What comes to your mind when you hear the term etiquette? If you are like me, you think about how you address other people, how you sit at the dinner table, or how you dress.

If you are a homeowner or you are renting a home with a lawn, let me introduce you to something known as lawn mowing etiquette.

If you are like most of us, you have neighbors. Lawn mowing etiquette is how you relate with your neighbors when it comes to lawn care.

When you have lawn decency, you take care of your lawn without being a nuisance to your neighbors.

Since that is out of the way, you must be wondering, so you do I get this etiquette? This is not something you get, but rather you show, and here are some of the ways to show it:

Go beyond your property boundary.

Most homeowners sharing grass on the street with neighbors will stop where their property boundary ends, but as a good neighbor, don’t do this as it’s considered passive-aggressive.

Most people interpret it you are telling them to mow their bloody grass as it’s not your responsibility. To maintain great relations, mow the entire shared grass area. It can’t kill you. Trust me.

Don’t mow your neighbor’s lawn.

When you take good care of your lawn and love manicured grass, it’s infuriating to see an unkempt lawn.

I remember I once lived next to these twenty-something tenants that could care less whether the grass was brown or full of weeds.

It wouldn’t have been an issue, but I could see the unruly almost four-foot-high street grass from my bedroom window. Every day I woke up, guess what the first thing to see was? Yes, the annoying unkempt grass.

For months I was seething from across the street wondering, why wouldn’t the landlord cut it down?

Fed up, I moved to the property and shaved it down. While the tenants weren’t confrontational, I could see they didn’t like it, so I never went there again.

Luckily, the tenants picked up I didn’t like the view from my house, so they always mowed their lawn in good time.

I wouldn’t advise you to do this. If you have to cross a fence or if your neighbor always mows the area, but they have let it go, don’t mow there. If you don’t like the unkempt look, close the blinds.

Don’t jolt neighbors from their sleep.

Like other homeowners, you most likely mow your lawn over the weekends. Weekends are often laid back, and most people are still asleep till late in the morning, so don’t mow too early to avoid waking up your neighbors.

The appropriate mowing time is 9:00 am. This way, you avoid your neighbors going belligerent on you for disturbing their sleep.

Doing so also ensures dew falls off from your grass, so you don’t mow your lawn while wet and dewy.

Don’t ruin family time.

Following the same line of thought of not mowing too early in the morning, also avoid mowing too late in the day.

Not that most families go to bed at this time, it’s that most families get together for a barbecue, eat dinner, or have a game night in the evenings.

You don’t want to be that neighbor that fires up the lawnmower when everyone is looking to settle down and have relaxed family time, do you?

A good rule of thumb is to mow your lawn not later than 6:00 pm.

To conclude, the best time to mow your lawn is between 9:00 am and 6: 00 pm. This way, you have eight to nine hours to care for your lawn. Don’t punish your neighbors for your poor planning.

Direct stuff away from your neighbor

Chances are your lawnmower will kick grass, pieces of sticks, gravel, or even dust to your neighbor’s lawn. Some neighbors are understanding, while others, that’s not the case.

No one likes their lawn or driveway with grass bits from the next-door neighbor so make sure you don’t annoy your neighbor.

To avoid galling your neighbor, watch the direction your lawnmower is throwing stuff and always direct it away from your neighbor’s yard.

It’s also wise to adjust your mowing circle, so you are always shooting the grass bits to your lawn as you pass your neighbor’s property.

Once you are done with mowing, bag the clippings, so they don’t float around and fly to your neighbor’s property.

If you want to mulch your lawn with the clippings, distribute them evenly in your yard then mow over them again so you end up with fine clippings that quickly get to the soil and enrich your lawn.

If grass clippings or dirt flew to the driveway or walkway, use a garage broom to sweep the area.

Keep your lawn short.

Keeping your lawn short and well cared for not only improves the appeal of your property, it also makes your neighbors like you more as you are neat and you are working towards improving the neighborhood.

You also have an easy time maintaining the grass.

While you might avoid the heavy grass cutting work and kick back with the boys, while ignoring your lawn, you end up with tall grass that is not only an eyesore, but it also makes your neighbors detest you as you are messy.

When you allow your grass to grow too tall, it starts looking like weeds, which can attract rats and other critters.

While I can’t wait for Saturdays to go out and mow my lawn, some homeowners hate it. If you are one of them, shell out a few dollars every week and hire a local landscaping company to do your lawn.

Don’t be a jerk. Practice good lawn mowing etiquette

Even if you live in a ranch, you still have neighbors, and you need to be good to them to maintain a good relationship. Don’t be that jerk that ignores all the community standards.

You will be ostracized, and this isn’t good when living in a community.

Be mindful of your neighbors and mow the lawn between 9:00 am and 6:00 pm, don’t throw the dirt into your neighbor’s yard and keep your grass short.

That’s all you need to do to keep your neighbors happy and maintain a great relationship.