When you are new to the landscaping and lawn care business it can be tricky to figure out which tasks you should be doing when for each client.  For example they may want you to mow their lawn for them, trim it and then edge it.  They might also want you to power wash that garden path for them every now and then as well.

A good question to find the answer to is the issue of trimming and mowing, and which comes first.  Once you have the answer you can get straight down to the job and follow the same plan all the time with confidence.  Let’s get that answer shall we?

Now I won’t assume you automatically know what trimming is.  Some people make the mistake of thinking that trimming is another way of describing edging.  But it’s not.  Edging is what you do with a strimmer, i.e. the strimmer cuts around the edges of the lawn from top to bottom, ensuring you have a nice neat edge.

Trimming, meanwhile, works from right to left rather than up and down.  When you mow a lawn you won’t be able to get your mower into every last bit of it.  This is particularly true if the grass goes right up to a fence or hedge for example.

Different landscapers do things differently, but for my money trimming first usually works out best.  You will come to spot the areas that will need trimming, and you can quickly get those out of the way first.  You can mow the entire lawn and clear up after yourself at the end.

If you are tackling a garden for the first time for a new client however, you may want to trim the lawn first.  This would be particularly advisable if you have long grass to tackle, as it enables you to tidy up the edges before you get the lawn mower out.

Just imagine trying to mow long grass at the edges of a lawn.  You can end up going over it several times if you’re not careful and chewing up the ground beneath it as well.  By trimming the outer edges and any inaccessible parts of the lawn with the trimmer first, you will make your job easier when you start mowing.  You can go from the outside in to cut the grass down to an acceptable level.

You could talk to several landscapers and (assuming they are willing to share their methods with you!) they will probably admit to approaching the task from either direction.  I have always found trimming first to be the best approach, but it does depend on the garden and on the ground as well.

Take a closer look at any lawn you are cutting for the first time to see which approach would work best.  Then you can apply that approach the next time you visit as well.  This technique can work well for every garden you visit.

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