Summer Lawn Care

While summer typically means a chance for Queenslanders to relax and unwind, it can be a highly stressful time of year for your lawn. How your lawn handles this season is all about what you do before and after summer.

Preparing now will determine the overall health and appearance of your lawn when the summer heat and humidity arrives. Daleys Turf has compiled their top summer lawn care tips to help keep your lawn healthy, despite what the season throws at it.

With a deeper root system which comes from less frequent but deep watering, the roots of the lawn are less likely to dry out during summer. Reduce watering frequencies by half or less. When the grass blades begin to look wilted or begin yellowing, give a larger than normal watering – this will force the roots to move deeper into the soil profile to seek water which actually protects them from the summer heat over the longer term.

A heavily thatched lawn will just result in water being left to sit in the thatch not reaching the soil where it’s needed. The fix for this is to dethatch or vertimow your lawn now if it feels spongy to walk on.

During the summer months many soils dry out and become more water repellent so applying a wetting agent can be a great idea. Wetting agents are designed to soak into the soil and coat the particles with a water attracting agent that serves to break down any greasy coating. This, in turn, allows the soil to hold onto water for longer periods of time as well as soaking up more water.

For summer your mowing height should be adjusted to suit the weather conditions. Since it’s growing season, lawns can cope with a shorter leaf (lower mowing height) but if water is likely to be in limited supply (such as when you’re away on holidays) then the mowing height should be increased in order to protect the soil against water lost to evaporation.

Mow regularly during summer will avoid the likelihood of scalping and will help keep the lawn healthy which will then discourage invasive lawns, weeds, disease and pests.

On the hottest days of the season avoid adding more stress to the lawn – this means not applying herbicides, insecticides or fertilisers, not mowing or dethatching; wait for a cooler day when your lawn doesn’t have as much to cope with. If you have a particularly hot day and your lawn looks to be suffering schedule a deep watering for the next day to give it the boost it needs.

For more lawn care tips and tricks, or to order your new natural lawn, contact the team at Daleys Turf today.