Keeping your lawn healthy during summer season

Homeowners love to keep their lawns the best during summers. But the season is tough as it adds stress to the lawn. Hot temperatures and drought conditions damage the properly cultivated green lawns. The increased traffic on the lawns, particularly the children and pets, also adds wear and tear. The warm weather also brings diseases and insect issues to the lawn. All these issues can make your lawn look dry and brown.

What happens to your lawn during the summer season? 

The different changing conditions during seasons affect the lawn soil. It can be wet and cool during spring, while it becomes dry and hot a few weeks later. These changes can make the ground dry. 

In some climates, the conditions can quickly go from one extreme to another. It might be cool and wet in the spring, then hot and dry some weeks later. These changes can cause the ground to dry out quickly and lead the lawns to start to turn brown. The difference in weather is the root cause of turning a healthy green lawn into brown. The following are the causes behind the brown spot: 

• Irregular watering – Watering too less will keep the roots from becoming completely saturated. Avoid watering too late in the day as it can add the risk of evaporating the water. 
• Improver Mowing – If you mow the grass too short or maintain a long gap between the mowing frequency, you are likely to damage the health of your turf. If you mow too short, it can prevent the roots from developing. Generally, trimming too much grass can be harmful. Hence it is vital not to allow your grass to grow too long.
• The rise of insects and diseases – These issues can arise during the summer months. These also cause brown spots in your grass. Regular watering can help you eliminate the brown spots in the grass. 
• Excess Traffic – When you have an admiring lawn, you get extreme traffic. Children and pets often remain on the lawn, and even vehicles cross your lawn. All these things keep the stress on turf, which further causes them to lose their healthy appearance.

How to Keep Your Lawn Green in the Summer?

You must consider several simple steps for keeping your lawn green and healthy during the summers. Let’s check:

1. Keep your grass longer 

When you mow the grass, it is recommended to keep it on a higher setting. Having longer grass can help establish longer roots, bringing more moisture to the soil even when the climate is dry and hot. Grass takes time to dry too early, and it helps keep the roots protected with its longer blades. 

Mowing the grass too short can damage it. Your lawn remains scorched at this point when the grass can quickly recover. You can easily avoid this problem completely. If you mow too often, it becomes simple to own at the right length and stick to the guidelines. 

When you mow the grass too short, you must water it too often to keep it light. Frequent and light watering will help in making the roots shorter. This, in return, will boost the stress level during the drought season.

2. Feed your lawn

Your lawn demands a good source of food to stay healthy. When you apply slow-release fertilizer as an essential source of nutrients, it helps in protecting the grass from getting burned. The microbes take around two months to process the nutrients. Hence the homeowners need to fertilize the lawns regularly. 

When the nutrients are fed to the grass regularly, you find thick grass in your yard. It prevents weeds and keeps the soil cool. However, switch on and off the fertilizer application if the grass is dormant. It is always good to wait until you get sufficient rainfall in your area. It will help in reviving the grass.

3. Take care of weeds 

To keep your lawn green and healthy during the summer, you must prevent the weeds from growing in your yard. Make sure you remove the well-established weeds before they develop and spread seeds. You can address this problem by applying a good weed killer in your complete yard. You can pull the weeds manually or get rid of them in the affected location. 

Several targeted post-emergent herbicides available in the market can help you get rid of the broadleaf weeds without harming your grass. However, you may still find some adverse effects of these herbicides. Hence you have to use them sparingly. If you can pull the weeds with your hand, consider doing it instead of trying herbicides.

4. Aerate your lawn 

A healthy lawn can breathe nicely. Aerated lawns will be able to absorb water adequately and also reduce the occurrence of runoff. Using a garden fork is an affordable and simple way to aerate your lawn. You must push the garden fork in the soil at around one foot. However, for large lawns, you can get an aerator on rent to make this job easier. 

This is not a mandatory requirement; however, it is helpful to break the compacted soil using a core aerator. It helps pull the plugs/cores of soil from the surface with the help of developing good air vents and allows the grassroots to gain water, nutrients and air. It helps your lawn to gain extra hardiness allowing it to withstand stressors.

5. Check the Wear and Tear 

Excessive traffic on your lawn can lead to additional stress on the grass. Small children, pets, workers and even vehicles coming over the grass can add significant wear and tear to the turf. Adding excess traffic can also hamper the plants. 

If you find damaged spots on your lawn, avoid allowing any traffic there till you fix them all. The best way to prove the regular wear and tear in your lawn is to overseed your lawn during the early fall. This will help make your yard have thick grass and fix the damages soon.

6. Try a new variety of grass 

One way to get a healthy lawn during the summer is to know what kind of grass you have. Generally, most homeowners have a combination of Perennial Rye, Kentucky Bluegrass and Fescue in their yards. A few grass types are stressed when exposed to high temperatures. However, any healthy grass can recover from the stress. The grass experiencing stress due to other issues like mowing damage, drought, diseases, or insects may fail to recover. 

If you have an older yard, you may think of something new with renovation. Some of the older types of grass may fail to handle the heat, while the newer types can cope with hot temperatures. It is worth reseeding your lawn with new grass, including Tall Fescue mix. It performs well during the hot summers. Lastly, consider choosing grass which is adequate for your region.

What tools do you need to take care of your lawn during summer? 

You do not need too many tools to take care of your lawn during summer. The first thing you need is your lawnmower. Make sure you keep it well maintained to use when you need it. This will reduce the additional damage and stress to your grass. Make sure you sharpen the mower’s blades to get quality cutting results. 

Blunt blades give tearing, which can hamper the strength of your blades. Warm-season grasses, including centipedegrass and bermudagrass, are mowed 2-3 inches. Hence keeping its blades sharp is important. 

The next tool you need for your summer lawn care is a good water or irrigation system. You need a quality sprinkler to water your lawn evenly. If you own a big lawn, you need several sprinklers. This saves time and offers adequate watering to your lawn.

In conclusion, maintaining and taking care of your lawn during summer is a simple task. Chalking out strategic watering and mowing schedules with the right tools and products can help you maintain the health of the grass from spring to fall. If you do not have the time and patience to carry out the summer care for your lawn, it is always a good idea to hire a professional lawn service provider like Eden to enjoy the best solution.