Hey Peter in Az- before you do anything wait for other posts as I'm probably newer to this than you and am also working to figure it all out-lol. That said I'm pretty sure you can mow your grass, just not at the height of a regular lawn. Most mower blades have 4 inches as their highest blade setting. Native grasses are best cut between 4-8 inches so you may want to get a string-line trimmer with a hard blade option. Good luck!

I have mown it in the past (4 times in the past 2 years) and I set it on the highest setting but that's only about 3". I do have a string trimmer, I'll use it from now on. One question though... Why the hard blade?

oops... another question. This one for anyone. When should I cut?

If you are cutting to simulate a fire it might be best to cut in fall or early spring and cut it as close as you can. This will expose the ground to sunlight and plants will come up earlier in the spring. One other thing that fire does is it creates a layer of ash that has some nutrients (aka potash) which you loose when you mow.

Peter- well I warned you, lol. I'm new to this myself so I don't know why the hard blade option is recommended/suggested. I referred to 'Natural by Design' by Judith Phillips and in her book that's the advice she gave. It's a good question for another post! - Lou

The hard blade (metal disc with teeth, like a circular saw, replacement for the string spool) is much better for cutting stringy old dry stems, which a string trimmer will really struggle with.