3 lawn care mistakes silently killing your grass this summer — and how to avoid them

Summer is almost here, and if you want to ensure greener grass, you’ll need to keep up with essential lawn care.

But, while you might swear by your usual lawn care routine, you might (unknowingly) be making one of these top lawn care mistakes.

In fact, these common errors are silently killing lawns, resulting in lush grass looking parched, unhealthy or lose its bounce — especially in a heatwave.

So if you don't want to risk ruining your yard appeal, here are three lawn care mistakes to avoid at all costs.

1. Overwatering

One of the biggest lawn care mistakes is watering your lawn too much and frequently, rather than a deep, infrequent watering.

And despite your best efforts at lawn watering, if not done correctly, this could actually do more harm than good.

“Overwatering grass can lead to its demise,” agrees Anna from Marshalls.

“Therefore, grass should be watered during the cooler time periods and only once a week. When watering grass you are looking to water deeply to ensure there’s enough water to see through a drought.”

Additionally, we often water the lawn at the wrong time of the day. Experts advise the best time to water is in the morning before 10am, or between 4-6pm.

“The best time of day to water a lawn is during the early morning between 6am and 10am, as this is typically the coolest time of day so the water will not evaporate,” adds Lucie Bradley, Greenhouse and Gardening Expert, at Two Wests & Elliott.

“Make sure your lawn is dry before nightfall however, as leaving your lawn damp overnight will make it more susceptible to disease.”

In fact, if you water during a hot, sunny afternoon, you can lose up to 30% of the water to evaporation — wasting both water and effort!

2. Mowing too short

We all want a neat and tidy lawn, but cutting your grass too short is actually damaging.

This makes the root systems too shallow and unable to soak up all the essential nutrients. As a general rule of thumb, you should never remove more than a third of the grass height with each mow.

“To keep your lawn lush and green you should alter the cutting height of your lawnmower throughout the seasons to help promote growth,” adds Bradley.

“During the summertime however, this height should be increased to 5cm to better cope with the increased temperatures. This is because longer grass blades store more water and so can help a lawn cope with drought.”

In addition, always ensure your mower has sharp blades, as dull blades will tear, rather than cut the grass, which not only looks messy, but can cause damage to the grass.

For more top tips, here are 9 signs that you’re cutting your grass too short. Plus, we ask the experts how often you should mow the lawn?

3. Using too much fertilizer

You may think you're doing your grass a favor by topping up the fertilizer, however, you could be silently killing your lawn.

This is because excess nitrogen during hot weather forces the grass to grow when it actually needs to save energy. As a result, this leads to weak or unhealthy growth, prone to disease.

Experts advise to use slow-release fertilizers during summer. “You want to fertilize your lawn every six months to help promote its growth and maintain its health and color,” says Bradley.

“The best times to fertilize the lawn are during Springtime (March or April), and Autumn (September or October). Both of these feeds will help to set the grass up for harsher weather conditions and temperatures whether these be higher or lower temperatures.”

Always follow the directions on the packaging/bag and only apply the recommended amount to your lawn. In addition, skip powdered or granular fertilizer just before a shower or else it will run off in the rainwater.

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