Over the past few months, most people´s lawns have suffered. In the UK, and indeed in many other parts of the world, it has been hot and dry for a long time. For many homeowners, it has been impossible to water the grass enough, so now it’s bone dry and rather brown. Just take a look at our parched lawn below, eek!
Fortunately, most varieties of grass are resilient. So, whilst it may look dead the chances are that your lawn will spring back to life once it rains. After a few showers, it will look much better! But, if you give it a helping hand it will recover more quickly. Here are a few tips that you can use to bring your lawn back to life faster.
RE-SEED IT
If you have areas that look like they are just soil, you will need to buy grass seeds from The Grass People or another supplier to restore those bare patches. You can buy the seed now – but don’t use it straight away! If the weather is still hot it’s better to store it for use at a more appropriate time weather-wise. Doing this will enable you to take advantage of those first autumnal showers. All you need to do is to look out for a day when rain is forecast and follow the supplier´s scattering instructions. If it doesn’t rain heavily enough you will need to finish the watering-in process with a sprinkler hose or watering can. Plants always grow better when watered with rainwater than they do with tap water. So, waiting for a rainy day to get your grass seed down really will make a difference to how effective your re-seeding efforts are.
DE-THATCH YOUR LAWN
The more moisture your lawn can absorb the better. You want the rain to be able to get to the roots. So, de-thatch your grass now if you have not already done so. Raking a weak looking lawn seems counter-intuitive. But, removing all of the dead stuff will actually make a huge difference to how fast your lawn recovers. None of the moisture will be wasted as there’ll be no dead matter to act as a sponge and suck it up.
AERATE YOUR LAWN
Similarly, punching little holes in your lawn will also help more moisture to penetrate through to the roots. It is possible to do this using a garden fork, but you could also use a mechanical aerator. This’ll get the job done a lot faster and the holes will be more evenly spread. Be sure to do the de-thatching and aerating before you re-seed your lawn. That way you will not end up raking up most of the seeds or damaging any that have already sprouted.
CUT REGULARLY AND CAREFULLY
Once your grass starts to re-grow be sure to treat it gently. Never cut off more than one-third of the grass blades. Cutting more sends it into shock, which means that it won’t grow for a couple of days. Sharpen your mower blades if you can, as blunt mower blades will rip grass, which damages it far more than a clean cut does. 
How’s your lawn looking at the moment? Is yours overgrown and dry like mine? Or is it short, brown and patchy? I hope these tricks will help you to bring it back to life now that the summer is coming to an end. Let me know your own tips for keeping your garden looking great in the hot weather via the comments below 🙂
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