As summer winds down, it’s likely that your lawn could use some attention before the transition into autumn. These simple tips from HTA Companies will help keep your grass happy and healthy until the cooler weather sets in — and even make sure it’s ready for the colder months that follow.
What Summer Does to Grass
Under ideal circumstances — lots of rain, plenty of sun, adequate nutrients, and just enough heat — your lawn will thrive, since grass is a plant like any other. However, summer conditions around Lansing are often less than ideal. High heat and irregular rains can cause grass to brown, die, and thin out. Those bare patches can then grow as aggressively as the grass once did, which in turn leaves more room for weeds and lawn pests.
Protecting and Caring for Grass
There are some simple things you can do to ensure your lawn stays healthy.
Water Properly
Just as you don’t feel your best when you’re dehydrated, insufficient water takes a toll on grass too. Keep an eye on the weather, and if you notice there’ll be long stretches of hot, dry weather, water your lawn. How you water matters; if you’re neglecting segments of your grass, they’re more likely to die out, so pay attention to sprinkler patterns. Similarly, make sure you water thoroughly, since watering only the surface leads to evaporation and may even mean the root system starting to pull upward to take advantage of what little water it’s getting. Deep watering helps.
Mow the Right Way
Every plant needs the right balance of sun and shade. Grass is no different, and it even provides its own shade — as long as you mow properly. We understand that nobody wants to mow too often, so there’s a temptation to give your lawn a buzz cut. However, that keeps the leaves of grass from shading the root system, leading to scorching and dead patches.
Seed When Necessary
Even when you’ve done everything right, you can still end up with bare patches. That’s especially true if you’ve got kids or pets, whose traffic on the lawn can cause damage. Rodents and other visitors can also lead to bare patches. Rather than visiting the hardware store or big box home supply store and making your best guess, let HTA Companies evaluate your lawn care needs and traffic to plant grass that will last.
Feed Regularly
You wouldn’t last too long on a diet made up only of water, and your grass won’t, either. We can help by applying fertilizers that release over a long period of time so your grass can nosh instead of bingeing. That leads to steady, healthy growth instead of rapid growth that can cause more problems than it solves.
Think Ahead
Your lawn is on its own highly specific timetable. Sometimes preparing for a season means thinking several months ahead. Some of the most important lawn care done by HTA Companies — including pest control, soil improvement, weed eradication and control, and slow-release fertilizers — takes place at this time of year so your lawn gets a good nap over the winter and can face the spring-fed, rested, and ready.