Springfield Illinois: How to Keep Your Lawn Healthy in the Heat

Here in Springfield, IL, people are dedicated to keeping their grass green and their lawn healthy. While it’s easy enough to keep everything looking good when the weather is mild, what do you do during those heat flashes in the summer? If you’re not careful, you can see everything you’ve worked so hard to achieve turn an ugly brown. Here are some tips for keeping your lawn healthy when the sun gets too hot to bare

Water Your Grass in the Morning

It is best to water your grass as early as possible in the day. If you have an irrigation system, this is as simple as changing the timer to about an hour before sunrise. If you water your grass in the afternoon when the sun is hottest, most of the water evaporates before it absorbs into the soil.

Water Your Grass Deeply

It’s better to water your grass deeply twice a week than to do a light watering every day. You want your lawn to absorb as much water as possible, and if you’re only lightly watering your grass, a lot of that water will be lost to evaporation or surface level moisturizing before it reaches the roots.

Maintain Your Mower

When you think about brown grass, it is easy to skip over the mower’s part in the operation. First, you should be setting your mower to a high setting – you want to leave your grass at least 3 inches high, if possible. That allows the grass to provide more shade for your lawn’s root system, keeping the roots cooler. Secondly, you need to keep your mower blades sharp. If the tips of your grass are an ugly brown, it’s probably because your mower blades are dull, so they’re tearing at the grass instead of cutting it.

Use Fertilizer

While landscape contractors recommend fertilizing your lawn every six weeks, if you use traditional fertilizers your grass will grow too fast. Choose a fertilizer with a lower nitrogen content to help curb your lawn’s growth so you don’t need to spend extra time maintaining it.

Green Grass in Springfield, IL

Once your lawn has turned brown, it is tough to bring it back to life. That’s why it’s so important you use these tips to stay ahead of the game and keep your grass green and your lawn healthy. By following these tips, you will have the greenest grass in the neighborhood. For additional lawn care during the warmer months, contact us at Custom Taylor’d Lawn & Landscaping today! Call (217) 360-4215 for more information about how we can help you.