Summer Lawn Care Tips For 2022
Summer is the time of year that your lawn is going to require the most attention but also have the best overall look. Many homeowners choose to tackle their lawn independently during the summer months, and others will find that a lawn service provider is the best choice for them in the summer heat.
If you want to keep your grass green and weeds at bay, a full-service lawn provider like TruGreen is a great option to consider for thebest lawn careservices. Whether you choose to tackle this project yourself or have professionals do it, here are some summer lawn care tips to ensure you get the results you need.
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Fall Lawn Care In The Northeast
The fall is the best time to fertilize your grass if you only do it once every year.
It would help if you started getting ready to winterize your lawn and prepare it for the following Spring sometime in the early fall. If you live in any of the states between Maine and New Jersey, you probably already know that fall lawn care involves cleaning up and getting ready for the following year.
Youll have a much easier spring if you get a head start on these tasks when the temperature drops. In fact, a good number of them are analogous to the actions that you carry out when Spring arrives.
Summer Lawn Care In Northeast
In July, fertilize your grass with slow-release nitrogen and organic materials.
- The 21st of June marks the beginning of summer.
- Spray broadleaf weeds selectively when air temperatures are under 85 degrees.
- Aim for 1-1.5 of water each week, including natural precipitation.
- Use organic lawn products and slow-release nitrogen fertilizer to fertilize.
- Apply insecticides and keep an eye out for grubs and other grass insects.
- Watch out for fungal and lawn diseases, especially as the humidity rises.
- Irrigate for as long as your municipality allows. Aim for 1.5 of watering per week.
- High temperatures and low rainfall can cause grasses to go dormant.
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Tackle Outdoor Pests That Can Damage Your Lawn
It’s tough enough finding the time to weed, sow and mow your lawn . But add vermin and bugs into the mix, and you’ve got the perfect storm for a less-than-perfect turf.
‘Pests and insects such as Japanese beetles, June bugs, or European chafers that munch on your grass, producing withering and bare spots are pretty bad for your lawn,’ says Lively.
‘Take necessary action as soon as possible. Japanese beetles will feed on your grass and deposit eggs, which will hatch into grubs and begin munching on your grass if left untreated. Apply a preventative grub control product to get ahead of the game. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions.’
If you’re not sure what bugs might be making lunch plans on your lawn, we’ve got a comprehensive guide on how to identify bugs. And, if you’ve spotted strong-smelling pee in your backyard , find out how to deter foxes, as they’re the most likely offender.
‘Foxes often leave noticeable patches on the grass where they urinate. This happens because their urine is high in nitrogen, which can be useful in small amounts, but not so much if the animal insists on using the same spot again and again,’ says Paul Dawson, managing director, Rolawn .
Water Deeply And Infrequently
Dry, hot weather can deplete your soil moisture. Moisture stress can lead to wilted grass blades, reduced shoot and root growth, and greater susceptibility to pests and weeds.
To combat this, you should water thoroughly about once or twice a week, so long as your region isnt experiencing any drought conditions that call for water restrictions. The water should reach 46 inches deep. If youre unsure, push a screwdriver into your soil. If you meet a lot of resistance, you need to water more. If it slides in too easily, you need to water less.
Its best to water your lawn in the early morning, before sunrise if you can. Thatll keep the sun from drying out the moisture before your lawn is able to soak it up. Pay attention to weather forecastsyou dont want to water too much on weeks when it will rain.
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Think Your Lawn Is Too Far Gone The Grass Outlet Has You Covered
If you think your grass has been permanently damaged by the summer heat, The Grass Outlet can help you replace as much or as little of your lawn as youd like. Our Texas-based grass farm always has a wide selection of different types of grass available for purchase year-round. To see if your grass type is available, shop our grass varieties online, or give us a call to learn more. Were proud to be one of the top providers of grass sod in Austin and the rest of the state of Texas. At The Grass Outlet, we love helping Texas go green one yard at a time!
Here Are Some Great Summer Lawn Care Tips:
Mowing Your Lawn.
While this may sound simple enough here are 4 tips to get optimal results from your lawn this summer:
Irrigation.
Just as mowing, this sounds simple enough. Lets enhance your efforts.
