Keeping your lawn looking healthy is very difficult to do during the best of times, but during the summers in North Carolina, it can feel like everything is suffering under the hottest time of the year. Your dry, dead-looking lawn and droopy plants are really looking bad, so how do you fix it? Packing your lawn with water and fertilizer might seem like a good idea, but doing things the right way is super important.
It’s important to water your lawn the right way throughout the year, and that includes a North Carolina heat wave. Here are a few tips that you can follow whenever the North Carolina summers turn up the heat!
To Water Or Not To Water
While you might decide not to water your lawn and keep it dry during a heat wave, one of the worst things that you can do is perform infrequent watering. As the roots chase the water, this can cause the roots to grow shallow, which makes the plants more susceptible to drought.
On the other hand, if the roots are deep because you are performing deep watering, they are able to survive droughts and heat much better. You can water deeply about twice a week, soaking the ground to get the water deep into the ground. Just make sure to be frequent because you really can’t miss a day during the summer weeks.
You can also choose to stop watering and allow the lawn to go dormant, which will turn the grass greenish-brown, and then the lawn will come back whenever the cooler months come along. Dormancy is natural for grass and plants, and it allows the grass to handle periods of drought and lack of water.
Should You Fertilize?
Fertilization can be a big benefit to your garden, causing a lot of extra nutrients to go into your plants that they might not find in the natural wilds. These include nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus that will help your plants grow bigger and produce more food. However, even though fertilizer is a massive benefit for your plants, you should never use it in a heat wave.
Caring For Plants
You can use mulch to help pack the moisture along with the very deep watering. Mulch helps to keep the water from evaporating, and that means that your plant’s roots can take in the moisture and retain it longer. As long as you have a 2-3 inch layer of mulch inside of your garden beds, you can water early in the morning when it is cool, and then the water will get to the plants before the water evaporates.
If you have plants in a container, you should be frequently watering them through the hottest and driest parts of the summer. If the plants are exposed to sunlight, even indoors, you need to keep watering them because the water will evaporate quickly.
Contact Mobile Mower Techs
However you decide to take care of your lawn during the North Carolina summers, always be sure that your mower is in tip-top shape. Lawn mower repair doesn’t have to be a big hassle when you deal with Mobile Mower Techs. We will come to your location and do the repair work on-site. No hauling your mower around and spending days waiting to go pick it back up again. We are available in Raleigh, Durham, and all surrounding areas, so give us a call today!