Summer Yard Care

Summer yard care does not have to be difficult, yet many people feel it is. The truth is with some easy and useful tips, anyone can take care of their yard in less time and with less energy than imagined. Here are just a few things you can do to keep your yard looking wonderful during the summer.

Two issues that affect most homeowners during summer are heat and dryness. It is not uncommon for the temperature to reach upwards of 90 degrees on any given day. It is also common for rainfall to decrease, and in some parts of the country to all but stop completely. These are the two main concerns that homeowners need to address during the summer months to keep their yards looking nice and to protect their flowers and gardens as well.

Watering: Unless your community is under a watering restriction of some sort, you should water your lawn once a week but this needs to be a good, steady soaking. Shooting the grass with water for ten minutes a day is basically wasting water as it does very little good to the lawn. A better approach is to set up a sprinkling system which can water for an hour or so in each section of your yard and garden. Using a sprinkler is a good way to conserve water as well as get the job done.

The best times to water your yard and garden are early in the morning between 5 am and 9 am. Many homeowners believe that watering at night is the same, but it is not. Watering at night can cause fungus to grow on many types of plants.

In addition to watering the main areas of the home, you want to make sure you know which of your plants and flowers need daily watering. For these, use a water can or light spray from the hose. Many plants and flowers that are located under or near trees will require watering more often as the trees tend to soak up the majority of the water, leaving less for your plants.

Weeding: An important task during dry and hot seasons is to weed your garden and yard. Weeds will happily soak up the water that you put on the ground thus leaving less for the plants. You can also pull off dead blooms from flowers and plants in order to stimulate new growth. For small areas, hand weeding is preferred over chemical weeding. Some homeowners like to do their hand weeding when they set their weekly early morning sprinkling up. The temps are cooler in the morning and the world is generally more peaceful at this time of day.

New Flowers: During the summer months most homeowners do not plant much of anything new, but you can plant marigolds and zinnia during these hot months. Both of these colorful flowers are drought resistant and they do well with little rainfall. Once you plant them, you will need to hand water until they are set but afterwards Mother Nature will take care of them.

Fertilizer: A very common mistake made by many homeowners is applying fertilizer on hot days. This practice should be avoided. Plants and flowers will become stressed if they are forced to grow when there is not enough water in the soil to accommodate new growth. Keep in mind that when your grass turns brown during the summer it is in a dormant state. This is natural and is as it should be. It may look bad, but nature is not always pretty to the human eye. Once the rain returns the grass will revitalize and turn green again. Watering your grass when it wants to be dormant is wasting water.