Maintaining your garden is not as simple a task as you might imagine. It takes a lot of time, patience and good will. Above all, you must provide the most appropriate care to preserve your crops. Knowing in particular that changes in temperature have a certain impact on plants: flowers, trees and shrubs need to be watered regularly otherwise they risk drying out. The lawn also needs to be hydrated. However, many tend to neglect it. Discover this simple tip that will help you take better care of it.
What’s sadder than the sight of a dry and yellowed lawn?
Over time, if you don’t give it proper care and the right amount of water, lush green grass will eventually fade, dry out and die. But how often should you water it and why stick a screwdriver into the ground? We tell you everything.
Is your lawn dry? Hydration is essential!
Maintaining your lawn properly means first meeting your primary needs. Watering is one of them. As you expected, summer has surely taken its toll: following the long, hot and sunny days, your lawn is now yellowed and dry. It’s time to give it a special and careful interview.
First step: it is necessary to mow it properly. Rake wide and remove all dead stems and the top layer they create. Be aware that dry grasses hinder the penetration of water into the roots, which leads to rotting and the development of fungal diseases. This is why scarifying the lawn is essential : air and water will reach the ground even faster, helping to thoroughly clean the surface of dead stems.
Second step: then water the grass abundantly until the water seeps into the deeper layers of the earth. After that, you will need to reduce the frequency of watering. Especially in winter, when it often rains. However, it is important to mow your lawn regularly to encourage greener, lusher growth. Don’t forget to pull out weeds as soon as they appear.
After three to four weeks, the grasses will begin to grow. Remember not to fertilize them in summer. It is only around September that you will be able to consider it. But be careful, remember that a dry lawn is more frequently attacked by weeds. Therefore, from the beginning of spring, you must make sure to remove them regularly.
Test the condition of your lawn with a screwdriver
Let’s now move on to our famous tip: it is above all a means of prevention or rather anticipation. Indeed, before it is too late and your lawn suffers significant damage, it would be wiser to take certain measures to prevent this from happening.
It is therefore imperative to regularly check the condition of the grass in your garden, to be sure that it is sufficiently hydrated and well ventilated. To ensure this, Laurent Guervenec, gardening expert, recommends using a simple and quick method which only requires an ordinary screwdriver.
How to carry out this “screwdriver test”?
Press it into the soil of your lawn by hand. If it slides easily to 15 to 17 centimeters deep, it’s perfect. This proves that your lawn is watered properly and is well hydrated. If, on the contrary, you feel resistance or blockage, then the ground is too hard and compact. This means that it lacks ventilation and humidity. You need to water it more.
