It’s hot and stressful on you, and your lawn. And what you do for yourself goes a long way towards helping your lawn.
You have temperatures in the 90s, and humidity to match.
Your lawn, which has looked green and healthy all spring, suddenly turns brown in the span of a week – dead spots, some leaf disease, and the onslaught of weeds, like crabgrass.
What do you do?
Three things, actually.
The first, and most important is to raise the height of your mower deck. If you were mowing at 3 inches when times were good…mow a little higher – like 3.75 inches.
Two, if you have irrigation, or even a sprinkler of some kind, water during the heat of the day. Old logic said no…do it during nighttime to conserve water. But actually, evaporation during the heat of the day is beneficial because it drops the surface temperature of your lawn by as much as eight degrees. It also helps fight disease. Quit watering by 4 pm so your lawn has plenty of time to dry before nightfall.
Finally, stay off the grass! Avoid walking on it. Don’t drive on it. And if at all possible keep pets off it. All of these things are stressors to already stressed plants, but if you can 1) mow higher, 2) water so as to drop the temperature, and 3) lighten the physical contact with your grass you’ll notice a difference in a matter of days.
A little bit of care…goes a long ways!
