Summer Gardening — Mansfield Lawn Care Professionals Share Tips To Keep Your Garden Green And Thriving

When it’s hot as blazes outside, your lawn and garden can turn from green and moist to brown and dry quite easily. It’s quite an unpleasant sight, but the even bigger concern is how expensive it normally would take to breathe new life into a garden gone parched and ugly. When it comes to summer lawn care and gardening, Mansfield horticulturists and lawn care experts always say that prevention is better than cure — so when the heat actually hits, you only have to do very little to maintain your garden’s green and thriving appearance.

Some of the most effective summer gardening tips are listed below.

1. For the latter weeks of spring, start introducing lawn tonics to your soil. Using fertiliser that’s nitrogen-, phosphorous-, and potassium-rich will do the trick. Apply the solution then water it well into the ground to prep soil for the damaging summer heat.
2. Best control the weeds as well, so you can go through the entire summer not worrying about the proliferation of weeds. Corn gluten meal is an ideal weed killer; not only is it cheap, but it’s also non-toxic, making your lawn and garden completely safe for the pets and kids who will likely use your garden as their playground.
3. Get ready for the attack of the creepy crawlies and fliers because the heat will prompt them to turn to your plants and grass for sustenance. Try using diatomaceous earth to kill off insects. As for slugs and snails, place shallow dishes with beer or dishwashing liquid and water around the lawn and garden where they’re likely to feed. The dishes will attract the slugs and later on drown them.
4. Make mowing less frequent during the summer. Keep the height no shorter than three inches because short grass easily gets stressed during dry periods and would require more water; ditto with leafy plants.
5. Water deeply instead of frequently. Let the ground soak up a lot of water because this will encourage roots to grow deeper as well, which then will allow them to reach for underground water much better. The same principle also applies to potted plants even if they don’t grow deep; soaking the soil will prevent it from losing moisture during the day.
6. Water your lawn and garden either really early in the morning or in the evening so the soil can really soak up all the moisture before the sun causes it to evaporate.