Many people mow their lawn too short and effectively kill it in the process.  Your lawn is a plant, and like all plants it needs some of that green stuff called leaves in order to continue to survive and flourish.  A tree will eventually start to die if it loses too many of its leaves- this is what happens to it every winter.  Your lawn behaves in the same way; mow it too short and you may soon notice that your lawn has died and left you with a yard full of brown grass. 

Mowing you lawn at the half-inch setting on your mower is a guaranteed way to murder your lawn… you don’t want to be a lawn murderer do you? 

To avoid brutally hacking your lawn into short little stubs you simply need to move the height setting on your lawn mower from one half inch to one and one quarter inch.  The small difference in height will make a world of difference to your lawn.  Giving your lawn that extra inch of height allows it to photosynthesize better as well as giving it a softer texture.  Promoting better photosynthesis will help your lawn grow faster and healthier, meaning that it will start growing sooner in the season and last longer into the fall. 

As well, your lawn only needs to be mowed once every couple of weeks.  Mowing it every week is excessive and can actually do more harm than good for your lawn.  To avoid the appearance of an unkempt lawn, take out your trimmer and trim the edges once a week while allowing the main portion of the lawn to grow undisturbed.

Unlike what a lot of people will tell you (and probably believe themselves), there is no correlation between the direction that you mow and the resulting growth from your lawn.  To be honest, your lawn doesn’t care if you mow it left, right, up, or down- a mow is a mow.  As far as your lawn is concerned you’re cutting off half of it every time that you mow.  So, as far as directional mowing is concerned, mow in whatever way you like most. 

Lastly, you don't necessarily have to bag and throw out the clippings every time you mow.  If you are mowing your lawn and notice that you aren't cutting off huge portions of grass you may opt to simply mulch the cut grass in top of the growing grass.  Nature will kick in and decompose the dead grass, sending beneficial nutrients into the soil and helping your lawns health. 

If you are mowing a fairly unkempt lawn you will still want to bag the clippings as too much dead grass on your lawn and it will start to fester and become compost.  This will attract insects and a very disagreeable smell.

Happy mowing!