Florida is nothing short of a paradise for residents, visitors, and even snowbirds. LaBelle residents understand that one of the downsides of living in such a sunny climate is that special care is needed to properly maintain your lawn. These summer lawn care tips from your local lawn service LaBelle can help you to keep your garden green during the hot and humid Florida summer. Whether you’re looking to make your home pretty for the fun of it or want to give your home some more curb appeal, here’s how you can take good care of your lawn to get it looking – and performing – it’s best. 

1. Cut the Grass – Don’t Shred It 

We’re all tempted to just cut the grass as short as we can. You think of it like your hair; the shorter it’s cut, the longer it is until it needs to be trimmed again. The problem is that grass doesn’t work the same way as hair, particularly with LaBelle lawn care. 

Chopping grass like this is just going to leave it brown and dead. Grass should be kept nice and sharp for the summer season, and it should be cut to between 2 ½ to 3 inches. Letting the grass be a little taller like this won’t take away from the groomed look of the lawn, but it allows the grass to be long enough to take in sunlight. The grass gets the necessary nutrients and the overall soil quality improves. It’s down to you to avoid cutting more than a third of the surface of grass to keep it healthy. 

2. Make it Rain 

Watering a lawn is always good, but it’s nothing short of a necessity for those in South Florida. The good news is that the humid climate of LaBelle means that the burden is a little lighter for the area, but whether or not your lawn needs extra water depends on the weather. A week of intense heat can destroy a garden if you don’t pick up the slack, which is why most summer lawn care tips for LaBelle are about watering the garden and installing irrigation. 

You may be tempted to water the garden during the peak sunlight hours of between 10AM and 4PM but this would be a bad idea. Any water you put down during this time will evaporate, so it won’t help the plants at all. Give your plants the water they need early in the morning or late in the afternoon. 

3. Give Your Garden a Smart Design 

One of the risks of living in a hot climate is the potential for water shortages. This doesn’t mean that you can’t have a lush garden though. It means being smart about how you use water in the yard. You can take advantage of the rain to make the most out of how your garden is laid out. Gutter extenders are an inexpensive way to get rainwater to cover your entire garden or shrubbery. 

4. Put the Fertilizer Away 

Flowers, plants, fruits, and vegetables may require some fertilizer across the summer. This lawn service tip doesn’t apply to decorative landscaping and flower beds. While some plants may require fertilization, you should avoid fertilizing the lawn during the summer. It doesn’t take a lot to end up over-fertilizing the grass during this lush weather. This causes scalding, which kills your lawn. In Southwest Florida its best to put fertilizer down in the spring and during late autumn. 

Don’t forget to regularly weed your garden and landscaping to keep it healthy. Weeds steal nutrients from the soil that should be going to your plants and grass. Do you have any great lawn service care tips of your own?