There's a lot to love about summer: the nice weather, longer days, visits to the beach. Barbecues.
But this season has its downsides, too - especially for lawn-proud homeowners. Summer means high temperatures and reduced rainfall, which may be bad news for your garden's lush green grass.
Yes, it's very common for grass to dry out during the summer months. If all that glorious sunshine has turned your lawn brown and you're noticing that the grass stays flat after you walk on it, this means that your lawn is low on moisture.
Dried-out grass in June
The good news it that a healthy, well-looked-after lawn should bounce right back to full health as soon as the autumn rain arrives.
In this blog post, we're going to answer two different questions:
- What should I do when my grass dries out in the summertime?
- How can I make sure my lawn is healthy enough to withstand extended periods of drought?
Read on to find out the best way to care for your thirsty lawn during the summer months!
What to do when your grass is dry
Your grass will begin to show signs of distress after roughly 1 week without moisture. At other times of year, you can generally rely on the rain to quench your lawn's thirst, but in the summertime, it's not uncommon for whole weeks to pass with no precipitation at all.
So you may have to step in and do some watering of your own. We recommend watering your lawn heavily once or twice a week at most - if you water too frequently, you can actually reduce your lawn's drought tolerance. You don't want your grass to be overly reliant on you!
Here are some further tips to bear in mind when your lawn is going through a dry spell:
- If the surface of your lawn has dried out and hardened, it may have trouble absorbing moisture. Before watering, spike some holes in your lawn with a garden fork to make sure the water is able to seep in.
- The best times to water are early in the morning and in the middle of the afternoon. Watering the lawn at night can leave it vulnerable to lawn disease.
- Continue mowing your lawn, but raise the mowing height during dry periods. Cutting the grass too short right now will make it weaker and less drought tolerant.
More Lawn Watering Tips
How to make your lawn healthy and drought resistant
Seasonal lawn care is key to keeping your lawn healthy and enabling it to recover quickly after a period of drought. In particular, we recommend our late summer / early autumn lawn treatment service to help your lawn heal up after a long, dry summer.
Taking good care of your lawn all year round will ensure that it is well-equipped to handle the stress of the summer months. We at Lawn & Weed Expert have been providing seasonal lawn treatments for many years, so we know exactly what your grass needs at any given time of year to remain in robust health.
Give us a call on 0800 111 4958 to arrange a FREE lawn survey - we'll be more than happy to visit your property, take a look at your grass, and offer our expert opinion.
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