Stay Cool & Green! Your Summer Lawn Care Guide

Happy summer, Mascouche-Terrebonne! This is a wonderful time of year for us who love the outdoors, but it certainly brings a unique set of challenges for taking care of our lawns. There are lawn care items that are important all year (dormant winter aside) but there are some tasks, which are uniquely summer and your lawn will thank you for it by staying vibrant and green. Let's talk about lawn care in the toasty season!

While consulting our blog, keep in mind that Gazonnière Alexander proudly deals in premium Kentucky bluegrass, and will be offering advice specific to such. While lots of this advice might apply to different species of grass, you might want to consider turning this into a bigger research project to best care for your own unique, beautiful lawn.

Watering the lawn

When your grass it is not well watered, it will tell you in a variety of ways. Your grass is wilting; the growth of its roots reduces, and becomes vulnerable to disease. This does not mean your lawn is not getting enough water. In many cases, you need to be more mindful of when you water!

Our own irrigation system hard at work!

Your irrigation system is most effective early morning or when the sun is on its way down. You might have already guessed, but watering during these hours limits how much water the sun can steal from your soil. Sprinklers can be fun to have on while playing with the kids, but do your best to limit how often you are watering the lawn. Your watering schedule is optimal when you are doing so less often for longer durations. Short, frequent watering will not afford the grass’ roots to grow deep, resulting in weaker grass. Here in Mascouche-Terrebonne and the surrounding region in Quebec, it is best to water about 2-3 times a week for a minimum of 50 minutes. Moreover, when you can, let Mother Nature take care of the lawn for you. If there is a nice summer rainfall this season, no need to over-water!

Mow high!

Mowing your lawn is much more than a practice in aesthetics. A tidy lawn is inviting to kids and pets who want to play, of course, but it is also less inviting to diseases and unwelcome pests.

Don't rake your clippings away!

If you generally like your trimmed lawn nice and low, we are asking you to step a little outside of your comfort zone on this one. Cutting your Kentucky bluegrass at approximately 3 inches reduces stress caused by the mower itself, as well as keeps your soil in the shade, reducing evaporation. You put all that effort into watering - do not let it go to waste with too short a mow! Furthermore, if those grass clippings are not too long, leave them! Rather than clearing them, allow the clippings to decompose and return valuable nutrients back into the soil.

Fighting weeds - before and after they show up!

Summer heat can thin out your grass, which in turn leaves weeds plenty of room to spread and grow. You can try natural remedies with household items. However, frankly, if you are looking to go green, it does not get much greener than getting it done by hand. Consider making a routine of it, once a week, scouting for young weeds before they bloom. An ideal time to remove the weeds is after it rains or has be watered. Pests! What to do? We are not the only ones out there who enjoy the summer. Unfortunately, this is the time of year where the likes of chinch bugs and earwigs start making themselves at home in your lawn. We advise you to call a lawn-care expert. Seeding

SynAgri fertlizer, available at our farm

It is early in the summer, but not too early to plan ahead. You might be thinking ahead all the way to August, in which you might be considering seeding your lawn. If so, you can start preparing your lawn as early as mid-July by laying down rooting fertilizer. When installing grass or when you seed, fertilizer will help, solidify the roots. It also gives a boost to help with areas that are more difficult! At Gazonnière Alexander, we proudly carry SynAgri, as well as several brands of natural chicken manure to get the job done.

As for you and your pets, be sure to take shelter from the sun, here and there!

For more personalized tips catered to your specific needs, give us a call, or stop by Gazonnière Alexander! Make the most of your 2025 summer season!