The amount that your lawn needs water is directly related to the weather conditions, soil drainage and the amount of sun that your lawn gets daily. The best rule of thumb to follow if you get lost is, your lawn will need at least one inch of water per week. So use a rain gauge and make sure that your lawn stays properly hydrated.
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What Lawn Height Is Best In Summer
The height to which you cut the grass is a key factor for great lawn care results, and it needs to be adjusted as temperatures increase. The higher the summer heat, the longer you should keep the lawn, mowing to 4 to 5 cm in sunny positions, and keeping it at 5 to 7 cm in shadier areas. At the same time, take care to avoid cutting off more than a third of the height each time you mow, in order to prevent unattractive scorch marks and blemishes on the lawn. Always use sharp mower blades and ensure that the ground is dry.
Properly Water Your Lawn
One of the most important things you can do to take care of your lawn in the summer is to ensure that it is properly watered. For the healthiest grass during the summer, you should water it deeply, infrequently, and only as needed. In most cases, you must give your lawn at least 1-1.5 inches of water weekly, especially during hotter summer months.
Homeowners in the Austin area can determine the right irrigation schedule for their lawn using the tips & tools within our Irrigationarticle. This video will assist in programming tradtional irrigation systems properly. Establishing an irrigation schedule is not only important for the health of your lawn but also to ensure that youre within your city or towns water restrictions. Homeowners living in Austin can use the City of Austins Find Your Watering Day tool to ensure they irrigate on the appropriate day. Homeowners living outside of Austin should be able to find the watering restrictions of their local municipality on their official website.
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Early Morning Or Evening Mowing Times
Mowing when its cooler out is a given for the majority of us. Mowing early is not only for golf course maintenance crews. Who wants to sweat it out in the middle of scorching heat? But there are also benefits to your lawn by not mowing in the middle of the day.
Mowing between 9am-11am and 5pm-7pm are the ideal times for mowing your grass. By mowing at these times your turf is at its strongest during the summer days, meaning that it can take the clipping and keep on ticking, so to speak. By hacking in the heat you are putting too much stress on the grass which could eventually lead to grass disease and other issues.
The 1/3rd Rule Is A Must
Be extremely vigilant about not cutting more than 1/3rd of the blade height during extreme heat. Cutting more off will put more stress on the grass and will lead to disease and less greening. We want to pamper our lawns during this time so that they dont feel overworked so they can start greening up once the temps drop a bit.
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Regularly Fertilize Your Lawn
When it comes to keeping your lawn alive and healthy during the summer, fertilizing is another critical step in the process. Hot temperatures and dryness that come around each summer can result in dry grass, and fertilizing helps restore nutrients that have been lost as the grass dries. When a lawn is well fertilized, it will grow thicker, which cools the soil and helps your lawn handle the heat. Keep in mind that if the grass in your lawn becomes dormant, fertilization will not help. Rain and watering are one of the best ways to restore grass that has become dormant due to summer heat. Never apply nitrogen fertilizer to a drought stressed lawn, as you run a greater risk of burning the lawn.
Summer Lawn Care Tips: How To Keep Your Lawn Healthy In Summer Heat
While youre all excited about summer, chasing down the ice cream truck and happily wiggling your bare toes, your lawn is saying, yikes.
Sure, summer is great, but its kind of stressful for your grass, from searing sun to pesky weeds to your high expectations that it looks green and lush all the time. Want to keep your lawn healthy in the summer heat? Follow these important summer lawn care tips:
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Tips For Keeping Your Lawn Green In The Summer
Summer is the time when we want our lawns to look their best. But its also the time they undergo the most stress. Drought and hot temperatures threaten to fry our carefully cultivated, lush, green lawns. Increased traffic from pets and kids cause more wear and tear than wed like. Warm weather can cause insect and disease issues to arise. Combined, all of these factors can leave our once-green lawns looking brown and dry.
While hot and dry weather may be inevitable, a brown lawn doesnt have to be. Of course, some homeowners embrace the brown and allow their grass to go dormant in the summer. While this is a safe option for your lawns health, most prefer to keep their lawn green all summer long. The process of keeping grass green in the summer is not complicated. With some strategic watering and mowing practices and the right tools and products, you will be able to maintain your green grass from spring to fall.
If you are in need of grasses, we have an excellent selection of grasses and groundcovers for sale in Bowie, MD If youre interested in improving your lawns color read on for tips on how to keep your grass green in the summer and hot weather in general.
