Gardens really come into their own during summer time, they provide an extra room for families to gather. Lawns can be enjoyed to their fullest potential, but it also means your lawn will see the most traffic and activity of any season, as the lawn becomes a carpet for garden parties or regular family gatherings and long days spent enjoying the beauty of it.
Therefore it is one of the most challenging seasons too. Your lawn will require a level of commitment to keep it healthy and strong, but don't let that deter you, it's very simple and we've got some advice to ensure you and your family enjoy your lawn all summer long.
Grass is an extraordinarily resilient plant and with just a few tips can survive both ice and drought within weeks of each other.
For those emergency gardening situations, when only new turf will do, it's transformative effect will give your garden an instant wow factor. However, it also means additional care will be necessary, when laying turf during July and August, when higher temperatures and drought are more likely, ensure you water thoroughly. The danger of just a light watering is that roots are attracted up to the surface rather than down into the soil. For a large area sophisticated irrigation may be needed to deliver enough water. Please do ask us for advice on this as we sometimes hear of new lawns completely dying off without enough water.
If you are having turf delivered during the summer it is best to lay it on the day of delivery, but if this is not possible, unroll the turf in a holding area and water it regularly to ensure it doesn't dry out.
This is the season when you really need to be on hand to quench your lawn's thirst.
To avoid scorching and evaporation the best time for watering the lawn is early morning or evening, ideally allowing the moisture to sink a good 10cm into the soil. A couple of times a week should be enough to hydrate tired lawns.
It's very common to have weeds in your lawn during the summer: weeds love sunshine and warmth, so keep up the weeding. It's a good idea to hand weed before they get out of control and set seed.
If you want to apply a weed killer, do so when they are actively growing between April and September, avoiding drought periods. Cool evenings are the best time to do this.
If your garden has features which are challenging for healthy grass growth such as deep shade, poor soil quality or poor drainage, the stronger you can make the grass growth with the use of lawn feed the better its chances.
Your lawn will be at its strongest during the summer months and will grow fast if it rains. So it's a good idea to cut it regularly to keep it healthy, leaving it around 5cm long is recommended. It's best not to cut too short each time as this will cause damage and dry out in hot spells. So never cut more than one third of its current length.
In dry spells grass growth can slow right down so you can mow less often. It's easy when it's very dry to inadvertently cut it a little short giving a straw-coloured lawn. But as above (see "Watering") an established lawn will recover quickly when it gets a drink.
Established lawns are much more resilient but can lose their greenness. This is easily reversed.
Mow cautiously in the warmest weather to keep grass greener.