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By: Darren Lintern

What could be easier than pushing a lawn mower over the grass? Would someone really need advice on that? Well, as with anything, there is more to it than it may seem at first glance.

Leaving the grass to grow a little longer will save effort in cutting. By allowing the lawn to grow an additional week or two between trimmings, for example mow every third week instead of each week, it will reduce the effort by a third. That saved time will allow you to concentrate on other duties such as weeding, fertilizing and other important tasks.

Longer grass will often grow slower, as the length increases at a rapid rate to begin with, and then slows down as the blade extends upwards. The taller the blade of grass the slower the rate of growth.

Allowing the grass to grow longer will help in other ways also. The long grass is more able to retain moisture, making for less effort in watering and improved growing rates. Longer blades also have an increased surface area for photosynthesis, that will turn sunlight into energy used for reproduction and growth.

Maintaining longer grass will also help in reducing weeds and time spent on weed control. Weeds will need to germinate in order to develop, similar to nearly any plant. Taller grass stems will rob weeds of the necessary warmth and sunlight that stimulates that process.

Longer grass is able to establish deeper roots. This is a further way that grass will out-compete weeds, as the nutrient level and space under the surface is limited. Once it's become more occupied by grass roots, there's less available for weeds. Lengthy roots can allow grass to reach moisture lower down, meaning that the plant will be stronger and better fed.

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