Lawns often suffer during the sweltering summer months. Cool-season grass can go dormant if it’s not getting enough water, and even warm-season grass may slow-down when the weather gets really hot.
Cut Grass High
This step is simple: just set your mower deck a little higher. Taller grass is healthier, more tolerant of stress, and better able to handle hot and/or dry weather.
Each type of grass grows best when cut at different heights, so check your grass species requirements and then choose the higher end of the suggested cutting range. For example, bluegrass grows best when cut between 3/4 and 3-1/2 inches high and zoysia grass grows best when cut between 1/2 and 2 inches tall.
Minimize Cutting Stress
Keep your mower blades sharpened so they won’t damaging lawn grass. Dull blades tear grass leaves instead of making a clean cut, and that’s not healthy for the lawn. You can sharpen them yourself, bring your blades in to our service department, or pick-up new blades if the old ones are damaged.
Grass grows better when you only remove 1/3 of the overall grass height per mowing. If you want to cut your grass to 2 inches tall, mow when it reaches 3 inches. For grass that thrives at 3 inches tall, mow when the lawn reaches 4-1/2 inches.
Water Wisely
Not all lawns need extra water in the summer, especially if you don’t mind the grass turning brown for a while. Cool-season grasses like bluegrass and ryegrass will go dormant if they don’t get enough water, then green-up when the rain comes back. Warm season grasses are more likely to stay green in hot weather, even without water.
If you want to keep the lawn green all summer, water early in the morning so the water can soak into the soil before the heat of the day. Aim for applying about 1 inch of water when the lawn appears stressed from lack of water. You can tell your lawn is water-stressed when the grass blades don’t spring up after you walk on the lawn. This should work-out to watering about once a week or less.
Avoid Fertilizer
Another good way to help the lawn is by using a mulching mower without a bag. The finely chopped grass clippings that fall on the lawn will decompose, releasing moisture and nutrients back into the soil to help keep the grass healthy.
Don’t feed your lawn during the summer unless it’s getting plenty of rain or irrigation to keep the grass actively growing. Feeding just encourages fast growth, with means the grass will need more frequent mowing and watering. And that’s the exact opposite of simple summer lawn care.
