What Time Can I Mow My Lawn In The Morning? (How to NOT annoy your neighbors)

Is there anything more annoying than your neighbor mowing the lawn early in the morning on a Saturday or Sunday?

We. Just. Want. Some. Peace. And. Quiet.

We want to sleep in on a Saturday after waking up early all week.

Be the neighbor you want to have. Even though local laws say you can mow from 7am – 7pm maybe hold off until 8am on the weekends.

All local government councils in the United States (and most other countries) have laws on when loud machines (like lawn mowers, weed-cutters and leaf blowers) can be used.

Here’s The Gist of The Lawn Mowing Laws:

Mowing the lawn should occur:

  • Sunday or Public Holidays – not before 9 am
  • Any other day – not before 7 am
  • All days – not after 7 pm

When you are wondering: What time can I mow my lawn in the morning? just think about what you would be fine with.

So even though the laws tell you one story you may still want to wait past 7am to mow your lawn to not annoy your neighbors.

Let’s look at some time frames during a typical day.

How To NOT Annoy Your Neighbors When You Mow The Lawn

Even though you can mow your lawn as early as 7am in the morning do you really want to be THAT neighbor?

Also, you probably want to leave the grass a few hours of sun to dry up any overnight dew that may have formed.

Here are the best times of day to start mowing:

Morning: 8am – 9am

We think the earliest you should mow your lawn is 8am in the morning.

But we think there is an even better time of day to start mowing since there may still be dew on the lawn and your lawn mower doesn’t like wet grass.

Mid-morning 9am – 11am

This is the ideal start time for mowing.

Anywhere between 9am -11am is perfect for mowing.

And why would you want to mow early anyways?

By this time the sun has had a few hours to dry any dew and everyone is getting outside to enjoy the day.

Daytime: 11am – 5pm

This is a fine timeframe to mow the lawn for many reasons:

  • Sun is out and temperature is at its highest
  • You simply cannot annoy neighbors making noise during this timeframe

However, the downside if you live in a warm climate is the temperature is high and you may get sunburnt or be uncomfortable when mowing.

Still. A great timeframe to mow.

Early Evening: 5pm – 7pm

We are now approaching dinner time and most households will be gathering for a nice meal.

Nothing wrong with mowing at this time but we think the earlier timeframes are better.

How To Annoy Your Neighbors When You Mow The Lawn

If you want to be THAT neighbour then the below timeframes will be sure to annoy your neighbors.

Evening: 7pm – 8pm

We are not sure why you want to mow at this time. Maybe it was a really hot day and now it is cool so why not get a mow done?

But.

It is probably dark by now and you will need lights to see what you’re doing.

There are better times to mow.

Night-time: 8pm – 7am

Please don’t mow between 8pm at night and 7am in the morning.

You will be hated by all your neighbors and there is no need.

That’s it.

That’s our guide on what time you should mow your lawn in the morning.

Further Reading

  1. Check out our guide on how many calories you burn mowing the lawn.
  2. Check out guide on how to mow stripes in your lawn (like a ballpark)
  3. Check out who invented the first lawn mower.

About your guide: Jamey Kramar is a certified Lawn Care Manager (NALP) and a Mechanical Engineer by trade. He has been writing about outdoor power equipment for 11 years and has been quoted in NYTimes, Popular Mechanics, HowStuffWorks, iFixit, Realtor.com, and more. He spends his spare time disassembling things and also building an off-grid cabin at his 200-acre property.