Ready to mow like a pro? Follow these mowing tips to get a great cut lawn result while also keeping your lawn healthy so your yard looks its best.

You’ll also like these tips for trimming and edging your lawn like a pro and be sure to play these DIY yard games on your gorgeous manicured lawn!

This post is sponsored by Black and Decker. All opinions are our own. Read our full disclosure policy here.

10 Mowing Tips To Mow Like A Pro

I’ve been mowing lawns for years, since I started it as a side hustle in high school and later as a professional landscaper and landscape architect.

Here are my top 10 mowing tips to keep your lawn looking great.

1. Use a sharp blade. 

Sharpen it as often as you can.  Once or twice a year.  A sharp blade will give you a clean cut that looks good and keeps your grass healthy.

2. Pick up trash. 

Also, clear the lawn from any obstacles.  Never mow anything but your lawn.  Running over trash or rocks is unsafe and will dull your blade.  And you’ll have a big mess for to clean up.

3. Mow around the edge of the lawn first.  

Do this about two times.  Once you are done with that, you will have enough room to turn your mower around as you mow the middle.

4. Mow straight lines. 

This is the biggest key to making your lawn look professionally mowed.   Mow parallel to the sidewalk or house and try to keep the lines straight.  (See tip 7.)

As you mow, the wheels will leave lines in the grass, these lines will add to the clean cut look if you keep it nice and clean. 

Have you ever seen a fresh cut baseball field beautifully manicured grass?  It looks awesome.

5. Overlap your cut lines slightly. 

About one to two inches will do.  This will make sure that all the grass has a chance to get cut each week.

6. Trim your edges after you mow. 

Use a trimmer and top off any grass that didn’t get cut by the mower.  This will keep all the grass at the same height.

7. Alternate your mowing patterns every week. 

Switch up your patterns (see diagrams below).  This allows your lawn to get a even cut through out the month. 

I have seen lawns that have permanent stripes in the grass from the mower wheels rolling in the exact same place every week – you want to avoid that!

8. Edge your grass. 

Use your trimmer vertically or use an edger, next to walkways and hard surfaces.  This makes a big impact on the overall appearance and will keep the grass from growing over the sidewalk, which just looks sloppy

9. Don’t let it get too long between cuts. 

It will be harder to mow and take longer to get the job done.  I have done this before thinking that I could wait another week. 

The result?  It takes me three times as log to get the job done, because I have to unload the bag more frequently and unclog the mower after every pass because of the long grass. 

If the lawn has gotten really long, it may mean having to mow twice.  Once at a higher setting and then then again at a lower setting.

10. Don’t cut it too short. 

Cutting the grass too short will damage the lawn and cause  the lawn to dry out faster.  You will also damage your blade by cutting into the soil.

My Cordless Electric Lawn Mower

This post contains affiliate links. Learn more and read our full disclosure policy here.

I have been using the 36V 19″ Self-Propelled Rechargeable Mower with Removable Battery by Black and Decker and have really loved not worrying about all the maintenance of a gas mower. 

Read below for what I like about this cordless electric lawn mower.

Since I wrote this post in 2012, there are so many different cordless electric lawn mower options! Check them all out here.

Top Features I Like

• No gas required. 36 volt battery powered.
• Easy to start. Insert the key, hold down a button pull the lever and you are off cutting. It does have a key that you can remove after you are done. This is a great safety feature if you have kids that are curious about your tools. You can lock up the key and keep it in a safe place.
• Self propelled. It will move even when you you don’t engage the blade.
• My wife is excited about mowing the lawn!  (maybe a shorter honey do list??)
• It is quiet. You won’t get your ears blown out like you would from a loud gas engine mower.
• Adjust the mower height in one location.  You don’t have to go to each wheel to make the height adjustments.
• It stores in a small up-right space. It folds up into a size of one foot deep by two wide by three feet tall. This is great for people with small limited storage space. With the mower unfolded it will take up about 12 square feet verses 2 square feet when folded. That is a 6th space when folded up.–

Thank you to Black and Decker for allowing us to test drive the new mower and for supplying this giveaway!