Hot Weather Lawn Care Tips
A beautiful, lush lawn can be a blessing during the hot summer months. Not only do they enhance our gardens and provide the perfect place to relax and soak up the sun, but they help to combat the heat due to their natural cooling mechanisms. Healthy lawns are also very efficient at oxygen production. Incredibly, a 25-square-foot section of lawn produces sufficient oxygen every day to meet all the oxygen demands of one adult. Of course, a lawn needs to be green to do this. Once it starts to turn brown in its attempts to survive a drought, its benefits are significantly reduced. Read on to find out how to keep your lawn green throughout the summer months.
Adjust your lawnmower, raising the height of the blades. This will create a healthier lawn since longer grass provides more shade for the soil. The grass will require less watering and fertilisation and will also be more able to combat weeds naturally, lessening the need for pesticides.
Keeping your lawn green during periods of hot weather can be challenging. However, one thing you can do is to raise the blades on your mower. Since raising the blades will create a lawn with slightly longer grass, the blades will shade the soil, blocking sunlight and helping to reduce water loss as a result of evaporation. This creates a much healthier lawn.
Taller grass is said to have deeper roots, which take in much more moisture and nutrients. This allows the grass to grow thicker and become more resistant to environmental stresses. Since grass that’s taller and thicker limits the amount of sunlight reaching the soil, weeds are also less able to germinate.
Many people wonder what length they should keep their lawn. Experts suggest a length of around 6-10cm is ideal for maintaining a green, lush lawn throughout the summer months.
You don’t always need to keep the grass box on your mower either during the summer. As long as you only reduce the height of the grass by a centimetre at the most, you don’t need to collect the clippings. You can leave them on the lawn, and soon enough, they’ll decompose, releasing up to 30% of the nutrients the grass requires to thrive. Instead, remove the clippings at the start and end of the growing season.
Your lawn needs excellent ventilation when the weather is hot during the summer months. Air needs to flow freely around the grass so that the plants can transpire. Transpiration refers to the process of water moving from the roots upwards towards the air. Since it’s how the grass cools down, blocking this mechanism will cause it to die.
Remove items like garden tables and chairs, paddling pools, children’s toys, and picnic rugs whenever they’re not being used. Pick them up at the end of the day, ideally putting them in a different place on the lawn next time you get them out. Leaving them on the grass for any longer than necessary can disrupt transpiration.
Many people wonder if they need to water their lawns during the summer months. In many cases, it depends on the age of your lawn. New lawns should be watered regularly throughout the season. Turf that’s been laid in the last three months shouldn’t be permitted to dry out. Ideally, it needs to be watered every day until it grows long enough roots so that it can fend for itself. Until then, they might not be deep enough to get to the water stored in the soil.
Whilst you should keep a mature lawn watered if you want to keep it looking green and lush, it can survive without it. You can expect an unwatered lawn to take on a yellow or honey colour, as well as becoming straw-like in its texture. However, if the drought doesn't last more than three to four weeks, most lawns will regrow new, green blades once the wet conditions return.
When it comes to watering your lawn, do so during the early morning or later in the evening. This will help to reduce evaporation. Use sufficient water so that it sinks deep into the ground and reaches the roots.
If you want to keep your lawn looking its best all year round, you need to keep the grass healthy. This means making sure it’s properly hydrated and fed. Ensuring that the soil below it is kept in good condition will help your lawn to stay looking lush and nourished.
The summer can be a challenging season for lawns. As well as facing hot, dry weather that can cause it to become stressed, it also needs to withstand more footfall than usual. As a result, lawns need more care and attention than they do during the rest of the year. They require regular watering and feeding in the summer to help them cope.
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