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5 Tips to Keep your Lawn Healthy this summer

Your lawn and landscape can provide you with a peaceful outdoor retreat or hours of outdoor fun for the family. But, if not properly maintained, your lawn can also become a headache and perhaps a large expense.

So how can you avoid expensive fixes to your yard? A few simple maintenance tips can help keep your lawn looking great all summer long…

1. Water it.

Proper watering is one of the simplest ways that you can keep your lawn looking great. Did you know that your lawn should receive 1″ of water per week? Even if it has rained, your lawn may still need to be watered. Purchase a rain gauge for a couple bucks at your local lawn and garden center. This will help you keep track of how much water you lawn is receiving each week. We recommend watering your lawn in the morning for at least 20 minutes per area to ensure a proper soak.

2. Monitor for disease.

Most lawn diseases are treatable if caught early. However, if disease or lawn pests go unnoticed, the results can be catastrophic for your lawn. Fungal diseases like brown patch are prevalent during summer months when conditions become ideal for fungal growth. If your area has been receiving a fair amount of rain and temperatures stay between 60-70 degrees at night, you should be monitoring your lawn for changes. If you begin to notice small patches of your lawn that look they are burned or dying, you may have brown patch.

Brown patch can be treated with a fungicide, but if not addressed, the disease will quickly spread throughout your lawn and destroy it. Other diseases and pest infestations can have similar results, so monitoring your lawn for change will go a long way.

3. Mow your lawn at the proper height.

Lawn height is important. If mowed too short, your lawn can burn. If left too high, your lawn in left susceptible to fungus and disease. Not all lawns are created equal. Cool season grasses like fescue, do not tolerate heat as well and should be mowed at 3.5″-4″ during the summer. Warm season grasses on the other hand, should be kept shorter at 2.5″-3.0″ depending on the variety. Some Bermuda grasses can be kept even shorter, but you should ensure that you are very knowledgeable about your grass variety before experimenting with the height.

4. Aeration.

If you have warm season grass, summer is the time for aeration. Unlike cool season grasses, which should be aerated in the fall, warm season turf does not receive over-seeding during aeration. This is because in general, warm season grasses do not grow from a seed head. Instead, new growth sprouts from the turf’s runners, which grow under the soil.

When you aerate your warm season lawn, the runners are punctured, allowing for new growth. Aerating also allows more water and oxygen to circulate into the soil. Combine this with a fertilization treatment and you will have a very happy lawn!

5. Weed control.

A healthy lawn is actually pretty good at keeping weeds at bay all on its own. However, some summer annual weeds are prevalent this time of year and can wreak havoc on your lawn if not controlled. At Canopy, we practice selective spraying for weeds as opposed to blanket spraying. This method allows for proper weed identification and treatment instead of trying to treat all weed varieties with the same product. It also prevents needlessly spraying areas of your lawn that are not in need of weed control.

We hope that you enjoy your lawn this summer! Need help? Give us a call!

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Canopy Lawn Care was founded with a purpose. To leave people and planet better than we found them.
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