4 Aspects of Healthy Summer Lawn Care
Do you envy your neighbor two houses down because of how green their lawn is compared to yours? We have all experienced driving down the street and noticing a dry, brown lawn that sticks out like an eyesore compared to other healthy ones. As summer is rapidly approaching, Four Seasons Landscape Management wants to equip our readers with the best tips and steps to take to ensure your lawn is healthy this summer season. From the best fertilizer for grass in summer to mowing, there is a variety of approaches to beating the heat and keeping your lawn looking lush and green all throughout this season, and even into fall.
Don’t Over Fertilize
Before the prime summer temperatures and weather arrive, you should have already treated your lawn with a round of fertilizer. It is best not to continuously apply more rounds of fertilizer in hopes that your grass will grow or your lawn condition will improve. In fact, it can do just the opposite. Large amounts of fertilizer on your lawn will burn it out and make it extremely sensitive to the summer heat. Once your grass becomes burned, it will struggle to grow back healthy and strong. If your lawn is already brown or dormant, do not fertilize it in an attempt the bring it back to life. The best option is to let it naturally grow back in the fall.
Hydration is Key
Just like the human body, plants, and almost all other life- your lawn needs water. After various treatments for mosquitos, grub control, and others involving chemicals being applied to your lawn, your grass can become dehydrated and lacking vital nutrients to successfully grow. When it comes to watering your lawn, a proactive approach is the best route to take.
When you don’t hydrate your lawn regularly, it can die and turn brown, making it much harder to recover than if you had treated it beforehand. A good rule-of-thumb to follow is to water your lawn 1 inch of water per week, or more if you are in a climate with severe heat. The prime time to water your lawn is earlier in the day to prevent it from evaporating and to prevent fungal growth from occurring.
Mowing- The Right Way
No matter where you’re located or what time of day, you are likely to pass by someone mowing their home’s lawn or greenery surrounding an office building during summer. The aesthetic of a lawn space is important to many people and gives your property a clean, well-kept feel that others will notice. An important step in effective lawn care and landscaping is proper mowing. A healthy lawn does not always require short grass. Before you mow, we recommend using a high blade to cut with. During summer, set your blade at 2-3″ or as high as it will go.
We encourage you to mow regularly, to avoid cutting more than 1/3 of your grass blade at a time, as this will keep your grass healthier. Another tip for the best mowing results is to keep your blades sharp. Using sharp blades to mow your lawn with will keep the grass from tearing.
Dethatching Do’s and Don’ts
As we have discussed in our previous blog, thatch is a bed of built-up dead grass, debris, and lawn clippings that sits on on top of your lawn. Thatch is usually leftover from the previous seasons and by spring/summer, it needs to be raked away to make room for new growth. The act of removing the thatch from your lawn is called Dethatching. It needs to be done if your thatch gets to be one to two inches thick. Thick thatch is detrimental to the growth of your bottoms layers of grass because it will block the sun from it, resulting in it to brown. However, thick thatch can also cause your grass to develop disease from too much moisture.
To prevent the least amount of damage to your lawn while dethatching, we recommend using a liquid dethatcher. This is a much less invasive approach than mechanical equipment and requires little time or preparation to apply to your lawn. We use a top-of-the-line dethatcher called, N-Ext D-Thatch™ Thatch Digester, which focuses on composting thatch quickly by encouraging microbial activity at the soil surface and increasing heat. This release breaks down thatch from the soil level up and thatch is quickly reduced, allowing organic matter captured to act as a food source for your lawn.
It is best to apply dethatcher as needed during the warmer summer months, as often as every 3 weeks depending on the level of thickness of your thatch and lawn size. A good rule of thumb is to apply 6-9 ounces per 1,000 sq. ft. for every application. Four Seasons is happy to help you choose the best fertilizer to use when dethatching your lawn. Give us a call to consult with one of our expert lawn care team members.
We hope this blog has given you the best tips and advice you can use on your own lawn this summer! If you are in need of any lawn services before the summer season gets here, let our team at Four Seasons be your summer lawn care expert. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us and we will gladly answer your questions.
