Not everyone is crazy about lawn mowing. Some guys want to get it over with as quickly as possible while also producing a satisfying result. Inevitably, though, they end up riding around randomly, attacking the job in a haphazard fashion that wastes time and energy. Many find, that if they really want a professional-looking result in as short a time as possible, Zamboni pattern lawn mowing is the way to go. Before I get into describing the Zamboni pattern, however, a bit of background on the Zamboni is in order.
How Zamboni Pattern Lawn Mowing Got its Strange Name
Not everyone is an ice hockey fan, so the first question many people have when they hear about mowing a lawn in a Zamboni pattern is: “Who is Zamboni?” The thing is, the Zamboni pattern is not named after a person per se; it’s a reference to a piece of machinery. Specifically, the large 4-wheeled device that resurfaces the ice at a hockey rink between periods of a game.
That device is named for the man, Frank Zamboni, who invented it in 1949. Since then the device has been a mainstay of hockey games delighting kids of all ages who stay in their seats between periods just to watch the Zamboni work its magic. The lawn mowing pattern is so named because it’s created by mimicking the path the device takes as it moves back and forth across the ice.
The basic Zamboni pattern does not create alternating light and dark stripes in the grass like you see in a baseball outfield. That kind of striping is a topic for another day. Instead, the Zamboni method is simply a way to reduce the time it takes to mow your lawn while still achieving a great looking result.
Creating the Zamboni Pattern with Your Mower
One more note before I start: Zamboni pattern mowing will work with either a push or a riding mower. But it’s about 100% easier to do it with a riding mower. That said, whichever type of mower you choose, here’s how to do it.
Step 1: Establishing the Border – The first thing to do is to clean up the edges of the lawn so that they won’t undermine the effect when you’ve finished mowing the main body of the lawn. Do that by making a couple of nice clean passes all the way around the perimeter of the yard (just like the Zamboni does around the ice rink). If you don’t have a grass catcher on your mower make the passes in a counter-clockwise direction so that the clippings don’t blow out onto the main body of the lawn.
Step 2: Establish the Center – After the second pass around the edge, turn the mower down the center. It’s crucial that you mow in a perfectly straight line as close as you can get to the middle of the lawn because this line establishes all the other lines to follow.
Step 3: Mow in a Rectangular Pattern – Once you reach the far end of the center row, raise the deck so you don’t recut the grass around the edge, turn right and ride straight across the end of the yard until you get to one mower width from the side of the yard. At that point, drop the deck, turn right and mow straight back toward the other end of the yard. When you reach the end, raise the deck and turn right again. Ride straight along the end until you pass the centerline you established, then drop the deck, turn right and mow toward the far end of the yard overlapping the centerline by a couple of inches.
Essentially what you are doing is riding in a rectangular pattern and shifting the rectangle one mower width to the left with each pass until you cover the entire yard. This is exactly what the Zamboni does at the hockey rink, hence the name of the pattern. What mowing in the Zamboni pattern will do is make the process more efficient while still allowing you to achieve a nice looking lawn. No more putzing around chasing down spots you missed.
Related Article: Lawn Mowing Patterns and Techniques
Avoid This Mistake
The most common mistake people make with the Zamboni method of lawn mowing is not creating a straight centerline. Creating a wavy center line is going to cause you to miss spots during subsequent passes, it’s inevitable. You’ll then need to go back over much of the lawn chasing down these missed patches, which negates the whole point of the exercise, which is to make lawn mowing more efficient.
If it helps, you can go out into the yard before you mow and establish a centerline. If there are no natural markers you can identify then determine where the center of the yard is and place your own marker at each end. Use these markers as a guide to create a perfectly straight centerline with your mower. Once you establish that nice straight centerline, everything else will fall into place.
Epilogue
By establishing an efficient mowing pattern you should be able to mow the entire lawn without stopping, and in as little time as possible. As I mentioned earlier, however, don’t expect Zamboni pattern mowing to produce those alternating dark/light stripes you see on the baseball field. Zamboni style mowing is strictly a matter of making the process more efficient, so you can free up time to spend your Saturday afternoon napping on the sofa. Hope you found this brief tutorial helpful.
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