Baked dry grass

[Van-Wild]

It's not even 6am and I'm posting on here....! Random I know but.......

My 4 month old lawn has baked dry. It was left to settle when laid for about 8 weeks before its first cut. Then trimmed every 4ish weeks thereafter. Its south facing and the recent delightful Hest has baked it almost dry.

What to do? I'm on a water meter, so watering it for hours every evening isn't an option. I've banned the boy from playing football on it as his Ronaldoesque sliding goal celebrations really weren't helping!

Does anyone have any green fingered tips on how to restore my lawn? I really don't want it to waste away.....

Picture for an idea of the state of it. (The dog has been banned as well.....)

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[TeeDee]

I thought you were a van dweller?

That doesn't look that bad to be honest - its green at least , I guess you could set up some shading and use post wash bathwater ( minus any chems ) to spruce it up a little. Any rainbutts in place to catch the odd thunderstorm or not?

 

[Van-Wild]

I thought you were a van dweller?

That doesn't look that bad to be honest - its green at least , I guess you could set up some shading and use post wash bathwater ( minus any chems ) to spruce it up a little. Any rainbutts in place to catch the odd thunderstorm or not?

Only temporarily van dwelling now. Still regularly living in my van alone when travelling with work. The wife wanted roots so here we are.....

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[Mesquite]

Tbh there's not much to do this time of year apart from trying to keep it watered but that leads to issues in itself. Watering during dry periods tends to weaken the grass long term by encouraging shallow rooting which then leads to dry weather affecting it more.

Your real work to improve your lawn should be done in the autumn by scarifying the grass hard with a fan rake or a dedicated machine to remove dead thatch. You'll be amazed with how much comes out. After you've scarified grab your border fork and go over the ground and spike it every 2"-3"to a depth of about 4" and heaving the fork slightly to break any compaction.

Once you've done the forking top dress and seed with a drought resistant grass and wait until the spring then feed the grass with a fertiliser. Hopefully your lawn will improve next year and years to come.

 

[slowworm]

I agree with Mesquite, there's more advice on the RHS site as well: https://www.rhs.org.uk/lawns/drought-care

As we're now coming into summer holiday season we should be getting some rain.

 

[SaraR]

You can also make use of any short spells of rain by giving it a bit of a soaking afterwards. It’s looking quite green still, so it might only need one or two good rain events (natural or augmented) to survive the summer in a decent state.

 

[Van-Wild]

Thank you all for your replies. I guess I'm just gonna have to wait and see. The gods must be favourable as we are expecting a sudden heavy down pour this evening!

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[Lean'n'mean]

Ouch ! You have mown the grass way too short, especially for new grass that wouldn't yet have developed a good root system. If you can't water it then pray for rain & if you have to mow, set it at the highest cut during summer which will make it more resistant to dry spells.(& it will be able to photosynthesize). A good feed wouldn't go a miss either because the soil doesn't look too hospitable.

 

[dwardo]

Not enough drought resistant weeds in there is your problem

 

[Van-Wild]

Ouch ! You have mown the grass way too short, especially for new grass that wouldn't yet have developed a good root system. If you can't water it then pray for rain & if you have to mow, set it at the highest cut during summer which will make it more resistant to dry spells.(& it will be able to photosynthesize). A good feed wouldn't go a miss either because the soil doesn't look too hospitable.

It was cut on the highest setting each time until this time. Was this not a long enough time to leave it? I've not had to care for grass before..... is it recoverable, do you think?

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[Mesquite]

It was cut on the highest setting each time until this time. Was this not a long enough time to leave it? I've not had to care for grass before..... is it recoverable, do you think?

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Don't worry, it's totally recoverable. Just keep cutting it at your mowers highest setting and leave a good period of time between mowing.

I'm currently cutting my lawn once a fortnight and depending on how it's looking when the next cut is due I might leave it an extra week or two.

Your lawn is looking pretty good considering the lack of rain we've had. What I wouldn't do is apply any fertilisers until we've had a really good spell of wet weather. That ensures you don't put the grass under stress by encouraging growth in drought weather.

 

[Van-Wild]

Don't worry, it's totally recoverable. Just keep cutting it at your mowers highest setting and leave a good period of time between mowing.

I'm currently cutting my lawn once a fortnight and depending on how it's looking when the next cut is due I might leave it an extra week or two.

Your lawn is looking pretty good considering the lack of rain we've had. What I wouldn't do is apply any fertilisers until we've had a really good spell of wet weather. That ensures you don't put the grass under stress by encouraging growth in drought weather.

Thanks for the advice, much appreciated!

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