Summertime in Phoenix is unforgiving when it comes to your grass.
5 pointers to have a green and luscious lawn all year round.
If you live anywhere remotely southern, you certainly don’t need convincing that the summers can be hot and dry. Here are some of our tried-and-true tips that you can employ at home. No need to be a professional landscaper. Here’s how to keep a green lawn throughout those hot, hot,  sunny summer days.
Use a sharp blade..​​​​​.
Using a sharp mower blade is imperative to maintaining the health of your grass, so make sure that you sharpen and balance your mower blade at least three times a year, if not more, if you are hitting a good number of rocks and pebbles.
Aside from cutting your grass more cleanly and evenly, sharp blades prevent damage.
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In the first two images, A & B, you’ll notice the grass has been torn unevenly. In image D you’ll notice blades of grass cut with different sharpness level of mower blades. D1 is what a blade of grass should look like when cut with a sharp mower. Notice the nice clean cut. This allows the grass to take very little damage and results in a healthier lawn. Now take a look at 3 and 4 in image D; these are very sad blades of grass. The white stringy part is actually the vascular makeup of the plant. You see this often when grass has been cut with a dull mower blade time after time.
A dull blade will shred, tear, and snag the grass instead of neatly slicing off the top, making the grass more susceptible to plant diseases and in need of an extra amount of nutrients and minerals to recover. Also, this turns your grass yellow and dry, which, aside from being a sign of distress and poor health, is unattractive and prickly.
Feed your lawn with the right fertilizers.
Using a spray fertilizer or setting down certain types of soil additives can be a huge help. However, it can be difficult to find out what sort of fertilizer is right for your lawn, depending on the soil type, grass type, and insect populations. Conduct some research or call a professional to make sure that you give your lawn exactly what it needs.
Selecting the best fertilizer for your lawn.
Be careful with weeds!
The earlier you pull out or behead the weeds, the better. Weeding your garden or yard regularly is preferable to spraying the lawn with harsh chemical weed killers that might harm the grass and flowers. Pulling them manually is an option, but a weeding fork is often better.
Make sure you get the roots, not just the shoots; but if it’s impossible to untangle the roots, at least getting rid of the seeding body is the next best thing. If necessary, use weed killer only on specific areas, not the entire lawn.
Aerate regularly
People often forget that lawns are complex ecosystems and in need of oxygen. The simplest method of aeration is to push a garden fork (or a forking machine for larger areas) into the ground. This will allow for better absorption of water as well as oxygen for the microbes, worms, bacteria, and other small organisms that allow healthy and thriving lawns.
Don’t overwater
Over-watering is a problem that a lot of well-meaning property owners run into. This is a waste of water and other resources and can prevent your lawn from absorbing the oxygen that it needs.
If you notice the water puddling or running off the lawn, or if the sprinkler stream is hitting a walkway or sidewalk, the spout needs to be removed or relocated to a dryer spot. Additionally, if your irrigation system is on a timer, make sure to manually turn it off on days with a high chance of rain to reduce water waste and prevent your lawn from drowning.
Lastly, if you use a hose instead of a sprinkler system, be sure not to leave it lying in the sun, especially if there is any water left in the hose. If this ever happens accidentally, just be sure to flush out the hot water on a driveway or walkway. Hot water is not good for your lawn or its inhabitants.
FINAL TAKE
Fortunately, taking care of your lawn is easy enough to do at home. All it takes is some practice and trial-and-error rounds. We also advise taking before and after pictures to get a real feel for the results. If you’re really struggling, you can always call our professional service to do a more in-depth evaluation and provide the proper advice.
