Restoring Dead Grass

If you've ever watched your lawn fade from luscious green to a dead grass wheat field brown, you know how difficult it can be to maintain a healthy lawn throughout the dog days of summer.

But while summer heat can quickly turn a blanket of green grass in your yard to a hayfield, lawns can survive to thrive again with just a few precautions:

First, cut back on mowing. In hot, dry weather, grass often goes into a semi-dormant state, appearing as "dead grass,"  but will come back when weather conditions improve. Mowing once a week is plenty.

Also, it's best to keep the grass a little longer in the summer, so don't cut as often. Cutting too frequently can mean the grass loses more moisture from the cut tips, and mower wheels can leave brown stripes on stressed lawns. A good mowing height is 2 ½ to 3 inches.

If your lawn is in good shape you can allow your grass to go into a semi-dormant state by cutting back on watering. If brown is not your color and you prefer to water, do so very early in the morning to give the lawn a chance to dry by night time to discourage problems with bugs and diseases.

It's best to water heavily a couple times a week to encourage deeper root growth, rather than light watering every day. Roots that are closer to the surface are more susceptible to heat and far less likely to turn into a dead grass looking lawn.