Lawn Care and Mowing Photos from Hickory, NC

What you are looking at

Most of these photos are tall fescue lawns in and around Hickory, cut on a regular mowing schedule. The stripes come from changing the mowing direction from visit to visit, which also keeps the grass standing up straight and stops the mower from wearing ruts into soft spots.

Look past the stripes to the edges. Every mowing visit includes string trimming around trees, beds, fences and borders, edging along driveways, sidewalks and curbs, and blowing clippings off every hard surface. The walkways and stone borders in these photos are what a finished visit looks like.

Different lots, same standard

The gallery includes a lakefront lawn, a wooded lot, large backyards and front yards at brick ranch homes. Each one needs a different approach. Lakefront and sloped lawns need careful mowing and pine straw on the banks. Shaded, wooded lots need a shade-tolerant fescue blend and good fall cleanups. Thin lawns need aeration and overseeding in September and October.

How to get a lawn that looks like this

A lawn like the ones in these photos is not one visit. Fescue looks its best when it is cut at the right height, on a steady schedule, with a sharp blade. We keep it at 3 to 4 inches and raise the deck in July so the heat does not burn it out. Clippings go back onto the lawn to return nitrogen to the soil.

Underneath the mowing, the lawn needs thick turf and few weeds. That comes from a timed weed control program starting with pre-emergent in February or March, a fall-heavy fertilizer and lime program, and yearly aeration on our compacted red clay. If your lawn is a long way from these photos, start with our lawn restoration plan.