What To Do If Your Lawn Still Isn’t Looking Lush
If your grass is looking less than satisfactory , you could turn to the pros for a little expert help.
Garden makeover costs and quotations can be overwhelming at first, so the best thing to do is to take a step back and consider only paying for essential work that you don’t feel confident doing yourself.
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Diy Summer Lawn Care Vs Professional Lawn Care Service
There are pros and cons to tackling summer lawn care yourself or hiring a professional team to keep your lawn looking its best. Hiring a lawn care service, frees up your time and allows you to spend precious weekends with your family, not mowing the lawn. Professional lawn-care companies can address a variety of concerns from getting rid of weeds to helping your lawn thicken and green up or even helping with pests such as grubs, webworms, and chinch bugs. Regardless of whether you opt for a DIY approach or hire professionals, its possible to have a beautiful, green lawn all summer long. Just follow these steps, and your neighbors will be asking how you keep your grass so beautiful and how to take care of lawn grass in the summer.
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Avoid Watering In The Middle Of The Day
Avoid watering at midday when it is very hot because more than 75% of the water could evaporate before it even penetrates the ground. Focus on watering during the cooler hours of the day, either early in the morning or early evening. This way your lawn will easily absorb water and you will reduce the risk of fungal diseases
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Mow To The Appropriate Height & Sharpen Your Mower Blades
During the summer months, your mower should be adjusted to leave grass on the taller side of the recommended mow height for your specific variety. This allows the taller grass to shade the soil, reducing water evaporation and allowing the grass to develop deeper roots. Deeper root systems are beneficial for lawns as it stops weed seeds from germinating and growing. While the ideal mowing height of your grass will vary from type to type, a rule of thumb of about 2-3 inches tall during the summer is appropriate for most grass types. Additionally, you should time your lawn mowings so that youre never removing more than one-third of the grass blade at a time.
Another problem that can come from mowing during the summer months is when you mow your lawn with dull mower blades. When you mow with a dull mower blade, you can tear grass, creating brown and ragged edges that create an opening for pathogens. Think of this as an open wound on a person. In general, a mower blade is good for up to 10 hours of mowing after being freshly sharpened. Its a good idea to purchase a second mower blade so youll always have a sharp blade ready to go.
What Is Scarifying And Aerating
- These two practices involve removing dead root material from a lawn and ventilating the root system in the growing season when the underlying thatch becomes a visible problem.
Aeration is carried out to enable air to get to the roots. It aids drainage and also allows water, minerals and nutrients to reach the roots. Its done by using a spike roller, fork or a hollow tining machine to punch holes into the soil.
Scarifying is a process where a rotary-type mower is used to cut into the soil. Bolts or pins are fitted to the rotary blade and the mower is then set to its lowest setting. This is followed with an application of fertiliser and lawn booster.
Scarifying puts the lawn under stress as it is torn rather than cut. This can make it susceptible to disease and there is the possibility of cutting the live root system. An alternative is to get a professional to dethatch or verti-cut your lawn. That is to remove the zone of dead grass roots that builds up below the soil surface. This process rips into the grass vertically, tearing into the roots and cutting them vertically, leaving a lot of roots intact to immediately start growing.
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Don’t Trim Your Lawn Too Short
It can be all-too-tempting to get your brand new lawn mower out of the box and get a little trigger happy with that trim. So before you go all Edward Scissorhands on your grass, consider leaving it a little longer than you would usually, and learn how to mow a lawn like a pro.
Our very own Lindsey Davis, editor-in-chief, Real Homes explains that: ‘Longer grass shades itself well, and protects it root system better so it reduces moisture evaporation.’
And, Thomas Monson, owner of Monson Lawn & Landscaping concurs. He says: ‘Most lawns would benefit from being left just a little higher than you would normally cut them. Cutting your lawn too low can damage the grass and lead to a patchy or uneven-looking lawn. By leaving it taller, your lawn will look greener and fluffier over the long term.’
While McIlroy says: ‘We advise you to begin mowing your lawn during spring, meaning that your lawn should be at a good height. Aim for a height of 10-15mm for fine, ornamental lawns or a slightly longer 25-40mm for more hardwearing, family -friendly lawns.’
