How to Stripe Your Lawn
When you take the family to a summertime ballgame, you can’t deny how sharp and eye-catching the field looks with its bright, vibrant grass and clean stripes. While these stripes may seem complicated to replicate at home with just your push mower and some weekend practice, striping your lawn is actually pretty simple.
The Basics of Lawn Striping
When you notice stripes stretching across a field of grass, the light and dark effect of the stripes is actually different light reflecting off the grass blades, creating the illusion of stripes and different shapes. The grass blades that are bent towards you will appear darker, while those positioned away will look lighter.
To create stripes across your own lawn, all you need is your push mower and a roller or striping kit. The grass is bent in different positions using these rollers attached at the back of the mower to apply pressure to the blades. Ballpark professionals typically use a reel mower equipped with multiple rollers to achieve those stark contrasts and intricate patterns.
Lawn Striping With a Push Mower
When attempting lawn striping, the most difficult part is deciding which stripe pattern you want to start with. The most common designs are straight, alternating stripes, checkerboard and diamonds. Grass species also help determine which types of lawn striping patterns you can try. Warm-season grasses found throughout Central Florida, like Bermuda grass, resist striping efforts because they feature longer grass stems and shorter grass blades, while cool-season grasses like fescue can handle more elaborate striping patterns.
To begin striping your lawn, first mow around the perimeter of your yard, following the straight lines of a driveway or walkway. Then, you’ll start angling your mower to create one of these common lawn striping patterns:
- Stripes: Mow straight along the initial pathway created beside your driveway. Then, when you reach the end of the row, lift your mower deck and begin mowing in the opposite direction of the previous pass. Once your initial lawn striping is complete, you can intensify the contrast of the stripes by going over them again with a roller.
- Checkerboard: For a checkerboard pattern, you’ll start by creating a simple stripe design. After the initial set of lines is complete, you’ll mow the lawn again at 90 degrees to your first mowing pattern. To finish the checkerboard pattern, mow along the perimeter of the lawn again to remove any stripe irregularities left over from having to turn at the end of each row.
- Diamonds: Once you’ve mastered the basic checkerboard pattern, you can graduate to the slightly more complicated diamond design. Like checkerboard striping, you’ll start off by creating simple straight stripes, only instead of creating a perpendicular pattern on the second pass, you’ll angle the mower at a diagonal to achieve diamonds.
Lawn Striping Around Obstacles
Not every residential lawn can be as clean and crisp as a baseball field — so how can you create a professional-looking lawn striping pattern around trees and other landscaping obstacles? To get around trees while still maintaining the look of your stripes, you’ll mow around the object into the uncut part of the lawn. Then, during your next pass, you’ll stripe over the angled turn marks to restore the even striping pattern.
Make Your Lawn Look Like a Professional Field With Help From Bee Green Pest Control
At Bee Green Pest Control, we’re dedicated to creating gorgeous lawns throughout Central Florida. Our experienced and trained lawn care professionals work with homeowners throughout the greater Orlando area and beyond to develop customized lawn fertilization and systemic pest control solutions that work best for your specific lawn. To learn more about our local lawn care services, call us today at 813-661-9300 or complete our online form to request a free care quote.