Heavy Rains Will Cause Problems in Lawns

Hopefully most of this rain is out of here for good, never to be seen again!  If your yard is like mine, its been fertilized and not mowed for well over a week now.  Here are some tips and potential problems looking ahead.

Heavy rains on heavy clay soil will cause your lawn to stay saturated for many days to come. Clay is a major water-holding soil, similar to a sponge.  Putting traffic on it will cause increased compaction problems.  Stay off it whenever possible.

First of all, try not to mow it while the ground is saturated and ponding water exists. This is doing more harm than good. When you mow on heavy clay soils, you are creating more compaction that will show up later this summer when the ground dries out and turns to a brick.  Try to give the yard a couple of days to drain off before you mow.

Mow it taller than normal, ie 5 inches, not taking more than a third of the blade length in one swath. You can then come back and mow it back to the proper height.  If you bag your clippings like me, you will almost have to take the bagger off and disperse the clippings across the yard.  It will be wet and plentiful…the bagger will not be able to keep up and clog.  Then come back and bag it up when you mow next time at your chosen height.  I like 4 inches as my cutting height.  It will perform better thru the summer at this height.

Weeds will be in full force in May. If you put a crabgrass preventer down this month, it is probable that some of it washed out during the rains.  I would highly recommend a second application around Memorial Day.   This goes for the fertilizer you applied as well.   You might consider our 19-0-6 with Dimension + Confront3 to cover all bases.

We will be sending out the next edition of “Clippings”, our E-newsletter in Mid May, make sure you are signed up to receive it.  Click on the box at the top of our website home page.  Stay dry……