After a spell of good Easter and Spring Bank Holiday weather, lots of people are filling the garden with family and friends, for social drinks, conversation and perhaps thinking about that first barbecue. Your lawn will have pride of place at the heart of a beautiful garden.
We are seeing lots of great looking lawns, maintaining your regular lawn cutting routine in the Spring and Early Summer will encourage your grass plants to grow slower and thicker, rather than taller and thinner.
A period of hot dry weather, could take its toll on many lawns especially those with fine grasses. If during these weather conditions you wish to maintain the lush green texture, correct watering may be required. It is more efficient to water your lawn at the first sign of drought, for many, the lawn will already be in stress before the symptoms are correctly recognised. However, lawns that are properly cared for will retain their good looks for longer during a drought and recover quicker. A drought stressed lawn may brown and become weakened leaving it more susceptible to disease problems, insect damage and weed invasion. Our feeding and weed programmes during the summer months are the ideal combination to help the lawn look good all summer, supplementary watering is a personal choice.
Personally, our front lawn, which contains those fine grasses often shows signs of drought stress during these dry periods, but we choose not to water, preferring to raise the cut height and reduce cutting frequency.
Summer lawncare tips include:
Mowing
- Raise the height of cut in dry weather to avoid weakening the grasses, we recommend an ideal height be no shorter than 5-7cm
- Letting the clippings fall back onto the lawn rather than collecting them will act as mulch and slow down the evaporation of water from the soil surface. Make sure the clippings are small, or they will smother the grass and cause damage
- A light topping of the grass will be better than a severe “hacking”.