The heat of the summer can take a toll on our lawn, shrubs, and trees. This can even get worse if there is no proper lawn care plan in place. Your lawn and garden can become dull and lackluster if it is infested with pests, patchy, or watered incorrectly. These problems typically occur in the summer, when the soil is dryer, pests abound, and watering techniques are incorrect.
To remedy the situation, here are three easy-to-follow summer lawn care steps that will keep your lawn looking healthy and vibrant:
Treat for Ticks and Fleas
Ticks and fleas surface in huge numbers in the summer. They thrive in warm, vegetated areas like lawns and gardens. While they don’t necessarily directly harm the lawn, they attract pests that do so.
To prevent ticks and fleas from attracting other insects like fire ants and nematodes, which feed on them, scheduling a tick control treatment before summer goes in full swing would be a good idea. Timely treatment breaks their breeding cycle, which keeps them from multiplying and infesting your property.
The most effective way to get rid of ticks and fleas is regular treatment. When you consistently treat your lawn for these harmful pests, you’re actually solving one of the proponents of your pest problems.
Aside from that, it will keep you, your family, including your pet safe from diseases that can be transmitted through tick bites. Flea and tick control is definitely a maintenance step that you should have on your list. It will keep pests that damage your lawn and garden away so that you can enjoy a thriving, healthy lawn and garden in the summer.
Fertilize the Lawn
Before you start fertilizing your lawn, make sure you are getting the right fertilizer for your grass lawn. Warm-season grass grows more in the summer and thus, needs more nutrients to sustain its growth and look healthy. If you’re unsure if you have warm-season grass, here’s a list of those types of grass to help you find out.
If your lawn and garden are landscaped with warm-season grass, summer would be the perfect time to fertilize it to prevent patching, drying, and thinning spots.
To ensure that your lawn gets the right amount of fertilizer and that it gets full coverage, it’s best to have a team of professional landscapers and gardeners do it for you.
Lawn and garden fertilization requires proper measuring and application techniques to ensure that it’s safe and effective for your grass and even your plants.
Water Correctly
A common misconception for lawn care during the summer: we must water more frequently.
While it’s true that plants, grass, and trees need water to survive the summer, it doesn’t just depend on the frequency alone but also in the quality of watering. The proper way to keep your lawn and garden hydrated during the summer is to make sure you’re following the best time for watering, which is before the soil gets too hot, and high-quality watering called deep watering.
When you water your lawn and garden deeply, they will require less frequent watering. In most areas in the US, giving your lawn and garden 1-1.5 inches of water every week is enough to maintain its lush and vibrant color through the summer. Deep watering allows plants and grass to absorb more water, keep soil moisture longer, and prevent root rot and drying on the surface.
It’s worth mentioning again that it’s important to know which type of grass you have so that you can use the correct fertilizer and the appropriate watering frequency for your lawn. This will prevent burning and root rot that can affect some, or worse, large parts of your lawn.
Aside from that, some grass types enter a dormant stage during the dry season and start growing strong during the wet season. On the other hand, warm-season grass grows faster during warmer months and can withstand droughts due to its deep roots. As such, they need less water than other grass types but will need deep watering to ensure that their roots are getting enough water in between watering schedules.
Another thing you have to pay attention to is soil type. Different soils have different absorption levels, which affects moisture retention capacity and the depth that the water can reach. Clay soil absorbs water slowly, while sandy soil absorbs water quickly; loamy soil absorbs water evenly and drains fast enough to prevent the soil from getting sappy.
As you can see, the grass type, soil type, and the quality of watering all play a part in successfully keeping your lawn and garden healthy throughout the warmer months of the year.
These lawn care methods are fundamental practices that will keep your lawn and garden lush and thriving throughout the summer. These methods address the root cause of common lawn problems due to pest infestation, over-fertilization, and over-watering errors. If you haven’t done any of these, it’s not too late to do so. By following these simple yet effective methods, you can set your lawn and garden back to their lush and beautiful state.
