3 Summer Lawn Care Tips

As the weather warms up your lawn will come out of hibernation and head into its growing season. While you may have managed to park your mower all Winter long, coming into Summer you will need to dust it off and get out and mow.

The first thing to do is give your mower a once over. Make sure your mower blades are sharp and to freshen up your fuel. Once you get your mower fired up, you need to ensure you increase your mowing frequency to match the growth of your lawn. For some turfgrass varieties this might be a minimum of once per week. For those who have installed a slow-growing variety like Sir Grange Zoysia you can take a few weeks off mowing for some extra rounds of golf.

The last mowing related tip is to think about when you mow. While during winter you can mow any time of day with little effect, both you and your lawn get stressed out by the summer heat. So during Summer you should avoid mowing in the middle of the day and instead mow either in the morning or late afternoon. This will make both yourself and your lawn happier.

Just like mowing, the timing of when you water is also vital during Summer. You will already need to increase your watering frequency in the warmer months to maintain your lawn in its ultimate health. But getting the timing of your watering wrong can lead to you just wasting precious water.

If you water in the heat of the day more water will be lost to evaporation. So just like mowing you want to water your lawn nice and early in the morning and you can also water in the afternoon.

You also need to think about how much to water. A common mistake is watering too little and too frequently. This leads to stunted root growth and affects the overall health of your lawn. By giving your lawn a deep watering, the roots of your lawn will go deeper and lead to a much healthier and hardier lawn. A simple guide is 25mm of water once per week, but this, of course, varies depending on your local climate.

The final watering tip is to make sure your lawn can actually take up the water. Especially with some suburban areas getting less and less rain lots of people have hydrophobic soil. Hydrophobic soil causes water to bead and run off rather than soak into your lawn. A simple trip to Bunnings for a wetting agent will help aid this issue. Wetting agents also help soil soak up any available water, so they are great to use coming out of dry periods or as seasons change. Wetting agents come in granular or liquid form and can be as simple as using a hose on pack.

Between kids home for school holidays, relatives and friends visiting during the festive season and even just families being outside enjoying the Summer. The heat and extra traffic can cause some areas to start to wear out. You might consider taking some early action to avoid areas being completely worn out. If any areas start to look tired you could consider some extra TLC with some extra watering or even applying a bit of a lawn tonic like Seasol or another seaweed product. If an area looks especially bad you could also consider roping off that area to let it recover for a week or two.

With many kids getting new presents like trampolines and outdoor play equipment, it is important to think about how your grass survives around these. No grass can survive under a trampoline so you should continually move the trampoline to ensure the grass gets enough sunlight. Alternatively, you could consider removing the turf below the trampoline and re-turfing the area when the kids outgrow the trampoline.

That is our Summer lawn advice, so don’t forget to slip slop and slap, and give your lawn a little extra love this Summer.

To get more Summer advice call our team on (07) 3114 8281. You can also pop in and order in person at our sales office on 1/243 Bradman Street, Acacia Ridge. The office opens Monday to Friday 7am to 5pm and Saturday 7am to 12pm.

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