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Envious of your neighbor's lawn?
Perhaps he has a perfectly level cut, and you want to have something similar.
But you keep ending up with burnt patches or dead grass...
What gives? How do you get a level lawn?
Well, here is what you need to know about getting a perfect level cut.
There are 2 major factors to consider when it come to getting that perfect level cut.
Level Lawn + Level Deck= Level Cut
Look, no matter how nice your grass is, if your lawn and your deck aren’t level, you won’t get a level cut.
Level Your Lawn
Simply put, if your lawn isn’t level, getting a level cut is not going to happen if you don’t have a level lawn.
So check over your lawn very closely and look for any divets, potholes, and imperfections in the grade.
This is crucial because if you have uneven terrain your mower will scalp areas as you are cutting the lawn.
Get this, this is more important if you have a riding lawn mower. As riding mowers are not very forgiving as smaller push mowers and will cause damage to the lawn as they run through a pothole.
Leveling Your Lawn Mower Deck and Blades
Have you ever hit a large stick, stump or rock in your lawn?
Then chances are you have dealt with a bent blade or mower deck.
And it’s no secret, a badly bent blade can tear a lawn apart in no time!
If you bend your blades, chances are you need to replace them with new ones. In my experience, bending them back into shape is not easy!
Keep Your Lawn Mower Blades Sharp!
Make sure your blades on your mower are sharp! You will need to sharpen them every 15-20 mowings or at least twice per season.
I recommend sharpening them first thing in spring, and then again in mid-summer. During the summer months is when your lawn is most susceptible to damage from heat stress, so it's imperative to have sharp blades cutting the grass.
If one blade is sharper than the other, the cut will be uneven.
While a bent blade is the most common enemy of a level cut, you should also check to make sure your deck is level too.
Leveling Your Mower Deck
Leveling your mower deck should be a rare occurrence, but sometimes it may need to be done.
To determine if you need to level your mower deck:
Find a level surface like your driveway,
Engage parking brake,
Turn off mower and unplug battery,
Make sure your tire pressure is even in all tires,
Use a tape to measure the outside height of the blade on each side.
Adjust the blades appropriately if there is more than a ⅛ of an inch difference between the two blades.
Pro Tip! If a tire is low on air, the mower deck will cut lower on one side than the other. Always check the pressure of your tires. If one tire is low on air, it can through off the whole mower deck.
Check For Broken Spindles
If you have checked all of the above tips and you still have an uneven cut. You may have a broken spindle. The spindles on your mower deck are what holds the blades in place.
When you hit a hard object, your spindle can break the part that attaches your spindle to the deck. They can also go bad over a long enough period of use.
Fortunately they are fairly easy to replace.
Here is a video that shows you how:
A Quality Cut Starts with Quality Grass
Here's the deal, you also have to have a lawn that is worth cutting if you want to truly enjoy a perfectly level yard.
For one you have to invest in a fertilization program for your lawn. And this can take several months of care and investment to get your lawn to full, thick, and healthy status.
Pro Tip! If you're in cool season grass zone and have tall Fescue for instance, you'll need to aerate and overseed your turf every fall. Without a thick healthy lawn you wont have anything to work with when it comes to mowing it beautifully.
Final Tip: Remove Grass Build Up on Lawn Mower Deck Regularly
If your mower deck gets too much grass built up in it, it can bog down the mower more easily. Worse still, if one side is more clogged than the other, one side of the deck will not perform as well as the other.
So it is important to clean your mower deck regularly.
To clean your mower deck:
Scrape out the deck of your mower removing the build up that accumulates underneath. You can use a regular painter's spatula for this task.
Typically, you will need to clean out the deck of your mower every other cut.
This allows your mower to do its job better, and yields a better cleaner cut. Put a plastic trash bag down and scrape it out over the bag, this makes for easy cleanup of the debris.
Remember a Level Deck and Level Lawn Equal a Level Cut
By following this advice you too can create a beautifully maintained lawn that has a nice level cut.
Having a level cut can be an easy process if you have a new mower and a fairly level lawn. On the other had it can be a major task if you don’t.
If getting that perfect level cut is too difficult for you to manage on your own, why not hire a lawn care professional on GreenPal.
