How often should you mow your lawn? The right mowing schedule for spring, summer and fall in Ontario, plus the one-third rule that keeps grass healthy.
Ask ten homeowners how often they mow their lawn and you'll get ten different answers. Some mow every Saturday out of habit, while others wait until the grass is visibly overgrown. But mowing frequency has a bigger effect on lawn health than almost anything else you do.
The right schedule isn't complicated. In Ontario, it comes down to matching your mowing to how fast the grass is growing, and that changes with the season. Here's how often to mow your lawn through the year, and the one rule that makes it all work.
The golden rule of lawn mowing is simple: never cut more than one-third of the grass blade in a single mow. If you keep your lawn around 8 cm, mow when it reaches about 12 cm.
When you cut more than a third at once, the grass goes into recovery mode. It spends its energy regrowing blades instead of building deep roots, browns at the tips, and thins out enough for weeds to move in. Most tired-looking lawns got that way from waiting too long between cuts, then cutting too much at once. Follow the one-third rule and your mowing schedule almost sets itself.
May and June are peak growing season in Ontario. The Kentucky bluegrass that makes up most of our lawns thrives in cool, wet weather, and during a rainy spring it grows fast enough to need a cut every week. Skipping a week in spring usually means clumps of clippings, an uneven cut, and a violation of the one-third rule all at once.
Plan on weekly mowing from mid-May through the end of June, keeping the height around 7 to 9 cm.
Once the July heat arrives, grass growth slows down and your mowing schedule should slow down with it. Every 10 to 14 days is enough for most Ontario lawns in summer. It also helps to raise your cutting height a notch, because taller grass shades its own roots and holds moisture better through dry spells.
If a drought turns your lawn brown and dormant, stop mowing entirely until it greens up again. Dormant grass isn't growing, and cutting it only adds stress.
Cooler September weather wakes your lawn back up, so expect to return to weekly or near-weekly mowing in early fall. Growth tapers off through October, and your schedule can stretch out again until the grass stops growing entirely, usually by late October or early November in Southern Ontario.
The final cuts of the season should gradually bring the lawn down shorter for winter, which protects it from snow mold in spring.
Keeping the right mowing schedule means paying attention to your lawn from May through October, and that's exactly what a good lawn mowing service takes off your plate. At LocalStudent, a local student mows your lawn on a weekly or biweekly schedule matched to the season, so your grass stays healthy without you thinking about the one-third rule at all.
We offer quality lawn mowing services in the following locations:
Ajax, Aurora, Barrie, Brampton, Burlington, Cambridge, Etobicoke, Guelph, Hamilton, Kingston, Kitchener, London, Markham, Mississauga, Newmarket, North York, Oakville, Oshawa, Ottawa, Pickering, Richmond Hill, Scarborough, Thornhill, Toronto, Vaughan, Waterloo, and Whitby.
Contact LocalStudent for a free quote today, and let a student in your community keep your lawn on schedule!
Thin, patchy lawn? Late August to mid-September is the best time to aerate, overseed and fertilize in Ontario. Learn why fall lawn repair beats spring.
When should you stop cutting grass in Ontario? Learn the right time for your last mow, how short to cut before winter, and how to avoid snow mold.
Support a student in your community!
