Lawn Brown Spots
They look like brown stains on your nice green grass. Unsightly or downright ugly. They can be caused by a few things, and prevented to a degree too. There are a couple of lawn maintenance tricks for this.
If your yard faces the pavement or borders a public right of way then a common cause is dog urine. Dogs and their owners seem to think peeing on your lawn is okay. Prolonged exposure to urine will cause your grass to go brown and die off. The easiest way to prevent this is to fence the area off with a low fence or catch the dog and owner in the act. Politely remind them that a bill for lawn repairs can be expensive to dog owners…
Obstructions just underneath the soil can prevent your lawn developing proper roots. The easiest way to diagnose this kind of problem is to push through the grass with a long screwdriver and see if you it anything. If there is something under there then you have to dig it out and replant the turf.
Over feeding and over watering also causes brown spots on your lawn. Just like us if we eat or drink too much it affects our health, grass suffers the same fate. Too much nitrogen or water can cause the grass to discolor. Too much water can also be a problem if drainage is an issue. Clay soils suffer from this a lot, where water just sits on the surface as the soil underneath is too compacted to allow it to soak through.
Managing a lawn during scorching weather
Unfortunately when a drought hits watering your yard is quickly banned to save water. If grass doesn’t get at least an inch of water per week it begins to die back. My lawn and yard service can cure all these problems for you, but there are a few tricks to keep your grass looking as healthy as possible during these times.
Adding Microbial Soil Agents will help your lawn endure by providing fungal spores which modifies the soil to allow it to retain moisture. It also acts as an insulator like when you add hay to your vegetable garden.
Stopping the use of fertilizers during this time is also essential. We don’t want to encourage the grass to grow too much because growth requires water. Growing slower will also encourage hardier growth which will benefit the plant in the long run.
Keeping a rain barrel or water butt allows you to store water for a non rainy day. It’s quite easy to set one up so your gutters feed into it to give you the most water possible. You can then use it sparingly on your lawn at dusk.
As I said in a previous post, letting your grass grow that little bit longer will enable it to grow its roots. This will allow access to any water underground within reach of the root. Cutting the grass short with severely limit the roots reach.
These methods won’t work miracles, but in my experience they will help to keep your lawn looking beautiful whatever the weather.