edges of lawn going brown

We have a small front lawn laid on a bed of sand,the lawn is always nice and green until we start to get the first hot long suuny days like we have just had on Thursday and Friday.
Every year only the edge of the lawn about 1 foot in go brown and die however not the central parts which remain lush and gren.
Has any one any ideass or suggestions?
Many thanks

 

Hi there - sounds like for some reason any moisture at the edges is draining/drying very quickly. The edges of the lawn will always drain the fastest - but this sounds a little wider than normal.

An off the top of my head suggestion - can you line the edge of the lawn with one of these plastic lawn edge thingys - that should slow the evaporation/drainage from the side.

 

I think that Fran has hit the nail on the head - moisture deficit at the edges.

If you cut very close the grass roots will dry faster. You might think about raising the cut a bit.
Sand is not moisture retentative which is why us poor souls with mossy lawns scatter it to improve drainage.

Another thing to try is to leave the cuttings on the lawn in the height of summer. So long as you are cutting the lawn regularly and the cuttings are not too long they will provide some shelter from the sun. There was some research done about the relative merits of collecting v leaving cuttings a few years ago and as far as I can recollect, it concluded that there were advantages in leaving short cuttings lying.

[ 08. June 2006, 10:28 PM: Message edited by: Dave W ]