Summer is only months away, which means the dry season is waiting to take a toll on your lawn.  Preparing your lawn for the upcoming dry season means taking the right steps towards the end of spring and beginning of summer are essential to your lawns health.  Here are 4 lawn care tips you can follow to ensure a healthy green lawn this summer.

Dethatching

Dethatching your lawn is by far one of the most important things you can do in the spring to help your lawn grow healthy in the summer.  Dethatching is the process of raking out the dead and damaged grass from your lawn.  Dead and damaged grass absorbs nutrients in your lawn leaving less nutrients for healthy grass to absorb and grow.

Late Spring Fertilizer

In the late spring/early summer, weed control that focuses on popular Minnesota weeds such as dandelions and creeping Charlie/ground ivy should be applied before they start to take over your lawn.  Once these weeds begin to take over your lawn, it’s hard to stop them as their seeds are easily spread across your lawn by wind and animals.

The second application of fertilizer in the late spring is a granular fertilizer that promotes healthy lawn growth.  This granular fertilizer should be a slow release granular fertilizer that releases nutrients that feed your lawn over time.  A slow release is phenomenal during the drier months of the late spring and early summer.

Lawn Mowing

Regularly mowing your lawn is ideal helps reduce of creating an ideal habitat for insects like mosquitos, voles, mice and snakes.  Furthermore, when mowing your lawn, it is important to keep in mind that shorter is not always better.   Proper mowing height is important to help your lawn strive during the colder, wetter months and the hotter, drier months.  During the hotter, drier months, you may want to let your lawn grow a tad bit longer so it can strive.

Below are the ideal height for grass based on the type of grass you have in your lawn…

Cool Season Grasses of Minnesota

Kentucky Bluegrass                : 2.5 to 3 inches (60-75 mm)
Perennial Ryegrass                : 2.5 to 3 inches(60-75mm)
Tall Fescue                             : 2.5 to 4 inches (60-100 mm)

Warm Season Grasses of Southern State

Common bermuda                  : 0.75 to 1.25 inches ( 20-30mm)
Hybrid bermuda                      : 0.5 to 1.0 inches (12-25 mm)
St. Augustine                          : 2.0 to 4 inches ( 50-100 mm)
Zoysiagrass                            : 1 to 2.5 inches (25-60 mm)
Centipede grass                     : 1.0 to 2.0 inches ( 25-50 mm)

Following the lawn care tips above should prove to give you the lush, healthy, green lawn you strive for this year.