Whilst we’re enjoying a long awaited sunny spell, your grass might not be all that happy with all of this dry heat so we’ve put together a few tips for looking after your lawn in extreme heat!
First off – don’t cut your lawn too short, you might be tempted to lower the blades thinking that shorter grass plants will be able to cope better without water and in hot temps. Longer grass plants are actually able to develop stronger roots which in turn help the plant cope better in stressful situations such as high temperatures and less water availability. Whatever height you chop to, make sure you don’t take off more than a third of the plant at a time (this is good practice year-round anyway!).
Cut your lawn the day after watering or, if you watered in the morning, cut it later that day when it has been irrigated but isn’t wet, and keep those blades sharp to ensure a clean cut and not a tear in your grass plants.
Don’t overwater! Your lawn is able to cope better in too dry situations than too wet. Wet soil is a breeding ground for micro-organisms (hello mushrooms) and disease and too much water will starve the grass roots of oxygen.
When the grass looks dry, give it a good soaking and then next time it looks dry do the same again. A good soak once a week or every few days is much better than a daily sprinkling and do it either early morning on late evening, never in the day when the sun is blazing.
All you need is water – fertilising, scarifying, topdressing, re-seeding, aerating are good practices for year-round lawn care but generally those are jobs best left for the Autumn and Spring, not the middle of Summer – keep an eye out for our timeline of lawn care coming soon!