5 Ways To Green Up Your Lawn This Summer
Ideally, your lawn will come out of winter dormancy in spring and quickly become lush and green. Sometimes, though, a lawn may struggle to green up as desired. Fortunately, there are ways to help your lawn green up in time for summer.
1. Power-Rake
Grass clippings, leaf litter, and other organic debris can collect on the soil around the base of the grass blades. If this layer becomes too compact, it won't decompose quickly and instead forms a mat that can inhibit water and nutrient movement into the soil. A thin layer of thatch can be beneficial, as it acts like a mulch, but it can cause the above problems when it gets too thick. Power raking, also called dethatching, pulls up the old thatch layer when it gets too thick.
2. Aerate
Soil becomes compact over time, which means moisture, nutrients, and oxygen will have trouble reaching grass roots. The result is a lawn that doesn't green up very well. Core aeration opens the soil back up. The aerator machine punches small cores of soil out of the lawn, which breaks up compaction sufficiently so that the grass can thrive again.
3. Fertilize
A lack of nutrients can cause a lawn to yellow or brown. Consider scheduling a soil test with your lawn service. They will take a soil sample and have it analyzed to determine if there are any specific nutrient deficiencies causing the lackluster greening. After the results are in, you can schedule a fertilizer application to provide those missing nutrients. Additional applications every six weeks or so throughout the growing season should keep the lawn green.
4. Overseed
Sometimes, the reason the green is lacking is simply because the grass has grown thin and weak over the years. Overseeding will reinvigorate the lawn with young, green grass. You can use the same variety of grass that is in your lawn, or overseed with another grass that has a naturally deeper green color. Overseeding can be done at any time from spring through midsummer with good success.
5. Irrigate
A dry lawn won't be a very green one, so creating and following an irrigation schedule is a must. This can be simple if you have an automatic sprinkler system, while manual watering will require more effort. Most lawns require 1 to 2 inches of water two to three times weekly, so set your sprinklers or plan your hand watering to ensure it provides this amount.
Contact a residential lawn care service if you need help greening up your lawn this summer.