When should I do my First Cut in Winchester, VA?

Yes Dash Man Lawn cuts grass in March! Dash Man Lawn is already out mowing now!

When should I do my first cut? Am I already late? Should I wait a few more weeks??

If you've been with us a while, you probably know what we're going to say! Like almost every element of your yard, it's up to you! Are there best practices? YES. But personal preference, budget and yard goals also play a huge role.

We'll start by saying we cut our own grass last week. We did just a quick, ever-so-slight trim, cutting cut off about a 1/4-1/2 inch of dead growth that was visible on this year's new green shoots from established grass. We also already have some brand new grass popping through, which was too short to be affected by the mow. We added a light layer of seed and leaf compost and plan to cut again in about a week (two weeks between the first cut and the next cut). We're getting another cold snap right now and don't expect much growth! We also want this week's rain to help integrate the new seeds into the soil. Our yard looks just how we like it for this time of year: nothing gorgeous or eye-catching...just even, neat, short, well-maintained & healthy. We can already tell it's well set up to become a lush green carpet this Spring. <3

So what's best for you?

Cutting grass is like cutting hair - consistent maintenance is the path to true health. You never want to cut more than 1/3rd of the grass height, no matter what time of year it is.

A common best practice is to wait until there's no more threat of frost. In practical terms, that's often not possible in VA, when we may get a frost well into April, long past when most people might need a first cut. While frost forecasting can give you a good general timeframe, it's not a hard rule. Your best bet is to simply look outside and see how your grass is looking.

This year, we've had tons of snow melt and lots of rain. We've had more than a few unseasonably warm days, and bright green grass is popping up for most folks a lot earlier than usual.

Even with consistent biannual seeding (and fertilizing if you do that), grass grows in somewhat inconsistently at first and evens out over the course of the season. Frequent, minimal cuts early in the season can help with evenness right from the start, and allow all the areas of your yard to thrive without patches overshadowing other areas (due to both nutrient and light distribution). Early and consistent eveness also helps a TON with natural weed control, because more thriving grass means less weeds. If the weeds never get established in the first place, they're way less of a problem in the future.

'First-Cut' good practices are similar to any other cut throughout the season: a good, solid, healthy cut should never produce a ton of clippings and should never produce large clumps and matting. If your getting clumps and matting, you've waited too long!

Our recomendation? Most people in Winchester City and Frederick County who really value lush green grass and prioritize their grass health should probably start thinking about a cut NOW or YESTERDAY to take off some of the dead ends from Winter and start evening out the lawn.

But we TOTALLY get not everyone really cares that much, and we appreciate that too. Our house is a mullet house when it comes to grass: all business up front, and party in the back. We like our front yard to look like a lush carpet, but we honestly don't put much effort into the back because of our kids/dogs/vehicles. We just simply keep the back maintained & short and don't think much about how it looks or how healthy it is.

Maybe grass cutting isn't in the budget until later in the Spring. Maybe you just want your yard to look tidy and maintained and go for a short buzz cut every time. TOTALLY GREAT. Our only recommendation is that you still live by the 1/3 rule, but just keep the cuts shorter. But it's fine to wait a little longer into the season.

No matter your preference, just PLEASE call us well before the grass gets to 6 inches. Once we're in the 6in or more territory, making any cut look good becomes a lot more challenging. It we're over 6 inches, we have to start talking about double cuts and double passes and then we have to spend more time and charge more!! And no one wants that!!

Generally speaking, calling us now is a great idea. Calling in early April is OK. Calling in late April is sometimes doable. And calling in May almost never works out well for scheduling and for your grass (and for city citations!!!).

As always, we are happy to help! Text us a photo and we'll give you a solid timing recommendation (540) 724-1417.