After several weeks of hot, dry, even scorching weather, the lawn has formed large yellow spots in places , to the point that one wonders if the grass is not dead . Do not panic ! Simply follow our advice to maintain your damaged lawn.
A resilient lawn
Turf is a mixture of different grass species. Naturally these plants are in full growth in spring and autumn. Between these two seasons, they rest and turn yellow, in summer because rainwater is scarce, in winter because of cold and frost.
But even yellow in appearance, the grass remains alive for several weeks without suffering. As soon as the rains return in September or October, the lawn regains its beautiful green color.
Weeds are plentiful!
At the end of summer, the lack of maintenance of your lawn has allowed weeds, which are more resistant to heat than grass, to develop.
Should we invest in chemicals to eliminate them? Certainly not ! Unless you want to get a golf green at all costs, just rip out the most troublesome screwdrivers.
The others will disappear on their own with the drop in temperature and everything will be back to normal, with the grass taking over!
Aerate your lawn
Good lawn aeration is essential. By dint of mowing regularly, the mowing waste accumulates and forms a felt that suffocates the lawn. Water and nutrients no longer reach it properly. To ventilate it effectively:
- You can put on aerator pads with large nails and walk around the whole garden.
- You can also use a spade fork instead. Push the teeth in with the feet, at regular intervals, as deeply as possible. Then fill the holes with potting soil and wait for the first rain. The result is spectacular!
- It is also advisable to pass the scarifier at least twice a year to remove the moss from the lawn and loosen the soil.
Sharpen the mower blade
If your mower blade is blunt, the blades of grass will be ripped out rather than cut. There is then a yellowing of the ends s.
To find a very green lawn from the next mowing, you must carefully sharpen the blade on both sides, without unbalancing it so as not to damage the engine of the mower.
Lawn yellowed by dog urine
Pet urine burns the lawn . At low doses, animal urine is a fertilizer because it contains nitrogen in the form of urea. But in high doses, it becomes poisonous and burns the roots.
Soiled grass takes on a characteristic yellow color , then the blades of grass dry up and die.
These spots fade over time but to speed things up, don’t hesitate to:
- Remove dead grass
- Claw the earth, then mix a little potting soil
- Plant a repair lawn
- Finish by watering in a fine rain.
Diseases
If your entire lawn has dried out or the grass is coming off in whole patches, it is likely that it has one of the lawn diseases.
Among them, witch circles are frequent. We observe the formation of rings of dry grass, a surprisingly darker green than the grass around. They sometimes measure up to several meters in diameter.
In autumn, mushrooms (puffballs, agarics) appear. They are the cause of the disease and occur especially in compact and clay soils. The circles get bigger over the years.
Is it useful to use a special fungicide? No, we even advise against it because the witch circles can disappear as they arrived. Simply scarify the lawn in the spring or fall to aerate it and top it with mature compost or topsoil.