Summer lawncare

Summer is the time of year most people spend family and leisure time on their lawns.  They want it at its best and following a few principles can help you achieve the best lawn possible at this time of year.

Summer fertilisers:

Getting feed right at this time of the year is important.  Consistent and appropriate nutrition is the key to a great summer lawn.   This because the lawn is under as much stress in the hot months as in the winter.  Water and heat stress are the key issues which means that the fertiliser you use should encourage strong roots so that the lawn can make best use of the available water and  should help the grass to be resilient against the sun.  Be careful though  because some fertilisers will scorch the lawn at this time of year so read the packaging carefully before you buy.

Watering the lawn:

If your lawn has a tendency to dry out in the summer it will probably benefit from watering.  But make sure there is no hose pipe ban in force before you proceed.  The key to watering a lawn properly is to thoroughly water the lawn when you do water it.  A lot is better than not enough. This encourages the water to soak into the root zone and get down to about 3-5 inches.  Just sprinkling a bit of water daily is more damaging than helpful as it encourages shallow roots which are not resilient in hot weather.

Keep cutting the grass:

Its tempting to stop cutting the grass in hot weather.  Don’t stop cutting because the grass will go to seed more quickly and then will be coarser and less green for the rest of the summer.  It is sensible to raise the cutting height to reduce the stress on the lawn and perhaps leave a few more days between cuts compared to April and May but do keep cutting.

Weed control:

Weeds continue to germinate throughout the growing season so in the summer months keep spot treating them individually.  There is no need to blanket treat the whole lawn and this is not good for the environment and wasteful.

Disease control:

Disease can creep into the lawn during hot weather.  Particularly in the west country we get red thread appearing on lawns.  A fungicide treatment will deal with this fairly quickly when it does appear.

Premium treatments:

At Greenheart we can provide two specialist and premium treatments which are useful at the height of the growing season.  Firstly “WaterSave” reduces the amount of watering needed in hot weather and keeps the lawn green for longer.  Secondly “LessMow” reduces the amount of mowing needed as well as the volume of clippings collected.  It also thickens the lawn up and develops stronger roots.

Greenheart can help you with all your lawn treatment needs at this time of year.