JULY

As we reach July, your lawn should be in the best condition that you have seen all year and the hard yards from the spring should have paid off. If you are not at the stage where you are happy with your lawn, you can look at some of the renovation tasks that can be done to improve it - just bear in mind that the conditions will not always be ideal for that work and you may need to supplement with watering. 

The weather in July is normally warm so we are looking to ensure that this does not adversely affect the lawn. A lot of the actions that we take during July are based around protecting the lawn, so watering the lawn when it requires a top up and being careful with your cutting height are two points to focus on for the month. 

As usual, take a look at the tasks below which you can complete this month. 

Mowing

You should now have your lawn at its summer length, so it will be around the shortest that you will cut. In July, you should be looking to have your lawn about 1 to 1.5 inches in height, however, if the lawn is not seeing much water, it is always a good plan to keep it half an inch longer to protect it. As always, stick to the golden rule and never take off ⅓ of the height of the grass. 

Throughout July, your lawn shall be growing quickly as we have warmer temperatures. Because of this, you will want to look at mowing your lawn every 4-7 days. 

Edging

Make sure you keep on top of the edges of your lawn. You will want to edge the lawn every 2 or 3 times that you mow it, so you will be wanting to edge your lawn a couple of times during the month. 

Repairs and Re-seeding

Although the weather is warm enough for sowing new seed, there is not normally enough rainfall in July to allow it to germinate so you will normally need to top up the rainfall with watering in July. 

Because of this, you would not normally look to overseed in July, but if you have some patches that need re-seeding then you shall be absolutely fine. If you keep them well watered, you will find that the germination does not take long to occur - sometimes as quick as 7 days.

Watering

Rainfall in July is normally rather infrequent, so you shall need to pay close attention to the lawn and supplement any rainfall with watering. As the weather starts to hot up, it shall need more water to keep it green and lush. 

When watering, the key is to water heavily and infrequently - this shall create a lawn that is hardy and helps develop a strong root system that can withstand drought periods. 

Fertilise

As we are reaching the summer months, getting a slow release, granular fertiliser on to your lawn is important. This will get that deep green colour and help establish a strong root system which will keep your lawn healthy during the drier periods. 

Bear in mind that a lawn feed does need plenty of water after it has been applied, so you will need to either wait for a rainy period or water your lawn. If you haven’t already, now would be a great time to buy a sprinkler.

Weed Control

Ideally, you will have already removed any weeds from the winter period but if you do have any that are lingering around still, you can continue to kill or remove them. 

You can look into getting a lawn weed killer or removing with hand tools.