Caring for your lawn doesn't
require a huge investment of time or money - all you have to
do is follow a few simple steps and your garden will be the
envy of all your neighbors.
During the summer the biggest issue is the scorching heat.
It can destroy your lawn, turning it brown and making it a
safe haven for everything that can cause damage, such as
weeds, insects, and disease. Luckily, there are steps you
can take to maintain your yard and keep the grass looking
green and healthy all year long.
Essentially, it's all about prevention. Issues that crop up
in the summer months can be avoided by caring for your lawn
at the beginning of the growing season. A thick and healthy
lawn provides its own level of protection, in that it can
more easily defend itself against weeds, insects, and
diseases.
What you can do
 Before the grass starts to grow, aerate and
fertilize the lawn (this goes for warm-climate and
cool-climate grasses, although for the latter it's best not
to fertilize again until autumn. Feed warm-climate grasses
nitrogen month-to-month as the growing season progresses.)
 Mowing is more important than you may think. In
the spring take the time to sharpen the lawn mower blade so
that the grass gets cut cleanly. Clean cut grass is less
likely to develop diseases. Also, cut only a third of the
grass blade, raising the height of the mower 25-50% as it
becomes warmer over the season.
 Lawns require 1 inch of water per week, which
includes any water soaked in from rain and irrigation. When
watering, do so uniformly, deeply, and infrequently early in
the morning.
 Caring for your lawn in the middle of the summer
is also key to healthy grass. If a summer is particularly
hot, cool season grasses go dormant and turn brown in color.
The grass does return to its former glory when the weather
cools down, but if you don't enjoy the sight of a brown
lawn, watering every week should do the trick.
 Longer grass mid-summer isn't a bad thing because
the extra grass will keep the root zone cool and aid in
water retention.
 At the end of the season, this is the appropriate
time to use chemical weed control in the cooler climates
because the weeds are preparing for the next season and are
more vulnerable to chemicals at this time of year.
 In the fall cut the lawn slightly shorter than
usual so that in the spring the ground will dry up more
readily. |
