Justin Cook | The Roanoke Times

Rob Muttart, owner of Grass Assassins, mows a yard in Heron's Landing near the Pete Dye River Course of Virginia Tech in Fairlawn.

New River Valley residents know it's been a wet May. How wet? Blacksburg's rainfall total through Tuesday was 5.82 inches, 3.26 inches above average for that point in the month. And parts of Christiansburg received more than that in a few hours, with heavy thunderstorms May 14 and 15 dumping at least 4 inches and causing floods in some areas. Some unofficial accounts reported up to 6 inches locally, said Steve Keighton, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service forecast office in Blacksburg.

All that rain, mixed with a couple of warm, sunny days, has some homeowners headed to lawn mower repair shops and others on the phone to lawn care businesses.

"The weather has been pretty good for business," said Rob Muttart, owner of Grass Assassins in Christiansburg. "The economy might be bad, but Mother Nature -- people are still going to need to have their grass mowed. Mother Nature doesn't care about the economy."

Muttart said his business handles about 180 lawns -- mowing, mulching, pruning, fertilizing and herbiciding commercial and residential properties. He's not sure how many clients he's picked up this spring, but said it's been quite a few. And he's still taking customers. With a staff of seven people, one or two days of wet weather can put him behind in what is normally his busiest time of year.

"They don't have eight days in a week," he said.

For people cutting their own grass, wet weather can turn yards into jungles overnight. Trying to mow wet grass can compound the problem, dulling blades and straining belts. Tall grass also hides objects like rocks that can stop a mowing session in its tracks.

Jim Higham, president of Power Zone-All Seasons in Christiansburg, has seen about a 20 percent increase in his lawn-equipment repair business this spring. He thinks it's a combination of the economy, which is leading people to repair old mowers rather than buy new ones, and the toll that tall grass and ethanol-blended gasoline are having on the machines. Sales for new machines at his store are holding steady. The store offers short-term rentals for people who can't afford to be mowerless.

"People come in and they kind of need it yesterday," he said. "Every minute you spend or every day you spend without your lawn mower, you're another four inches behind on your grass, it seems."

Higham said ethanol-blended gas might work well for the auto industry, but it leads to problems with small lawn mower engines, attracting moisture that creates carburetor problems and deteriorates fuel lines. He advises customers to run their mowers at least once a month during the off season for about five minutes to keep the fuel moving.

"If you lay around all winter and just jump up and run a marathon in the spring, you're not going to make it," he said.

Forecasts don't signal an end to the mower marathon in the near future. Keighton said temperatures could get into the 80s this weekend and more rain could be on the way by the middle of next week.

"It looks like the grass will continue to grow quickly for a while," he said in an e-mail. "If we get some very hot and extended dry periods later this summer, we should see a slowdown in the lawn-mowing frequency. The thing about summertime thunderstorms is, some local areas may get enough rain over a couple day stretch to keep grass growing quickly, while other places right nearby may just miss out."