Low rain lawn care
A simple plan for low rain lawn care, cutting grass in dry weather, top tips for lawns in summer, keeping grass green in drought.
Deja vu. June 2017 saw dry weather and brown lawns. Even after the longest wettest winter for a while, in May 2018 some grass is already starting to turn brown. Here are some pointers for low rain lawn care.
Lawns that have been managed carefully will be thriving still. A plan that increases the strength of the grass is paying dividends now, with green swathes still dominating as a result. But it’s not too late to adopt a plan that will save time, money and will keep your grass greener and healthier.
If you haven’t planned for it, what can be done now? Here’s a simple guide.
- Keep the grass longer.
- When cutting, use a mulching deck, or leave the grass clippings on the lawn.
- Leave more vulnerable areas completely
How to keep it green
And a low rain lawn care plan to keep it greener starts very simply too.
- Keep the grass longer. Think of “making it even” rather than cutting the lawn. And if moss is present, raise the cutting height to leave it 20mm clear. Cutting too short is the main reason for moss and weed dominance in most lawns.
- Make sure your mower blades are kept sharp.
- Cut in small slices. If the lawn is longer, rather than try to cut it down in one pass, take two or even three passes, reducing the height slowly. These smaller cuttings will break down more easily, and feed and replenish the grass, rather than rot. Apply the rule of only cutting one third of the grass blade.
Mulching, or leaving fine clippings on the lawn, saves time in removing them to the compost or bin, and also returns valuable nitrogen to the soil. This could reduce the feeding requirement by 25 per cent. Given that most lawns don’t get fed at all, its a huge improvement.
The evidence is clear. To do less work when the weather is dry and hot, cut the lawn higher, leave the clippings, which will help keep your lawn green.
Scalping weakens the grass, leaving t vulnerable to weeds and heat. Cut the grass long!
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