Defending the garden against summer

Hello,

I would like to know what is the best way of defending one's lawn against the effect of a hot summer? I live in NE Italy and after a whole month and a half of nearly incessant rain (which did a lot of good for the garden as a whole) the sun has come out in force, leaving me worried for the next summer. Last summer was a disaster, I had replanted parts of the lawn which had been torn up by building activities, however the lack of rain meant that it was all for nought. Now I have done it again (and in the right season) and
want to make sure that the grass will last through summer unscathed. Any ideas?

Cheers Nicholas

 

I don't know your growing conditions but I've figured as long as it gets enoigh water, first thing in the morning before the day gets hot, it survives qute nicely.

 

Water daily is the only way to keep the grass from fading. Early morning and evening when it’s at it’s coolest. Once or twice daily depending
Avoid fertilisers with high N if you are going to feed and if you do feed then water is a must.
Cut just a little off at a time, keep the grass at a nice height, avoid short cuts.

 

That contradicts what I had read online.

I was led to believe that watering often with a small amount of water encouraged the grass roots to grow near the surface of the soil, which would leave them vulnerable to a period of heat with no water. I'd read that you should give your lawn 1 inch of water a week in a single session, which would encourage the roots to grow deep in the soil.

 

Water daily, it’s how I look after my companions lawn and never had an issue and it’s the same with new turf, seedlings. I recommend this to all my customers and never had an issue.
By watering daily the ground is kept damp and the water penetrates easier. You still need to water well.
Last summer was a good example, I swapped to a iron based feed and watered daily.
There are rough calculations but that’s aimed more at sports than domestic.

To get deep root growth is not just water but for the majority of grass types found in domestic lawns you need to keep the top growth to a good height and a balanced NPK feed.
A single water of just 1 inch last summer was simply not enough to stop grass fading, in fact take into account the evaporation which is at least 11% you then find a single water is simply not enough, add the soil type then the 1 inch rule is thrown out as different soils require different amounts of water.

Last year was a real hot summer, this year may be different so a bit of common sense comes into play.

 

As liz the pot does, I too keep grass at a generous height and this tends to help lawn withstand any water shortage. And cutting often...twice a week....minimises damage to grass
I also top dress/mulch the grass ...autumn and spring....and I feel this also helps protect against drying out.
I water at least once a week ...twice or even more if hot and dry.
Last year the lawns stayed green despite the free draining sandy soil

 

That’s the way to do it
It’s really down to making sure you water enough for the conditions. You can put too much on but our old lawns are not play surfaces.
grass against paths, brickwork and so on will normally suffer first as the heat enters the soil from the material. Those areas need a bit of care, you always notice the borders by public pavements tend to go brown quickly.
One of the best ways is to saturate the ground which is called field capacity at infrequent intervals and then in between apply lighter applications each day to two. 2 to 4mm. This helps with a uniform depth moisture level.
It’s a great way of not working out water usage dependant on soil type.
Grass if left in drought has a natural tendency to shed its roots so a good scarify, even spiking helps to get water down to the depths that’s needed which is why it’s good practise to scarify or even aerate if need be.
As Hoofy pointed out, too little water creates shallow roots even though the grass may still look ok.

 

Great info, as always, liz the pot