The summer months in Calgary always come as a blessed relief from the long winters, and the seemingly endless days of sunshine and warmth are celebrated across the city. The only people who sometimes complain are lawn owners, who know that it’s hard to keep a lawn looking green and fresh through the summer in the city. However, with some helpful advice and a careful plan, looking after your Calgary lawn will be easy this summer.
Preventative Work
While summer is the time of year when your lawn sees the most action, both in terms of maintenance and usage by your family, it’s important to remember that it’s a year round project. A healthy green lawn comes from correct fertilising and seeding in the fall, and then a heavy duty watering and aerating schedule as soon as the snow melts in the spring. These steps encourage your grass plants to put down deeper roots which in turn create greener plants that are more resistant to drought and heat come the summer months.
Summer Maintenance Work
Once the temperatures start to rise, it’s time to move beyond your watering schedule and set up your summer lawn care maintenance schedule. This falls into three broad categories, each of which comes with its own checklist: mowing, watering and dethatching.
Mowing
Mowing feels like it should be one of the easiest summer lawn care strategies for Calgary residents, but there is a science to keep your grass at the right length to promote healthy growth. Ideally, you should be aiming for grass that is around 3 inches (10cm) long as this is long enough for it to get the sunlight needed for photosynthesis, but short enough to prevent blades bending over each other and taking up too much space. The temptation to go for really short grass should be avoided as then each plant won’t get the necessary root depth to keep growing all summer long.
Dealing with Grass Clippings
There always seems to be a debate about what to do with your grass clippings. While in previous years the advice seems to have been to clean them up to allow water and sunlight to come through, it’s now considered best practice to leave your clippings out to provide a layer of mulch and extra nutrients. This works best when you mow frequently and avoid generating large amounts of clippings at the same time.
Time is of the Essence
Finally, when you mow is as important as how often you mow. It seems obvious to leave your lawn alone after a big rainstorm as the wet grass will clog up your mower. It also means that you’re more likely to compact the soil with the heavy machinery, making it hard for water to seep through to the roots. You should also avoid mowing your lawn in the heat of the day, or during a long dry spell. Lawn grass can get stressed out during hot weather, and keeping it too short leaves you open to diseases which can be hard to get rid of. Ideally, you’ll mow in the early evening to avoid the dew of the morning, or on a cool afternoon with cloud cover.
Watering
Just like with mowing, there are some do’s and don’ts when it comes to watering your lawn:
- DO water your lawn – this may sound weird, but it’s easy to get complacent and forget to water your lawn. Remember it’s a living plant like those in your vegetable and flower gardens. Typically, you’ll need to give your lawn an inch or so of rain a week during the summer.
- DON’T water every day – your lawn likes a good long drink, not just little sips of water. While it can be easier timewise to water a few minutes every day, you’ll lose much of this water to evaporation, and it won’t have time to sink down into the deeper roots. Aim for one or two solid watering sessions to get the required amount of water.
- DO set up automatic irrigation – if you have the time and the budget, the best way to water your lawn is through a sprinkler or irrigation system. This allows you to control the amount of water you’re putting over your lawn, as well as the frequency. It allows you to be forgetful, or go on vacation and still have a great lawn all summer.
- DON’T water during the day – the warm Calgary days means that water evaporation is a big threat to your lawn. If you water in the day, you’ll lose a lot of the standing water to evaporation, when you really want it to soak the soil. Ideally, you’ll get up early and water before the sun rises to prep your lawn for the day ahead, but you can also water in the evening before dinner to make it work with your summer schedule.
Dethatching
The final part of your Calgary lawn care maintenance is dethatching, and it’s often the most overlooked stepped. Thatch is the name for the layer of dead roots and leaves that builds up on top of the soil, and in small measures (a half inch or less) it can act as a mulch to retain moisture and keep away disease. When it builds up, it can block light and water from getting to your grass, so you need to dethatch over the summer to keep your lawn looking great. You can simply run a rake over your yard or rent a power dethatcher if things have got out of hand. It’s always a good idea to apply fertiliser and seeds as necessary after each dethatching session.
Getting Professional Help
Here at Scoop Cut N Shovel, we take lawn maintenance seriously. When you sign up for our summer lawn maintenance subscription package, you get access to our years of experience, and you can rest in the knowledge that professional help is on hand to help you get the most out of your lawn this summer.