With summer upon us, and temperatures reaching into the high 80s and 90s, you might be wondering how to keep your lawn looking beautiful when the sun and lack of rain are working against it. There are several ways to keep your lawn happy, healthy, and beautiful despite the intense heat of the summer.
Mowing
Believe it or not, when and how you mow can encourage a healthy lawn. Mowing when it hasn’t rained for quite a while can actually harm your grass. Try to wait until after there’s been a shower and the grass is dry. This will ensure that the ground has absorbed the water and that the grass won’t clump due to wetness.
As far as length goes, try not to cut more than ⅓ of the grass length in one cut. This will allow the grass to develop stronger roots and will protect the ground from too much exposure to sunlight and heat. If you can, mulch your grass. The small grass particles act as a protectant for the ground and decompose as a fertilizer as well.
Another important practice is to keep your mower blades sharp. Blades of grass heal more quickly when they’re cut with a sharp blade as opposed to being shredded by a dull one. Dull blades stress the grass and make it more likely to become diseased causing dead patches of grass.
Watering
It is logical to most of us that our grass needs water to thrive, and when it’s hot, sunny, and not raining much, we want to run out and set up the sprinkler. This isn’t wrong, but watering your lawn at the right time of day and with the proper amount and frequency is very important to the effectiveness of this practice.
The best time of day to water your lawn is early in the morning when the temperature is below 75 degrees. When temperatures are lower, water evaporates more slowly, allowing the soil to soak up and distribute the water to grass roots. Watering at night may seem sensible, but as temperatures drop at night, not enough water will be evaporated, leaving the lawn susceptible to the growth of fungus and the spread of disease.
It is ideal to water one area of grass for over 20 minutes. Anything less than 20 minutes is not enough water to soak down to the roots of the grass. Watering for 30-45 minutes daily, depending on the severity of the drought, is the ideal amount of time to water each area of your lawn to keep your grass green in the summer. Once temperatures cool down or there’s rainfall, you can cut back to 3-4 times per week.
At A&N Lawn Service, our lawn maintenance team is led by experienced professionals who know exactly how to keep your lawn looking great, even when the weather doesn’t cooperate. If you need help getting your lawn back in shape, give us a call at 412-931-9230.