August is the most crucial month for the home lawn. You may look out on your lawn and say: “It sure is! It looks terrible.”
If you want your lawn to look its best next August, it is time to do something about it.
Let’s take a look at your midsummer lawn and see what can be done now and during the year to ensure a better turf next August:
About Crabgrass
Of course, the easy way out of this problem is to repeat the statement of the misinformed: “If it wasn’t for the crabgrass, I wouldn’t have any lawn.”
Crabgrass is green in summer, but it is not a lawn. Not too long ago, the best way to rid a lawn of crabgrass was to get down on your hands and knees with a knife and dig it out plant by plant.
But recent advances in horticultural science have come up with new crabgrass-killing chemicals that make the digging-out method of eradication as old-fashioned as high-buttoned shoes.
For best crab-grass control, chemical treatments should be started early in the summer—around mid-June when young crabgrass plants are about an inch tall.
The Interval For Treatments
Two or three treatments at 10-day intervals starting then will just about end all crab-grass woes for the season.
“But I didn’t start early, and I’ve, got crab grass NOW!” So don’t despair; late-July or early-August treatments can still be helpful.
Using materials that are tolerant of high temperatures (some crab-grass killers may temporarily brown permanent grasses if applied when temperatures are over 80° degrees Fahrenheit), you can perhaps check crab-grass now.
Don’t expect to kill it as easily as you kill the young plants in June, but even if you prevent the oldsters from setting seed, you have made a good start in your battle against a tough weed.
Patching And Repairing
Most good gardeners make a valiant attempt in the spring to patch and repair lawns.
It’s a very good idea and will often suffice if done early enough. Some of these areas, however, may look just as bad now as they did in early spring before you started.
We have all had the same experience at one time or another. In late August, though, is the time to repair a lawn—you can look forward to next spring’s greenness.
Soil preparation is just as important when patching a lawn as planting a new one.
Scratch the surface to make a seedbed and apply fertilizer if necessary (and it probably will be).
Sow the seed and cover lightly by raking. If the weather is hot and the land dry, it will be necessary to see that these patched areas are thoroughly watered.
Watering Time
Late July through early August is a critical time of the year for lawn watering.
A 10-day period without rain can be very damaging. Therefore, proper watering is extremely important.
Just sprinkling the surface tightly does nothing more than wash the foliage and raise the humidity a little for a short time. Soak your lawn thoroughly.
Let the sprinkler run for several hours at a time so that the soil is wet to a depth of 4 to 6 inches; then, you won’t have to water for another week or so.
A thorough watering once a week is far more beneficial to the grass plants than light sprinklings nightly.
Mowing Period
Many midsummer lawn problems are a result of improper mowing. In the early spring and fall, when the lawn is growing luxuriantly, it can be cut rather close to give a neat as-a-pin appearance—about an inch high.
But once the warm weather arrives, the mower must be adjusted to cut higher—from 1 ½” to 2” inches.
Close mowing in the summer will cause a lot of damage. If you feel it is too much bother to adjust the mower during the season, set it high and leave it there—high mowing in the spring and fall will certainly cause no harm.
It may be quite a chore to get the mower out when the weather is hot, but for a grass plant to stay healthy and green, it should be mowed at regular intervals—taking off only the top half inch or so.
Success In Mowing
During vacation time, the lawn often gets neglected for two or three weeks, and when it is finally mowed, more than half the plant’s top growth is removed at one time.
The result is a lot of hard, brown stubble and, more seriously, a loss of almost all the plant’s leaf surface, which means that it can’t manufacture food at a sufficient rate to recover very quickly.
Try to make provisions to have the lawn mowed while you are away. If this is not possible, set your mower as high as possible for the first mowing and lower it slightly with each succeeding mowing.
Fertilization
One of the surest ways to keep a good lawn is to maintain a good feeding program throughout the entire season.
The best time to feed a lawn is when it is in very active growth—this is when the temperatures are a little cool, running below 70° degrees Fahrenheit.
Toward the end of August, you will find your lawn taking on a new life because then the nights are beginning to get cooler, the thermometer going down to good growing temperatures.
This is the time to start your fall feeding. Applying fertilizer then and another in three weeks or so will send the grass plants on to a good fall growth.
But don’t stop here. Remember to feed again in the spring; your lawn will be more fortified to withstand heat next July and August.
A New Start of Lawn
You may be inclined to throw up your hands and call it a day for your present lawn.
Right now, not next spring, is the time to start working on it. Science and sound practical gardening have found that the best time to start a lawn of cool-season grasses in most areas is in the fall.
But, you may say, “August doesn’t fall.” True, but the grass plants think so. This is brought out quite clearly by Dr. R. Milton Carleton in the article on the mid-August sowing of lawn seed on page 42.
Anytime from August 15 through September is ideal for sowing a new lawn. Unfortunately, most people consider it a Labor Day weekend job.
But you can start a lot sooner by preparing your soil for seeding. Dig, or till the soil early so the seeding can be done in one weekend.
44659 by William L. Meachem