The Top 5 Essential Lawn Care Tips for Late Summer

Whether you knew it or not, late summer means a change in how to care for your lawn.

We know, we know. Yet another thing to worry about amidst a pandemic, smoke-filled air, and more. 

Well, we can help with that: get a FREE quote here!

Or, you can help yourself and your lawn with these 5 quick-tips to preserve and prepare your summer lawn for the last run into Fall.

Key Takeaways

Late summer lawn care essentials:

• Proper Watering: Deep, infrequent watering fosters deep root growth.
• Mowing Techniques: Mowing with a higher blade setting promotes healthy lawn growth.
• Attention to Weeds: Addressing weeds promptly prevents them from overtaking healthy grass.
• Fertilization: Late summer fertilization prepares the lawn for fall and strengthens it against pests and diseases.

Check out our sprinler, mowing, weed control, and lawn fertilization services.

What Should You Do for your Late Summer Lawn Care?

1. Watering in the early morning

Nothing too crazy or out of the ordinary. But, you’ll want to start with changing your watering times to the early AM. 

Why? 

This is the coolest time of the day with summer still here, and it will allow the grass to soak up every last drop to maintain throughout the warm day without being affected by evaporation or wind.

Need a recommendation for timing? Try between 4 - 10 AM. Maybe have a cup of coffee first.

Pro Tip: Start to cut your grass at a higher level than before. This will provide more shade for the soil to stay cooler for longer.

Speaking of cutting your grass…

2. When was the last time you checked your lawn mower blade?

Like a good chef’s knife, you want an always-sharp mower blade. We won’t judge you if you haven’t checked all summer. But you’re going to want to see what you’re working with right now because believe or not a clean cut will keep your lawn healthy and help retain water.

Obviously, you can eyeball your blade to determine if it’s dull. Another method is to look at the grass edges after a fresh cut: are they ragged or clean cut? That will give you your answer.

So, how exactly do you go about sharpening a lawn mower blade to retake control of your summer lawn? 

The answer is completely up to you.

A few of the common options are to file by hand, find a blade sharpener drill bit attachment, a suitable grindstone, drop off at a local small engine shop, or any method you’re jazzed to try out. 

Just be careful, okay? You don’t want to prematurely end your hand modeling career.

3. Weeds. The roaches of the lawn care world!

This is the bane of any homeowners summer lawn care routine. Unfortunately, your weed problem is just as persistent as ever now as it was in the beginning. 

But you’re up for the challenge, right?

The tried and true option for weed control is to keep on pulling so it doesn’t grow to be out of control. And to double-down on a an in-lawn broadleaf, spray-on weed killer to keep them at bay.

Pro Tip: If you are pulling weeds, be sure to water down to the roots 24 hours before. This should help ensure you get the entire root. Also, make sure to get the correct spray for the type of weed you are dealing with.

And you’ll want to be mindful of where you spray. If you have or plan to grow other things outside of grass, just be careful of both where you spray and the type of spray. 

It could be a determinate to your vegetable plans. But no one likes broccoli anyways.

4. Add fertilizer, the good kind.

Not all fertilizers are created equal, but you’ll want to find one made especially for late summer heading into the Fall. 

During the warmer months is when your grass experiences rapid growth and damage (heat, insects, etc.) which is why you need to apply fertilizer to keep it healthy. 

Just like your growing teenager, there’s never enough food in the house to keep them satisfied. 

Look for fertilizers with soil-amending properties to slow release nitrogen to give your lawn the boost it needs to carry you through the remainder of summer! 

It will also serve you well to preserve key nutrients for a triumphant return next spring.

5. Give us a call.

Does everything above seem like too much work or a little too late?

We get it. I mean, our slogan is “Hire us and take your weekend back!” for good reason.

It may not be too late to save your lawn or at least get it ready for a better start next spring. 

We love what we do and we like to think we do it well. That’s why we offer a Free Quote here!

No matter what, we hope this was helpful and we look forward to sharing more pro lawn care tips and tricks with you!

With grass-stained clothes and smiles on our faces -- thank you for reading!

- Cory’s Lawn Care Services

Lawn Aeration in Reno

Aerator Picture

Key Takeaways

Lawn aeration benefits:

• Enhanced root growth: Aeration allows more oxygen, nutrients, and water to reach the roots, encouraging healthier, thicker lawns.
• Optimal timing: In Reno's cooler climate, aeration should occur in spring and early fall, avoiding the stressful summer period.
• Aeration methods: Options include professional services or DIY with rented equipment, emphasizing preparation like watering and marking sprinklers.

Check out our aeration services.

As we approach closer and closer to the time of activating our waters and thinking about mowing the grass it is very important in Reno to aerate your lawn at least once a year, if not more. Reno is known for it hard compact soil which can cause very thinned out grass over time if you do not aerate. Lawn aeration removes cores of soil from your turf which then allows more oxygen, nutrients, and water to penetrate to the roots of your grass. The soften soil allows the roots to grow more rapidly which results in a much more think healthier lawn.

When Should I Aerate in Reno?

Since  Reno is actually known as a cooler climate, hence our dormant winters, lawn aeration should be done before the major growth seasons. This would primarily include aerating your lawn in the spring before the major lawn growth occurs and after the summer growth towards early fall. Although lawn aeration is extremely helpful for your lawn, it is also stressful on the turf so try to avoid aerating during summer.

why_aerate_photo

Whats the best way to go about aerating my lawn?

There are a couple of options for this, and if you are not the do it yourself type of person than just call one of your local lawn professionals and they can take care of it with probably a minimum charge of $40-$60 for lawns with less than 2,500 square feet. If you like to do it yourself, I would recommend asking your neighbors if they would like their lawn aerated and see if they would be interested in chipping in some money to rent an aerator which normally run about $75.00 a day. This is a great way to serve your neighbors and get some major kudos. There are also hand core aeration tools that are significantly cheaper, but also comes with the price tag with some back breaking labor, so I don't even recommend that.

A few Suggestions

Whether your are going to aerate yourself or pay someone to do it, make sure you water your lawn thoroughly the night before to allow the soil to soften up. This will allow the aerators to do their job properly and remove cores 1"-2" instead of just bouncing along the dry soil and hardly remove anything. Mark your sprinklers with flags or just put large rocks over them for protection while aerating, to prevent breaking any sprinkler heads. Finally, make sure the highly traffic areas get a little extra attention from the aeration because theses areas are probably really compacted.

If you have any other questions on lawn aeration in Reno, even if you don't plan on using our service, feel free to send me an email and I would be more than happy to answer questions you might have.