Tapering the edges when trimming

[N.TX]

On all of the yards I do i put a taper on the grass when i weedeat along sidewalks and up against flowerbeds and whatnot... I was curious how many of you guys do that ... personally i think it looks really nice when you do that .. and most of my customers would agree but occasionally like this weekend i get one of them calling me up and complaining saying that it looks hidious.

[RatherbeBassin']

I "taper" some rural accounts w/out curbs. They really don't have a defined edge so edging is not an option. I taper or cut-in every stone on walkway, every flower garden edge, driveway (gravel/limestone/river rock, or the ol' shingle tab drive) etc. No complaints yet but I find these accounts don't seem to care, just as long as it is mowed?! AND you know if you cut 1 corner 1 time THAT will be the week they decide to care.

[njnewbie]

Potential problems

Although I have done this in the past it is not really a good idea. The grass on the tapered areas becomes permanently shorter than the rest of the lawn and often dies in drought or heat wave conditions. It also tends to grow at a slower rate than the rest of the lawn, becoming stunted.

I am less careful around tree trunks and roots because it is less noticeable there and is a pain in the ass to trim perfectly every week.

I would recommend keeping your trimming level with the mower's cut, and making sure you mow as closely to the edges on the property as possible.

For maintaining beds I would recommend mowing right up onto the edge of the beds and then with trimmer doing an angled edge that cuts an inch or two of missed grass on the lawn and cuts any horizontally growing grass that is encroaching onto the beds. This eliminates doing both vertical and horizontal trimmer passes to clean up beds.

Mowing should get all non-edgeable grass near your edges if that makes sense to you. Mow and edge should get all grass.

[RRS]

Grass cut with a trimmer should be cut the same height as the mower is cutting.

[Scaper-S2k]

I have the guys taper it around nice landscape beds.

[ECS]

I taper along all the drives and walks. Never had a compaint.

[boazcat]

I do it sometimes when I really want it to look nice.

[Lawnguy6340]

Same here, I do that when I want it to look great. I think you can get away w/ it fine on bermuda grass just make sure on not let the weedeater suck in to the grass or it can look hideous and choppy. If you do it right, it can look awesome.

[Rainman1973]

I never ever weed eat side walks...........

[PTLlandscapingIL]

i use a walk-behind edger and thats once a month so in between that i put the weed wcker on a 90 degree angle and trimm along all walks no tapering

[Stephen M.]

I like to taper hedges, but not grass. I agree with some here that string trimming should be the same for mowed grass. The taper on grass looks more like a "jarhead" haircut. [sorry, no offense meant to those who perfer the "jarhead" haircut or have no choice in the style].