Is Your Lawn Ready For The Summer Heat? Here's How To Keep It Green And Healthy During The Hottest Months Of The Year
The summer brings harsh conditions for your lawn – the high temperatures and extra daylight hours make it difficult for your grass to keep itself well hydrated. It's also the season when fungus and pests are the most active. Excellent lawn care is critical during the summer in order to keep your lawn hydrated and free of disease. Here's how to keep your lawn healthy and green during the hot summer months.
Keep Off the Grass
Lawns have it tough during the summer – the kids are out of school and everyone's out enjoying the nice weather, and this is the time of year when you'll do the most damage to a lawn by walking on it. Well-hydrated grass easily resists foot traffic, since it springs back easily after being trampled down. Dry grass, on the other hand, is easily crushed underfoot and killed. Walking on your grass too often during the summer leads to dead grass and a patchy lawn. Try to avoid walking on your lawn as much as possible in order to avoid stressing it out.
Set Your Mower High and Sharpen the Blades
Keeping your grass high during the summer gives it extra resistance against the summer heat. Taller grass develops a deeper and more extensive root system, allowing it to absorb more moisture from the soil and stay well hydrated during the summer heat. Set your lawnmower on the highest setting when you're mowing your grass and don't cut it too often – mowing your lawn is an additional stress during the summer, and can ruin the health of your lawn if you do it too often. You'll also need to make sure your mower blades are sharp. Dull blades crush and tear your grass instead of making a clean cut, which harms the grass and makes it more susceptible to dying during the summer.
Don't Fertilize Your Lawn
While you might think that adding some fertilizer to your lawn will give your grass the nutrients it needs to withstand the summer heat, it's a very bad idea. During the heat of the summer, your grass needs to focus on staying alive instead of growing. Adding fertilizer to your lawn during the summer will entice your grass to begin growing when it doesn't need to be. New growth is more susceptible to damage from the summer heat and also increases how much water your grass needs to stay healthy. Save the fertilizer for the fall and spring – it does more harm than good during the summer.
Water Your Lawn in the Morning
The best time to water your lawn during the summer is right at sunrise; this gives water enough time to fully soak into the lawn before it evaporates, keeping the soil hydrated. At the same time, it allows the daytime sun to evaporate excess moisture from the blades of the grass. You don't want your grass to be wet during the night – the summer is prime time for fungus, disease, and pests, which are all attracted by water. You also don't want to overwater your lawn during the summer in an attempt to protect it from the summer sun. Turf grasses only need around an inch of water a week. If summer showers are taking care of your watering needs, don't turn on your sprinkler systems and drench your grass with too much water.
One of the most important things you can do in order to keep your lawn healthy during the summer is to keep it healthy during all the other seasons of the year. A well-established root system and healthy blades make your grass more resilient to temperature extremes, decreasing the likelihood that the summer heat will kill off sections of your lawn. The best way to keep your lawn in good condition all throughout the year is to hire an expert lawn care company to seed, fertilize and mow your lawn throughout the year, ensuring at all times that your lawn is healthy and well maintained.
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