The world comes to life when the heat is on and the mercury is rising. Schools are out, flowers bloom, beaches become our playground, and our lawns have to face many days in the blazing sun. Unfortunately, your lawn runs the risk of drying up in all that summer sun.
The same is true for other parts of your garden. For vegetable gardeners, it’s all about keeping up with the harvest and watering enough to keep your plants happy. For anyone maintaining a floral garden, summer is a beautiful time for blooms but also a risky time, especially at high noon.
Enter our very best summer lawn care and gardening tips. This blog post is dedicated to helping your lawn survive the heat, all with some tender love and care. Let’s dive in.
Make Your Water Go the Distance
First on our list of summer lawn care and gardening tips: water is gold!! When the heat’s on, the most important thing is to make sure every drop of water you use goes the distance. You’ll need to water your lawn more frequently in summer anyway, but here’s the truth: soil doesn’t always take well to watering. Soil granules have a naturally waxy exterior, making it hard for water to penetrate them, which can spell trouble. The more water you can pour into your soil, the better your grass will do.
To make every drop of water count, you should water your lawn early in the summer and use a soil-wetting product. This kind of product breaks up that naturally waxy coating, helping water to penetrate deeper into the soil itself and nourish your grass from its roots.
Keep an Eye on the Weather
Speaking of watering, it’s best to do so outside of the high sunshine hours. If you water your lawn at noon, the blazing sun will evaporate the water from the surface of your lawn too quickly for it to penetrate into the soil.
On days when you water your garden, do so in the early morning before the sun has risen or in the evening once it has gone over. This helps the water soak in and won’t scale up your water bill.
Incorporate Diluted Seaweed
One of the best-kept secrets when it comes to summer lawn care and gardening tips is using diluted seaweed in your water. Diluted seaweed is so packed with nutrients that it automatically helps to strengthen your lawn’s root system, meaning it can recover from any stress it has to endure thanks to the summer heat.
Thanks to the all-natural nature of the seaweed mixture, this can also work for your flowers or vegetable garden. Nourish what grows, and it will survive that summer season with ease.
Fertilise for Maximum Greenery
When in doubt, lean on fast-acting fertiliser to feed your lawn. Using a fast-acting liquid fertiliser before you entertain will ensure your lawn is beautiful and green. Liquid fertilisers are best because they soak into the top layer of the soil better than the sprinkled kind of fertiliser – this is also healthier for pets, kids or anyone else that is out in the yard.
Cut Down on the Mowing
To mow, or not to mow? In summer, your best bet is to reduce your lawn mowing schedule by quite a lot. If you need to mow, keep your grass high. Mowing too short can cause a lot of stress to your grass. Not to mention, the longer grass blades prevent water from evaporating too quickly.
A good rule of thumb is to never mow more than a third of your grass length off and leave a fortnight between mows to give your grass’ roots the best chance to recover from the stress.
Watch for Wildlife
The last of our summer lawn care and gardening tips? Watch for the wildlife. Specifically, armyworm! The heat of summer draws these annoying little pests out of the woodwork and attracts them to your lawn, where they can chew through your entire lawn in mere days.
The best way to combat armyworm is to treat it with an insecticide. Choosing the right insecticide is important here, as you don’t want to damage your grass and make it harder for it to survive the summer. Check-in on your climate and the type of grass on your lawn before applying insecticide, and make sure to keep pets and little ones away from the lawn after you’ve applied it.
There you have it! The six best tips any lawn owner needs to not just help their lawn survive the summer but thrive in the heat. Water frequently, use a soil wetter, incorporate some seaweed, relax your mowing schedule, fertilise, and watch for pests! With this to-do list on your hands, you’ll have a vibrant lawn all summer long.
Give your lawn the best chance of surviving summer with the team from Paramount Gardening.
There’s more where those summer lawn care and gardening tips came from! The experienced team at Paramount Gardening is here to help your lawn thrive this summer, with elite gardening expertise to do everything from trimming your hedges to edging the lawns.
Reach out today for a free quote from our summer gardening team.
