What actually goes wrong
- The cut is ragged. Wet leaf lies down and slips off the blade rather than being sliced. The torn ends brown off and the whole lawn looks off-colour for days.
- Clippings clump. Wet clippings stick together in mats. Left on the lawn, those mats block light and can kill the grass under them within a couple of days.
- The mower suffers. Wet grass packs into the deck and the chute, the engine bogs down, and the discharge blocks.
- The ground gets damaged. Soft, saturated soil compacts and ruts under the wheels. Compaction is one of the slower problems to fix.
- Disease spreads. Fungal spores travel on wet clippings, and warm, humid Central Coast weather is exactly when lawn disease is looking for an opening.
When you have no real choice
A wet fortnight on the Coast happens, and at some point a rough cut beats letting the yard turn into a paddock. If it has to be done wet, a tidy job is still possible.
- Raise the cut height a notch or two. Less leaf to move means less clogging.
- Take half-width passes rather than full ones, and go slower than usual.
- Run the catcher. Do not leave wet clippings on the lawn.
- Use a sharp blade. A blunt blade on wet grass is what really tears it up.
- Clean the underside of the deck afterwards, before the build-up sets hard.
A safety note
Wet grass on a slope is genuinely slippery, and that is where mower accidents happen. If a bank is wet enough that your boots slide, leave it for another day.
How we handle it
Shane works around the weather rather than through it. If a yard is too wet to cut without wrecking it, the visit moves rather than the lawn taking the hit. You get a message, not a surprise.