options like concentric circles, “up and down”, “back and forth”, on a diagonol (left and right) or even a combination. I’ve even seen people mow their lawns with a neat “wavy” pattern from time to time.

Plan to Mow Once A Week: Yes, I know grass grows at different rates and sometimes it rains a lot and sometimes it doesn’t rain for a week. But try to aim to always mow your grass sometime in the 6 - 8 day range. This helps you keep the height of the grass from becoming too tall and it helps keep you on a schedule you’re more likely to follow.

Mower Maintenance: This is kind of a no-brainer, but a lot of people forget about this. Keep your mower in good working order. Always clean out grass clippings and debris when you’re done, keep the fuel and oil relatively clean and fresh, and keep the blades in good condition. It depends on how large your lawn is, but generally I find that buying new blades or having my existing blades sharpened once a season works for me.

Good luck and happy mowing!