Summer Lawn Care

In summer, when temperatures, evaporation and transpiration are at their highest the aim is to conserve moisture and damage the grass as little as possible. This means invasive treatments such as raking and scarifying should not be undertaken whilst repair to damaged areas from summer use should be swift to reduce deterioration in the lawn.

Feeding the Lawn in Summer

Using the correct fertiliser goes a long way to reducing the effects of stressful summer conditions. This means a summer fertiliser should contain a good amount of potassium, the K in NPK which is the element that helps the grass regulate water loss. The nitrogen, N in NPK will stimulate growth to enable it to repair itself from heavier use during the summer months.

For more information about summer feeding please see:

• Summer granular feed
• Liquid lawn food
• Flexible Feeding for the Perfect Lawn

Weed Control

Most weed killers state to use once or twice per annum and if you are using pesticides sensibly you should want to regulate the amount going into the ground. Late May or early June is the perfect time for the first blanket (spraying the whole lawn) weed spray. This is because early spring weeds are still about and summer weeds such as clover have come through.

If there are only a few weeds around just spot spray. For more information go to our Weed Control section 

Aeration

You can never do too much so carry on with solid spikes during the summer months. If the ground gets hard don’t force the spikes into the ground because you’ll either hurt yourself or damage the equipment. Instead, just let it pin prick the surface which, when it rains, will reduce run-off and direct the rain into the ground.

Mowing the Lawn in Summer

Keep mowing regularly to keep weed and weed grass seed heads in check but raise the mowing height. This reduces the amount of leaf being removed which contains water whilst protecting the soil a little more from the sun.

See Mowing the Lawn 

Watering the Lawn

You do need to get this right as watering incorrectly can cause disease and shallow rooting which then can make your lawn more prone to weeds and weed grasses so best move straight to our Watering Advice page.

Lawn Pest Control

Ants and miner bees are likely to be the main problem in summer so please read Ants & Bees

Top Dressing the Lawn

This can be done in the summer but not in hot or drought conditions. The lawn needs to be actively growing with good soil moisture available. See Soil & Lawn Top Dressing

Lawn Repairs

If you need to do any repairs please go to our Repair & Renovation section. 

Brown Summer Lawns

If you don't water and maintain your lawn during hot dry summers eventually it will turn brown and become dormant. Lawns that are not compacted will usually recover well but if your lawn is getting on in years, used a lot and has thatch and or compaction you may find recovery may be patchy at best leaving you with areas of dead lawn.

Please read Repairing Burnt Summer Lawns