As a standard landscape practice, the mower is to be set at 1 ¼ inches to prevent cutting too low and killing the grass.  Giving your lawn some height allows it to photosynthesize and grow faster and healthier.  A hard cut is only necessary when the grass needs to be thatched or thinned out, then aerated for reseeding or over-seeding.

Standard procedure is to start by mowing the outer edges twice around in order to create a pivot area to turn the mower around when you start the cross cutting. This prevents grass-stain marks from the tires having to roll on the sidewalks. Clippings are gathered in large bags and are taken away for disposal.  It is not recommended to leave large amounts of grass debris.  It will become compost which attracts insects and will eventually develop an odor.

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