It’s normal to start thinking about your lawn in the summer.
You’re out there mowing it all the time, so you notice stuff. Whoa, where did all those weeds come from? Yikes, is that a bare spot?
Should you start a lawn care program in summer? Is it too late?
If you start now, sure, you missed a couple of helpful spring tasks. But plenty of summer lawn care boosts your lawn’s look and health. And fall — a busy lawn health season — is just around the corner.
What should you expect if you start a lawn care program in summer?
Let’s take a look:
So, You Missed a Couple of Spring Lawn Care Tasks
Yes, some key lawn tasks happen in spring, so you’re starting a bit behind.
- Fertilizing here in Idaho starts in May, so you've missed the first round. But there’s plenty more to come. More on that in a minute.
- Preventive lawn grub control goes down in the spring to nip them in the bud before they hatch and start to chow down on lawn roots. But lawn care pros can do a summer lawn care visit with a different insecticide to help stop grub damage. If you end up with areas of dead turf, you can re-seed them to repair lawn damage
- Weed control starts strong in spring with pre-emergent weed killer that targets weed seeds before they sprout, so you’ll probably notice more weeds in your yard than in your neighbors’ who were already on a lawn care program in the spring.
There Are Still Plenty of Lawn Care Tasks to Tackle in Summer
There’s a lot of great stuff that can improve your lawn right through the summer:
Fertilizer: Food for Your Hungry Lawn
Yes, fertilizing here in Idaho starts in mid-to late-April, once the soil temperature reaches 55 degrees and another round goes down in mid-May.
But there are more applications around the end of June, and in early to mid-August as part of summer lawn care.
And the final fertilizer treatment in fall is extra important — it includes important slow-release granular fertilizer that feeds your hungry lawn for the winter and helps it pop back up, ready to impress, in the spring.
You’ve got plenty of time.
Weed Control is Still Going Strong
Yes, pre-emergent has to be applied early in the season while the soil is still cool. But a comprehensive, proactive lawn care plan also kills weeds once they sprout.
Broadleaf applications hit summer dandelions and clover, and spot treatments are available throughout the summer when pesky intruders sneak in.
Meanwhile, weeds hate a thick, healthy lawn. And your summer lawn care program will get to work creating the strong roots and dense, healthy grass you need to naturally crowd out weeds and block the sunlight their seeds need to sprout.
You Can Get a Lawn Soil pH Test
There’s plenty of time for a pH test. Why care about your lawn’s pH? Well, you can use all the fertilizer you want, but if your lawn’s pH level is off, it won’t do any good. The soil isn’t able to absorb all those great nutrients.
Soil pH is a way to measure the amount of acidity or alkalinity in your lawn’s soil.
If your lawn soil pH is too low, it’s time for lime. Lawn Lime is a soil amendment made from ground limestone rock, which contains calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate.
Or, if your lawn soil pH is too high, your lawn might need gypsum, a mineral that contains hydrated calcium sulfate.
Both work to balance the pH level of your lawn. Once your lawn is balanced with the right pH, your soil can actually use the nutrients in your fertilizer, and flourish.
Fall Brings New Lawn Options
Lawn care rolls on right into fall. In fact, a few lawn care tasks are best tackled in fall:
Say Hi to Aeration
Aeration is an Idaho lawn care staple, but it’s not a smart part of warm-weather lawn care. The cooler temperatures of fall make September or October the best time to do it.
Aeration uses a machine to pull out tiny cores of soil from your lawn, allowing water and oxygen to get to the roots.
It’s a great fix for compacted soil. When your soil is packed tightly together, your lawn can't breathe. Its roots can't take in water or nutrients, which weakens your turf and opens the door for disease and weeds.
Aeration gets it breathing again. Then, once your lawn has all those convenient little holes, fall is a great time to add grass seed. The seed gets great seed to soil contact, and fall’s cool rainy weather is great for sprouting.
Pro tip: Choose the best grass seed for Idaho lawn care — a mix of 80 percent Kentucky bluegrass and 20 percent perennial ryegrass.
Unlike a single-variety grass seed, blends give you the benefits of more than one variety or species.
Fall Fertilizer is (Surprisingly) Important
Fall fertilizing is the most important feeding of the year.
This fertilizer burst, which should happen around Halloween, is all about feeding your lawn’s roots, making your grass strong and healthy from down below the soil’s surface.
Zap Those Weeds One More Time
Sure, pesky weeds are most obvious to you in the summer, when they’re spending all their energy working on the top growth that everybody sees.
But in the fall, they’re just as busy, storing energy in their root system, which means they’re more susceptible to herbicide applications.
Zap them in the fall, as part of your lawn care and landscaping services in Boise and Idaho Falls.
Meanwhile, There’s Plenty of Warm-Weather Lawn Care You Can Do
Growing lawns in summer means following a couple key recommendations for a healthy lawn:
Water Wisely
Yes, it’s hot, but don’t just douse your lawn with water. Be strategic about watering, so your grass gets the water it needs, but not too much.
Early morning is the best time — it’s still cool, so all that valuable water won’t evaporate in the hot sun.
Don’t assume your grass needs watering every day. It doesn’t. Water too often, and it encourages shallow, needy roots.
Water less often but deeply, and roots will grow deeper and healthier.
Mow Tall
Never cut off more than a third of the grass blade at any one time. Cutting your grass too short stresses the grass and makes it more susceptible to damage from insects and disease.
Mowing tall helps your grass develop a deeper root system which means a fuller, greener lawn.
Ready for Warm-Weather Lawn Care? Trust Lawn Buddies
A comprehensive lawn care program will benefit your lawn even if you miss a few spring tasks.
Have you been putting it off because you don’t want the hassle?
No hassle here.
If you want simple, hassle-free lawn care in Idaho Falls or Boise, ID that offers quality core lawn care services for a healthy, impressive lawn, it doesn’t get easier than Lawn Buddies.
No stressing about which complicated combination of lawn care services will get you beautiful, healthy grass.
You don’t have time to fuss with all that. Give yourself a break.
We make it simple - one premium, six-visit lawn care program that includes everything your lawn needs to grow healthy and green.
Fertilizer, weed treatments and grub control, all wrapped up in six visits, each perfectly timed throughout the season - so your grass is green and strong and resists weeds.
We’ve got your back.
Got a few minutes? That’s all you need to get started. Fill out a form, call us at (208) 656-9131 or read more about our services. Then, you can kick back and relax in your healthy, thriving yard.
