Besides keeping the grass short, is there any benefit to mowing the lawn? And why do we even have a lawn if we’re going to spend hours every month mowing the lawn, watering the lawn, edging the lawn, reseeding the lawn, and doing lots of other things we do? We clip the grass short yet seed it, so there is more of it.
If you’re not a fan of mowing or just don’t have the time to do a good job, chances are you have a contract with a landscape maintenance company to come out and keep your lawn mowed. This may include other chores, like edging, blowing leaves, and raking up the debris that lands on your grass, but mowing seems to be the top chore that we hire someone to do for us.
Let’s explore some mowing facts and factoids.
- A lot of vegetation covers the earth, and a lot of it is tropical plant life; grasslands are more than 20% of the earth’s vegetation. Grasslands exist on every continent in the world. Although it’s seldom mentioned as an ecological cause, work is done every day to preserve grasslands.
- Many types of grass end up on our table. Barley and wheat are grasses. If you eat bread or drink beer, you are consuming grass.
- Pink flamingos are the most sold lawn ornament. Yep. About a quarter of a million of these are sold every year. What does this have to do with mowing? Nothing, really; it’s just one of those weird little factoids.
- The average lawn has millions of grass plants. An average lawn of about ⅕ of an acre has about seven million grass plants.
- You know that using a push mower burns calories, but most of us prefer to have someone else do it.
- A lot of sports require grass to play the game. The top three sports played on a grassy field are golf, tennis, and football (even if it’s soccer).
- Grasses are some of the oldest living organisms. One variety of seagrass is over 200,000 years old! That’s a long time.
- Watering the lawn uses more household water than anything else, especially during the summer. It can amount to more than ⅔ of your water use.
- A great lawn can increase a home’s resale value by 15-20%.
- About 65,000 people are hospitalized each year from lawn-mowing-related accidents—yet another good reason to call your landscaping partners at Custom Acres for all your grass-related needs.
- There are cities and towns right here in the good ole USA where not mowing your grass promptly can lead to jail time.
Your landscape crew can make lawn mowing more manageable. That’s a feat worth working towards!
Florida and grass – what a pair!
Florida lawns can grow pretty fast. There is very little freezing weather every year, and the growing season for almost everything is months long. So if you are growing vegetables, herbs, and spices for your table, you might be finding that you’re getting much more than one harvest in a year.
Grass covers a lot of Florida, and you might see the big municipal mowers out most weekdays, manicuring the grassy areas by highways and busy streets. However, the rainy season makes grass grow so fast that those mowers are sometimes out on the same highway twice a week.
If you go to the theme parks, public parks, or other outdoor entertainment in Florida, you would also notice grass maintenance in all of those places. It’s a constant job.
Environmental impact of lawns and grass
And let us not forget the protected crane population in Florida! At any one time, there are about 40,000 living in Florida, and a lot of them dig their long bills into the grass in search of insects, frogs, worms, lizards, and other yummy treats. However, it is illegal to feed them because of their protected status. So keeping the lawns mowed is as close as we can get to participate in the care or feeding of the crane population.
Healthy lawns are assets to our environments. Lawns can filter groundwater. A lawn that has been graded and maintained correctly can help to reduce soil erosion.
They can cool and clean the air. They can also reduce reflective glare, noise, and pollutants. Healthy lawns are very efficient in converting CO2 to oxygen. Since grassy areas store most of the CO2 they convert underground, they are less likely to lead to carbon losses due to fire or drought.
Native grasses vs. imports
Grasses native to Florida would be considered when creating, reseeding, or sodding a lawn. Native grasses will survive and thrive better than grasses originally from the north.
Native grasses tend to love the heat and are resistant to drought. In addition, some can tolerate higher salt levels, which is very important since a lot of the water in Florida is brackish.
A few of the grasses that do best in Florida have deeper roots, making them resistant to drought, weeds, and traffic. These grasses are suitable for sporting fields, but homeowners tend not to like them.
Some Florida grasses will proliferate, both a blessing and a curse. Faster growing grasses need more mowing. Some Florida native grasses are not fans of colder weather or shade. Some are more susceptible to grass viruses and common pests.
As you can see, choosing the suitable grass for you and your landscape can be a hard call. The advice of your landscape professionals can be very valuable. Irrigation modification can make a big difference in the amount of water used for your lawns and help keep your lawn lush.
Your landscape partners at Custom Acres can guide you in choosing the right kind of grass and other Florida native plants best for your landscape.