It’s the height of summer and if you’re planning on spending lots of time outside you need these tips to keep your lawn looking good.
Looking after your lawn is an essential part of garden maintenance and one that will need plenty of care and attention over the warmer summer months.
There’s nothing quite like walking through cool, luscious grass on a hot summer’s day and with these tips, your lawn will be looking fantastic in no time at all.
1. Mow Your Grass Often (But Not Too Often)
Lawns require regular upkeep to them looking tip top and this means mowing often during the summer months.
Grass should be cut slightly shorter earlier in the year and then allowed to grow slightly longer before mowing as the months progress.
2. Remove Weeds & Moss
If you want to keep your lawn looking healthy, you’ll need to remove weeds often to help prevent them from spreading.
When it comes to moss, you’re best to use a moss-killer first and then rake out the dead moss two to three weeks later.
This should be done either in the spring or the autumn and not in the height of summer.
3. Water The Grass
Keeping your grass well watered should help keep it green and fresh-looking.
For sandy soil types, the grass will need watering little and often as it may struggle to retain the water.
Clay-based soil types retain water better and therefore benefit from less regular, but heavy watering.
Even if your lawn has grown yellow after a prolonged dry period, all is not lost. It may take a few weeks but the grass will likely come back to green again if the roots are good.
4. Keep Your Lawn Looking Good By Feeding It Well
Using lawn feed can provide some much-needed nutrients and means your grass will grow back stronger, healthier and more quickly than before.
5. Reseed When Needed
No one likes to see bald patches on their lawn, so reseeding when needed is essential.
Here’s what you need to do:
- Mow your lawn and then remove any dead grass or debris. Remove any weeds.
- Create holes for improved drainage if needed.
- Sow your grass seed.
- Water often to encourage growth.
- Don’t mow too soon.
This should be done towards the end of spring, either in late April or Early May when there is still plenty of moisture left in the soil.
Alternatively, you could wait until the autumn months, when the dry summer months have passed.
6. Don’t Over-mow
While keeping on top of mowing is important for a tidy and healthy lawn, you also need to be careful not to over to do it with the mowing either.
Allowing your grass to be a little longer before you mow again can help prevent weeds pollinating, and can help root growth meaning the grass is less likely to struggle during very hot spells.
Cutting your lawn too short can lead to weakened grass – check the blade setting on your mower and adjust if needed.
7. Use Sharp Shears To Trim Edges
Even with the best and most careful mowing, there might still be areas your lawn mower doesn’t quite reach.
For the tidiest-looking lawn, sharp shears are what is needed to trim up those edges and keep your garden looking grand.
8. Aerate Your Lawn
This is another job for the autumn months that will help improve lawn health year-round.
Aerating your lawn involves removing small plugs of soil to allow a better to air-to-soil ratio. This also allows water and fertilisers to penetrate deeper into the soil.
Several tools can easily allow you to do this job, from the very basic pronged aerator to a larger gas-powered models ideal for larger lawns.
9. Declutter
Decluttering your lawn is an easy way to improve it’s appearance.
This means removing anything that doesn’t need to be there and ensuring everything is removed from the lawn at the end of each day to avoid patches of dead grass.
Good garden storage such as a shed can really help with this as everything has a clear place where it can be put away.
10. Edge Your Lawn
Edging your lawn is a great way to not only improve the appearance of your lawn, but also the areas around it.
For example, edging your lawn can prevent weeds from growing and the roots from causing cracks in patios and pathways.
Another benefit is that it gives a nice clean edge to work with when you’re mowing.
Mowing Tips For A Healthy Lawn
Mowing is one of the biggest factors that can impact the health of your lawn.
Here are some mowing tips that will keep your grass looking luscious.
Don’t Scalp Your Lawn
If you mow your lawn too short, then scalping can occur. This means there are short or dry patches of grass where weeds can start to grow.
Mow the grass down to around 50mm during the summer months as keeping it slightly longer provides shade and promotes growth.
Watch The Weather
The Weather can affect how often you need to mow your lawn. Hot, dry spells hinder growth and therefore mean you’ll need to mow less often.
Wet wether encourages grown but can also mean longer between mowings if the grass doesn’t get time to dry out.
The main thing to remember here is not to mow your lawn to a set schedule – for example, mowing every weekend just because you have the time.
How To Keep Your Lawn Looking Good – Final Thoughts:
Taking steps to improve your lawn is key to making your whole garden feel like a beautiful space to spend time in with your family.
Whichever of these tips you try, you will have no problems keeping your lawn looking good this summer.