Summer has officially made its appearance with these record-breaking high temperatures. We all know the usual routine of what to do to “stay cool” like drink plenty of water, wear a hat, take frequent breaks in the shade, and so on and so forth. But what about your lawn? Here are a few quick tips to ensure that your lawn makes it through the summer like the rest of us.

  1. Don’t stop mowing just because it’s hot. Mowing your lawn in the summer is one of the worst chores on our honey-do lists because as the temperatures rise the more exhausting this chore can be. And if we don’t stay on top of mowing our lawn it becomes taller and thicker, making it harder to push the mower. If you are planning on going out of town, remember once you return and it’s time to mow again, never remove more than 1/3 of the leaf blade as this will cause additional unnecessary stress to your grass.
  2. Keep the lawn hydrated, but don’t overdo it. We’ve all heard the saying too much of a good thing turns it into a bad thing, right? That is the same with watering during the heat. With scorching temperatures, we are all tempted to water our lawn more, however, that can cause the soil to become waterlogged and creates the perfect environment for fungus to develop. We recommend watering your lawn early in the morning ensuring that your lawn gets 1-1.25” of water 2-4 times a week depending on the type of soil you have.
  3. Don’t kill those weeds just yet. As lawn-fanatics we never want to see a weed in our lawn. But the summer is the worst time to apply herbicides, as most herbicides should not be applied once the temperature exceeds 85 degrees for three consecutive days. We recommend waiting until the cooler months to apply any post-emergents. If you notice that you have quite a few weeds you may want to think about applying a pre-emergent in the spring and fall to help control the weed outbreaks.
  4. Use the right fertilizers. When we think of a healthy lawn, we think we need to feed it all of the time. We recommend focusing on the root health of the lawn during summer more than the foliage. We offer a product called TURFection that includes three bottles of micro-organism mixtures that help with root health by increasing the root mass.