Lawns

I use a mower which has 3 options; collection, mulch and side discharge.

Generally I use collection at the start of the season i.e the forst cut after winter, and the last cut before winter. Why? Overwintered grass has to survive the cold, ice, snow – whatever is thrown at it – collecting these blades of grass that have been damaged save putting it back into the lawn. The last cut avoids leaving grass over the winter to rot down and smother the grass that will have to survive the colder and darker months.

Mulch; after the first cut I use the mulching option ( the grass is cut and the blades are designed to recirculate these and chop them into tiny pieces, which returns the goodness back to the lawn. this can only be done when the lawn is fairly short – if for some reason the lawn hasn’t been cut for a few weeks, then the next cut will be collection.

Side discharge is used when the lawn is wet (not sodden).

Again, reiterating that the lawn should not be cut too short; rather than go into the reasons in detail here – I found a good link to an article that explains this which you can read here.(click link).