Time to water the lawn
What a hot and dry spring we have had here in Surrey.
The month of May is on our door step and Summer is just around the corner. But for the lawns it felt like summer arrived weeks ago. With all this hot weather and lack of any rain, you may find your selves with the inevitable browning of the grass. This may be more of a problem if you have had the lawns scarified later into the dry spell than others. So its our advice that you get out and water the lawn. Just remember, the grass is not dead, it has simply chosen to go into a survival mode, by diverting what moisture it had to the vital root system, just beneath the top layer of soil. Grass knows that the rain will have to come eventually, so it has gone into hiding to wait it out. By watering the lawn, you will simply reverse the process and the grass will (after a few weeks) start to grow fresh new shoots. No real lasting damage has occurred, other than stressing the grass a little, and now the brown dead parts will have to be scarified out next spring.
We would suggest that to revive the lawn, you water as much as you possibly can. This said, we know it is not always easy and not cheap to do this. To save water, try watering in the evening. This will allow the water to penetrate into the soil, with out the sun to burn it away before it has any benefit. You could water a different area each evening perhaps. Or just water the most important lawns or areas.
Cutting the lawn on a higher setting is a good trick in times of drought too. Simply raise the mower up by one setting. Also the frequency of the cuts can be reduced. These 2 actions will help the grass plants to stay healthier through the tough dry spell, by stressing it far less. If the grass is longer, then it has more of the leaf to convert sunlight into suger for the roots, and by cutting it less, it has to spend less time and energy heeling its self.
Have a rest
The rain will come soon enough, but until then we at Surrey Total Lawn Care suggest that you have a sit down in the garden with an ice-cream, safe in the knowledge that you can have a few extra days before wheeling the mower out of the shed again.