Lawn Designs for Mowing

Basic Stripes

• Mow the entire perimeter or outline of the lawn, creating a mowed "box" of cut grass around the rest of the lawn. Continue moving clockwise or counterclockwise once you begin; don't change directions. When the perimeter is finished, place the left or right mower wheels in the track of the inside edge of the mowed box and mow a straight line until you reach the other side. Do the next line by moving in the other direction, and so on until the lawn is completely mowed. Your mowing pattern will be up-down, up-down or left-right, left-right. Re-mow the outer box to clean up the edges of the inner lines.

Checkerboard

• Mow the lawn exactly as you would for the basic stripe design in Section 1. Then, if your inner lawn lines are left to right, make new mow lines that go up and down the lawn instead, and vice versa. Each new mowing row should use the same tire tracks as the previous line. Finish the look with a mower run around the outer perimeter to clean up any uneven end lines.

Diagonals

• The diagonal design look is similar to the checkerboard pattern, except all rows are on the diagonal to the overall shape of the lawn. Mow the outer perimeter as detailed in the first two sections. Then, mow one corner at a 45-degree angle. Mow the row next to it, using the same tire marks. Continue until all grass is cut. Then pick a corner adjacent to your original corner and cut it at a 45-degree angle, continuing as before. This second mowing session should be opposite the first, creating the appearance of squares or diamonds in the lawn.

Improving Your Results

• Patterns in a lawn appear because the grass is bent in opposing directions from one row to the next. If the grass is too short and cut with a standard mower, the patterns may not be very obvious. Using a roller behind the mower will increase the amount of grass-blade bending, which results in more shadows and therefore more intense patterns. Some ride-on mowers and many reel mowers come standard with roller attachments. Complicated designs are best done on very large lawns and require planning. Once you are skilled with basic pattern making, you can plot out intricate designs on paper and tackle them with a riding mower.