The summer months in Australia can be relentless on your lawn. Long, dry days and a lack of rainfall often results in dry, dead patches of lifeless turf. To help you keep your lawn luscious and green throughout the summertime, follow our top 5 tips and tricks for effective summer lawn care.
Tips For Summer Lawn Care
1. Stop Mowing Short
Shorter lawns need more watering as the soil is more exposed. Raise your lawn height to at least 40 mm and let it breath a little. You should never mow more than 1/3 of the leaf tip off in any single mowing. Your lawn wont like it and will go into stress. It will then seed and become thin and patchy. This will help to keep your lawn in much better shape.
2. Water Smarter
Just because the weather is warmer, it doesn’t mean you should drown your lawn. Watering your lawn once a week for at least 1 hour should be sufficient for even the hottest summer day. By watering deeply and infrequently you encourage stronger root growth which will increase the drought tolerance of your lawn. For watering to be more efficient, apply a wetting agent, such as a ready-to-use product that you can simply attach to the garden hose. This will increase your soil’s water absorbency and ensure that your soil isn’t repelling water.
3. Summer Weeding
Over summer, ideally your lawn will be growing in a tight thick mat, which will mean those pesky weeds just wont be able to compete. However, if they do happen to appear, pulling up the weeds by hand from the root will remove the entire plant as opposed to mowing over them and just clipping off the heads. If they still won’t give in, giving them a hit of Sir Walter Weed Control will see the end of them in no time.
4. Keep Fertilising
Applying fertiliser early in summer is recommended to boost your lawn through the warmer weather. Applying a good granular, slow release fertiliser is good growth and colour. Try a nitrogen-rich option, such as the Sir Walter Premium Lawn Fertiliser. If your lawn needs a boost, apply fertiliser at the recommended rate, but in a patch of roughly 1 sq. metre, apply twice the amount.
5. Air It Out
If your lawn has dead grass that has accumulated in thickness, it may need aeration and de-thatching or raking to remove the debris. This will allow air and sunlight to reach down into your grass and help to promote healthy growth stimulation for a fuller, luscious lawn. Oxygen Increases water, nutrient and oxygen movement into the soil, improving the turf’s root system.
Sunshine Coast Lawn Care Experts
Don’t let your lawn down during the warmer months. For all the best lawn care equipment, products and advice, speak to the top Sunshine Coast turf suppliers and installation providers at Glenview Turf. Call or email our team of experienced lawn technicians for more insider tips for the best summer lawn care.