What Do We Mean By Trimming?

A rose may be a rose by any other name, but the same can’t be said for all landscaping terminology. While cut, slash, dice, and trim may be synonyms in other settings, in landscaping, the different words for mowing and cutting can’t necessarily be used interchangeably in yard care, any way you slice it.

So what do we mean when we say lawn trimming? How is it different than lawn mowing? And why do both matter to your lawn maintenance routine?
Today, we break down the meaning of trim to your Princeton yard.

You Already Know About Mowing

You know what mowing is. It’s what you do with a mower to cut your lawn! Of course, it’s perfectly acceptable to say cutting your grass too, but why not trim? It’s because mowing is the main work of your lawn service.

Mowing handles the broad strokes and the bulk of your care. It’s the (metaphorically only) blunt instrument that gets the job done. But to complete the work and make your lawn look exceptional, you need someone to look after the details.

That’s where the rest of lawn maintenance comes in, trimming, including the star of today’s blog.

Trimming Your Lawn

Lawn trimming is the detailed work of grass cutting that mowing leaves behind. We use a trim to catch all the little places the lawn mower didn’t get. Trimmers are smaller than mowers, so they can handle what mowers can’t.

Where Do We Need to Trim?

You may ask yourself why the mower can’t handle the complete cutting of the lawn. So why do we need trimmers, and where do we use them? The answer is twofold.

Up Close

Firstly, lawnmowers can’t get right next to everything because of their size and impreciseness. You won’t want to take your lawn mower too close to your flower garden. It isn’t easy to control, and you may accidentally clip a flower or alternatively not get the grass that borders the flower bed as you’re being careful.

Likewise, you can’t get right next to the house or large rocks because it would damage the mower if you hit it. Trimmers, on the other hand, are explicitly designed to fit into all these nooks.

Unlevel

The second reason you need a trimmer is that your yard is not perfectly flat. Very few yards are level throughout. Besides slopes, your property is full of dips and bumps.

On a slope, riding or pushing a mower can be dangerous. The steepness of certain hills puts you in danger of tipping. But using a trimmer on these hills is perfectly safe.

As for all the dips and bumps, every one of them is an opportunity for your mower to miss some grass. Again, it’s not that there’s anything wrong with it. It’s just not possible for something that size to get every detail.
Again, this is where a trimmer comes in.

Trim Vs Edge

To make matters more confusing, we introduce edging! In other areas of life, trim and edge can be used interchangeably, but once again, they each have a specific meaning in lawn maintenance.

First We Edge

Edging is typically the first step in the lawn maintenance process. Edging makes mowing and trimming easier by creating the bold lines we mow within. Next, we dig a small, shallow ditch with our edge between the lawn and your gardens, hardscaping, driveway, and other pieces of your property.

That edge helps your lawn stand out. But it also makes the rest of the lawn service easier because it means less time needs to be spent later on the detailed work of getting close to that lawn. That means we don’t need to trim as much later because the outline is already there.

(Not Quite) Last We Trim

After we edge, we mow, and last we trim to get what the mower didn’t. We say “not quite” last because the final step of your lawn service is a complete blowout to get all the clipping out of your gardens and hardscaping. Unlike the other terms discussed today, there’s likely no confusion blowing out your lawn clipping with any of the other processes!

Ready for the Best Lawn Service Experience?

While most homeowners have mowed a lawn at some point, not everyone has time to give their yard the care and attention it needs to thrive. That’s where Mowing R Us comes in. We’re proud to offer excellent mowing, edging, trimming, and blowout services for all your lawn maintenance needs!