While we are not officially in summer yet – you can tell with the lack so far of those afternoon thunderstorms – the hot days of summer are quickly approaching. Days spent at the beach, in air-conditioned restaurants, or BBQing in your backyard: the recipe for a perfect summer.
To host the best summer soirees at your pad, you need to have the best yard at your pad. Cool patio set up with a kickin’ outdoor living area will make your place THE place. When envisioning this, we bet brown grass with bare spots, no color, and texture of flowerbeds, and swampy spots resembling Dagobah is not part of this summer dream.
Let’s go over some great tips to give you your vision – your perfect oasis!
Walk Through Your Vision for Summer
Take some time this spring, walking your property and evaluating any areas that sustained damage through our versions of winter and spring. You’re looking for leaf piles that could be hiding mold and fungus and ridding your lawn of it. Check out the condition of your lawn, your flowerbeds, and your irrigation.
By walking around your yard and making a landscaper-do list to go over with your favorite green thumbers, you can save you and your lawn heroes a lot of heartache and trouble later on.
Rethink Your Design
As you’re canvassing your yard and looking at all the awesomeness that is going to be coming this summer, you may be thinking of a little redecorating – and maybe should be! Your lawn may be made of grass that isn’t great for your soil, or you may have plants and shrubs that aren’t native to the area.
Ensuring that your space is the right space for what is planted there can save you a lot of dead plants and grass. Get with your expert in lawn care to help you determine if your lawn needs a bit of renovation for some summer lovin’.
Working With Water
We know that water is life. How much water, when to water, how often to water your lawn is entirely dependent on a variety of factors. Do you have Bahia or St. Augustine grass? How is your drainage? What type of irrigation do you have?
One of the constants across the board is, please, don’t water your lawn in the heat of the day. Florida gets HOT – yes, in all caps HOT. Even with the humidity, the state is known for, the heat will evaporate the life-giving water your lawn needs, making it disappear before making it anywhere near the roots.
Not Too Much, Not Too Little – Just the Right Amount of Mowing
Mowing is definitely in the wheelhouse of your Premier pros, but you must stay educated on how and why we mow the way we mow. Likely, you may not know that the length of your grass matters in its health in the heat of summer.
It isn’t the roots of grass that really need to soak up that precious Vitamin D of the sun’s rays – it’s the blades themselves that break down what needs to get to the roots to strengthen them. So, leaving the blades of grass taller allows more sunbathing and a healthier lawn.
Fertilize – But Only Where It’s Needed
Your flowerbeds are hungrier for certain nutrients than your grass might be, and as such, may need to be fed more often – even through the summer months. This philosophy does not apply to your grass itself.
While fertilizing in the early spring is a great idea to avoid the scorching heat, fertilizing your lawn in the summer can kind of burn your grass, causing it to die. Plus, your lawn and flowerbeds may require different nutrients from each other, so it is best to go over it all with your partners in landscaping.
Breathe of Fresh Aeration
There are not a lot of soils and grasses that don’t respond well to aeration. Without a clear path, the nutrients of water can’t reach the roots, as well as invite roots to creep in and take over the bare spots that dead grass leaves.
When you aerate, you create a highway of nutrition and space for new grass to grow quickly and deeply. This helps keep your grass healthy, encourage new growth, and keep out grass disease.
Treat Your Blooms Differently
Your flowerbeds, shrubs, and trees require summer-loving too – but not in the same ways your lawn does. Grass takes unique processes in mowing, edging, and watering that differ completely from your blooming areas.
Mulch is a great way to consistently feed your flowers, provide the shade they need, and lock in the moisture as a constant source of nutrition for them. Mulch doesn’t work on lawns. However, that’s not what it’s meant for.
Does Your Irrigation Do the Deed?
There is such a thing as too much of a good thing. Overwatering is a common mistake in the Sunshine State – a lot of the time resulting from the perpetual moisture from our many storms. Making sure your irrigation is up to par will help save you from a completely dead lawn.
Check out your irrigation with your friends at Premier to ensure that you don’t turn green and start running around yelling about this being your swamp!
Eyes on the Nonprize – Track Your Weeds
Weeds suck. They can be dangerous and unhealthy. They are ugly and damaging. We don’t like them, and we know you don’t either. Let’s talk about the proper treatment plan for weed control that works best for your outdoor space.
Heroes of Summer – Your Lawn Care Experts
Premier Lawn Care knows lawns – but more importantly, Florida lawns. Our service has built a reputation of being reliable and personal, with a dedication to quality. Whether you are looking for pest control or gutter cleaning, irrigation solutions, or lawn maintenance – or all of the above – we get you ready to love your landscape in our communities of Gainesville, Alachua, and High Springs.