We all love summer here in the Northeast, and everything that it brings with it. The picnics, barbecues and sunbathing at the beach are just some of the few reasons why summer remains one of the best seasons to have fun with friends and spend time with your family.
Nevertheless, as you enjoy the warm summer breeze, the blistering heat may sometimes take a toll on your lawn, leaving the grass looking dry and malnourished. The good news is that you can still enjoy the warm weather while keeping your lawn healthy when summer heats up. Here are a few tips that you can use to maintain the grass:
Maintain the Proper Mowing Height
The summer heat tends to slow down the growth of grass. Considering this, you should avoid trimming your lawn too short during the dry season. Essentially, the grass needs to retain more moisture during the drought hence cutting the grass too short may prove to be counteractive.
Ideally, you should raise the mowing height by 25%. On the face of it, a longer turf will not only moisturize the soil, but it will also keep your lawn cooler.
Water Deeply and Less Often
You might be tempted to water your lawn more often during summer due to the blistering heat. However, this is not the ideal way to go about it. Instead, you should water your lawn more deeply and less often. Doing so will allow water to soak into the soil, deep to the turf’s roots. This will help keep them hydrated for longer. You may enlist a landscape professional to help adjust your sprinklers or watering system to ensure that your lawn gets enough water without being too wasteful.
Reduce Foot Traffic
Avoid walking on your lawn, especially during summer. Foot traffic may add more pressure to the already stressed surface, hence damaging your turf. If possible, consider erecting a barrier to prevent intruders and naughty kids from walking or playing on the lawn.
Focus on Lawn Recovery
The dry conditions may cause your grass to turn brown due to lack of sufficient moisture. However, this does not mean that the grass is dead. With the return of favorable weather conditions, the seemingly dead grass will become green again. Considering this, you should aid in restoration by aerating the soil and reseed thinning areas. This will improve soil profile and aid in lawn recovery.
Embrace Lawn Care Best Practices
Lastly, adopt good practices for taking care of your lawn. Ideally, you should fertilize the grass, rake the leaves, aerate the soil and uproot weeds growing around the grass. However, you should do these tasks in moderation, given that too much of something may cause damage.
The Takeaway
The hot weather might be good for you, but stressful to your plants. However, this does not mean that you should let the summer heat to stress out your lawn. With this in mind, consider calling a landscaping professional to help you with proven strategies for taking care of your lawn during summer.
