Calgary’s summers come with a blessing and a curse. The blessing is a series of wall to wall sunshine days with high temperatures that make you want to be outside in your garden instead of going to work or doing household chores. The curse is for your lawn, with the same high temperatures and long sunny days making it tricky to keep your grass looking green and lush throughout the season. Fortunately, there’s some simple tips to keep a thriving lawn during the Calgary summer, and professional help if you just want someone else to deal with the curse.
5 Tips For A Thriving Lawn
Don’t be fooled by the fertilizer adverts on TV; maintaining a healthy lawn takes a lot of work, and during the summer, it can feel like a part (or even full!) time job out there. However, with the right approaches to your lawncare strategy, you can make any size lawn look great.
Look After Your Mower
Before the snow has fully melted and you start thinking about the first official cut of the season, you should get your mower serviced by a local small engine professional. This should focus on making sure your blades are sharp and moving correctly. Dull blades rip the grass instead of cutting off the tops cleanly. These rips lead to brown and frayed tips which in turn invite a variety of lawn diseases that you’ll then spend the rest of summer fighting off.
Mow High
With your mower in good working condition, you then need to set up a mowing schedule. Your grass has a Goldilocks zone for length: too high and you prevent all the rain and sunlight coming down to the roots, and too short means that you’re cutting off the photosynthesis each blade needs to survive. In an ideal world, you should leave around 3 inches at each mow which is the ideal height for water retention and thick growth that doesn’t allow weeds a chance to grow.
Leave The Clippings
The debate over whether to leave your grass clippings out or not is never truly settled, and it will still be a matter of personal preference. However, the city of Calgary does recommend leaving them out if they’re finely cut as a way of returning nitrogen to your soil and locking in moisture underneath. The trick is avoid thatching, where you get thick clumps of grass clippings that mold and block out the sunlight. You can do this by modifying your mowing pattern to avoid putting all the clippings in one area, and only mowing on dryer days as wet grass tends to clump more easily.
Fertilize Sparingly
In a perfect world, you would save your heavy fertilizing for spring and fall as the more consistent rainfall will give the nitrogen a better chance of seeping deeper down to the roots and nourishing your lawn before the growing season really kicks in. If you do feel the need to fertilize in the summer, try to avoid doing it during the heat of the day, where nitrogen rich fertilizers can burn and damage the soil. Make sure to water the fertilized areas fully after a summer application to get the nutrients to seep down quicker.
Water Infrequently
It may sound counterintuitive, but in the frequent periods where there are extended days between rainfall, you need a watering plan to get at least an inch (preferably up to an inch and a half) into the soil each week. However tempting it might be to spread this out over the period of 7 days, the hot Calgary sun means that any water towards the surface of your soil will evaporate away, leaving your lawn dehydrated. Aim for a good soaking once or twice a week, and use sprinklers where possible to give you consistent coverage instead of localized drownings.
Get Professional Help
Getting a lush green lawn takes a lot of time and effort. You have to make it a top priority for your summer chores, and it’s easy to get sucked into a losing battle where you spend more time fixing up, looking after and worrying about your lawn than you do actually enjoying it (or watching your family enjoy it!). This is when it’s time to call Scoop Cut N Shovel to get our professional lawn care help. There’s always a balance between spending your own time and effort on a project and spending money to have someone take care of it for you, but Scoop Cut N Shovel’s lawncare services make this a no-brainer.
The Professional Edge
We’ll visit your property to talk about your lawn needs, hopes and expectations. Our team of lawn care experts will then analyze your lawn and soil to work out a plan of action. This will include recommendations on fertilizing, including the type of fertilizer, where to apply it and how to apply it. We’ll then set up a mowing schedule where one of our team will come to your home and keep your grass at a good length for growing. All you then need to do is worry about the watering, and we can give suggestions about irrigation and sprinkler systems.
Bundle To Save More
Scoop Cut N Shovel isn’t just a lawncare business. We also provide a wide range of other property maintenance services to keep your home and garden looking great all year round. If you need a spring clean up or some work in the fall to prepare for winter, we got you covered. If you’re tired of clearing snow and ice all winter long, we’ll come take care of it for you. If dealing with your dog waste feels gross and time consuming, we’ll handle it without a complaint. With each of our subscription services, you can save money by bundling them together. Our best value is our year round property maintenance package which gives you access to all of our expert services and leaves you clear to enjoy your garden all year round.