The Best Way to Trim Grass Around a Vinyl Fence
Vinyl fences are important to your property. They help keep little ones and pets safe while keeping unwanted creatures out. They are great for outlining property lines away from your neighbors and also improving your property value. Privacy is priceless, and for many, the vinyl fence provides exactly what they are looking for when it comes to fencing. When you are mowing your yard in this area, you can’t quite get to the edge, so there is grass that needs to be trimmed. Being able to properly trim your fence line is essential and it can be done several different ways. If you aren’t careful when trimming your grass, you could find yourself causing more harm than good. Below is the best way how to trim grass around a vinyl fence so that you avoid long-term damage.
The Best Way to Trim Grass Around a Vinyl Fence
While you may be quick to pull out your weed whacker and start trimming, there are a few things you need to keep in mind first. Your weed eater will get the grass, but you need to protect your fence. Your average weed eater for the rest of your yard is not going to work.
Mow Your Lawn First
Before you can start trimming your grass around the vinyl fence, you need to make sure that the yard is mowed. You do not want to try to trim the edges first and then cut the grass. The trimming will likely still be too high and you will need to repeat the process. When you mow, you want to keep it at two or two and a half inches, which is about where your trimmer will fall.
Use a Lined Weed Eater
When you start trimming grass with a lined weed eater, the blade is face down and tucked in, so you can get those close cuts and not your fence. Specifically, the tool you need is a spinning line trimmer that keeps you from cutting outward, which can damage your vinyl fence and cut holes.
You want to start trimming along the grass line so that you can get it to match where the mow cut the rest of the yard. Cut parallel so the grass trimming pattern along the fence line will match what the mower did already.
Make Sure You Trim Both Sides
When you decide to trim the grass along your vinyl fence, you will need to do this on both sides of the fence. While you may be most concerned with the outer layer that the neighbors can see, it is important to trim on the inside, as well. The same effects that can happen on one side of the fence is possible on the other.
When you are trimming your fence with a weed trimmer, you need to make sure that you’re also being safe. If you hit debris while you are trimming, it can come up out the ground and hit you or someone else nearby. If that is sharp debris, that could be very dangerous. Make sure you are wearing long pants when you’re trimming your grass and also wear gloves. Your eyes are also important, so make sure that you have the right eye protection. While some will wear sunglasses, those can break if they are hit at the right speed from debris. You need protective eye wear in case the debris flies into your face.
Why Should I Cut Around My Vinyl Fence
If you are trying to save time and considering skipping the step on how to trim grass around a vinyl fence, then you need to consider a few effects that will happen. This is essential for many reasons and can have serious effects if you are not careful when doing lawn maintenance.
- The appearance of your property will be cluttered
- Create an environment for unwanted pests and items
- Allow room for unwanted weeds
Fence Appearance
One of the main reasons to keep the grass trimmed around your vinyl fence is to make your property look presentable. This improves your curb appeal and is ideal for your property value. If you do not consistently trim around your fence, it will look untidy and can eventually impact the appearance of your property.
Create an Unwanted Pest Environment and Items
One of the most important reasons why we mow grass to keep the area clear and open. When you allow grass to grow along your vinyl fence, it can make a habitat for unwanted pests that you may not have considered. For example, snakes, rats, and other pests will bed in high grass. If you have small children or pets, this can be dangerous. If they stumble upon the snake, they could be bitten and need medical care.
Unwanted items like aerosol cans and other chemicals can roll into these grassy areas if they are not put away and hidden. When your children start playing along the fence, they will find these toxic items and could be in danger.
Weeds Will Also Grow
In these areas, you can also expect unwanted weeds to start to grow. When you trim the grass back, you are also trimming any weeds that are growing along with the grass. When you stop trimming, some of these weeds will grow tall and all along the fence. If the weed is actually a vine, it will start to take over and can cover your fence in a matter of weeks.
What Happens if you Damage Your Fence?
If you use the wrong type of weed eater to trim around your fence, then you can expect there to be damage. Vinyl is sensitive to cuts, and holes will happen automatically when the weed eater hits the fence. At first, you may notice a few small holes along the fence, but if you are not protecting the border when you trim you will start to see these holes develop along the perimeter of the fence.
The integrity of your vinyl fence can start to fall over time, as the holes will get worse over time. This affects the support of the fence and you may find that it is getting weak in places. If certain areas get too weak, you may have to replace that panel in the fence. This could cost you more than you were expecting and force you to end up replacing the fence before it should be.
Pests will also start to enter your property if you have holes in your vinyl fence. Over time, rats, moles, and other pests will work their way through these holes in your fence and start causing damage to your property.
Can I Put Something Along the Fence Border?
If you are wanting to avoid cutting the grass along your border, you can add a few things that will cut down on weeds and growth.
Plant A Flower Bed
Fence lines are great for flower beds. They allow you to add color and reduce the number of weeds along the fence. On either side of the fence, you can plant a flower bed with mulch, flowers, or shrubs of your choice. Shrubs take up a lot of space and help reduce the number of weeds that grow, so you do not have a lot of trimming to do. If you do decide to plant, you need to have thick mulch in these areas, as the grass will have a difficult time growing through it. If there are any strays, then you can easily weed them with your hands without having to use the weed trimmer.
Place A Border
If you want to keep the grass off of your vinyl fence but you do not want to keep up with the maintenance of shrubs and flowers, you can place a border. This piece will come out farther than the fence line, about two or three inches. This keeps the grass from growing directly on the fence. When you trim the fence line after mowing, any damage that happens from the weed trimmer will hit the border and not impact the vinyl fence. You can place thick borders that are a few inches tall, or lay pavers along your fence. When you lay out pavers like a walkway, you need to get them directly along the border so that the grass isn’t growing up against the fence.
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