At Heffner Landscaping, we understand that beautiful landscaping can make the exterior of your North Carolina home stand out among all others. This is true whether you have a large lawn of healthy grass or a more detailed landscape with flowers, plants, bushes, and trees. While the beauty can be easy to maintain when you have regular landscaping service, during the summer, you may find that things change more rapidly with your lawn. In order to help you keep your grass healthy, we’d like to share some of the most useful lawn care tips for the hottest months of the year. Our team is confident that these can help keep your grass green and thriving.
- Get Out Your Lawn Mower
If you aren’t close friends with your lawn mower, then we recommend getting acquainted as soon as possible. North Carolina summers promote quick growth for grass, so you’ll want to make it a priority to mow as often as you can. When doing so, it’s recommended to set your lawn mower blades on high. This longer length will allow the grass to absorb more sunlight throughout the day. This can result in greener grass that is ultimately healthier and more enjoyable to walk through as well. - Address Your Weeds
We know how frustrating it can be to deal with weeds, especially since they can grow quickly during the summer. In general, it’s best to pull weeds on a daily basis in order to make the job easier. However, it’s important to pull at the base in order to get the roots out of the earth completely. If you are dealing with particularly difficult weeds or even crabgrass, which is common in North Carolina, then you may want to use herbicide or weed killer. Buy the highest quality product you can find and spray regularly in areas that are impacted by weeds or crabgrass.
For fewer weeds, it’s also recommended to keep your lawn properly hydrated and fertilized. Regular mowing can also help minimize the number of weeds you see, making it even more beneficial. If you’re not sure what the best care for your lawn is, talk to a landscaping professional. They will let you know what you can do to get rid of stubborn weeds or address areas that are overrun by crab grass. - Wait to Fertilize
We recommend fertilizing in the spring before North Carolina temperatures begin to soar. This will ensure you see healthy growth when summer is near and are able to prevent burn to your lawn from too much fertilizer. To identify how much potassium, phosphorus, and lime your lawn needs, you can conduct a soil test every two to three years. This will take the guess work out of fertilizing so you can more easily take care of it during the cooler months of the year.
Tip: If you’re going to apply lime to your lawn, we recommend having this done in the winter using a rotary spreader. - Don’t Be Afraid of Insects
It can be disheartening to see insects on your North Carolina lawn when you spend a lot of time taking care of it. However, insects can actually benefit the health of your lawn, so it’s important to keep some of them around. If you are still seeing too many, then you’ll want to apply a mild insecticide near the beginning of July or even end of June. By choosing a mild product, you’ll be able to keep your lawn healthy while minimizing some of the insects that North Carolina sees the most during the summer, such as Japanese Beetles and European Chafers. - Handle Rodents as They Come
Rodents can be difficult to deal with during the summer, especially when they put holes in your lawn. In order to eliminate these from your beautiful grass, it’s best to have them humanely removed by professionals. You might also want to have deterrents put in place in order to prevent these rodents from returning. Once removed, you can address the damaged areas without worrying that the rodents will come back and cause damage right away. - Water Before It’s Hot
Before the summer months hit, we recommend hydrating your lawn with about once inch of water per week. This can either be through the rain, a traditional garden hose, or a sprinkler system already set up. We suggest taking care of this in the morning so the soil is able to absorb the moisture before the sun dries it out.
Tip: If you have an established irrigation system, then you may want to install a sprinkler timer. This can help save water by preventing your lawn from getting too much of it. - Aerate Yearly
An important part of lawn care is aerating your lawn once per year. This will help prevent compaction in areas that experience a lot of foot traffic so each area can experience healthy growth. While it can be tempting to do this in the summer when you’re caring for your lawn the most, it’s best to do this in the fall or even early spring. Plug aerators tend to produce the best results, as these remove soil plugs to reduce compaction pressure. If you’re not sure how to do this yourself or don’t have the tools, you can have a professional take care of it before summer hits. - Use Your Lawn Clippings
Don’t toss those lawn clippings away after you mow your lawn. Instead, re-distribute them around the lawn in order to provide the grass with essential nutrients. Extra clippings can also provide some shade to the grass to help prevent it from drying out when the temperatures rise particularly high. - Maintain Your Mower
Since you’ll be mowing your lawn more frequently in the summer, you’ll need to make lawn mower maintenance a priority. The mower blades, in particular, should be kept sharp in order to prevent the grass from being improperly shredded. Most mower manufacturers recommend blade sharpening after you’ve mowed for 10 hours collectively.
In addition to sharpening, you should also check your oil on a regular basis to avoid any issues as you work. We also recommend cleaning the undercarriage in order to prevent buildup of clippings. Read through your owner’s manual to learn about any other maintenance work you should do to keep your lawn mower optimally running. - Mow in Unique Patterns
If you mow your lawn in the same pattern each time, this could cause excess wear and tear on the grass and soil. To avoid this, we recommend using unique mowing patterns each time you head outside. By changing things up, you can help prevent compaction from occurring throughout your lawn so it’s easier to keep it healthy.
How Healthy is Your Lawn?
At Heffner Landscaping, our priority is for your North Carolina home to shine with a healthy lawn in the summer. With the tips above and some hard work, we know you can make this a reality. However, if you don’t have the time or tools to take care of this, you can always have a professionally trained landscaper help you. Experts like ours have the knowledge, tools, and experience that will ensure you have green grass that you can be proud to show off.
North Carolina Summer Lawn Care Tips