Summer Lawn Care Tips

Ahhhh!!  Summer is in full swing. Temperatures are in the 90’s. And your lawn, almost overnight, turned brown!!

If you don’t water your lawn, and your lawn is overall healthy, allowing it to go dormant during the heat of the summer is perfectly fine. If you are watering it and it is still brown, take a look at your cutting height. If you are “scalping” your lawn, you are actually inhibiting your grass’s ability to survive in this heat. Cutting higher in the summer–no shorter than 3 inches–provides multiple benefits: (1) the longer grass blades actually shade each other; (2) the roots can grow deeper, which helps the overall health of the grass; (3) moisture is better retained; and (4) the resulting overall healthier lawn out-competes weeds.

Also remember to cut often, removing no more than 1/3 of the grass blades at one time.  And finally, sweep or blow the clippings back into your yard.  Blowing them out into the street storm drains sends those clippings directly into our streams and rivers.  Our waterways don’t need the lawn chemicals nor clippings!