Our Top 6 Summer Lawn Care Challenges... and Solutions!
The first half of 2025 has kept us on our toes as a lawn care service. Every year is different in our world!
We have had the driest spring period in 100 years, and have since caught hold of some rainfall at the start of June. This has been very welcome for our lawns, whilst also highlighting a few common summer lawn care challenges that this article will hopefully help you with.
Lets get to it!
1 - Dry Conditions!
It would only take a few days of hot, dry weather for lawns to start losing the colour that they have regained in recent days. It's going to arrive again at some point! But how can your lawn overcome dry conditions?
The good news is that my last article was a dedicated post on just this, so I'm going to let you head there if dry conditions is something that your lawn continues to struggle with!
PS: There is much more to it than just water!
2 - Keeping up with mowing
Your lawn is most likely be growing at its fastest in late spring / early summer. The days at at their longest, the soil is warm 24 hours of the day, and we are getting some rain - a lovely UK early-summer mix for our plants - grass included!
However, you are at risk of taking your lawn backwards and losing that lovely deep green colour, and grass thickness if your mowing practices are not up to scratch. Here are my top tips:
- Keep your height of cut above 25mm. The less leaf area your grass has to produce food, the more issues it is going to run into!
- Mow 1-2 times per week. Little and often will not stress your grass... or your mower, or you!
- Stick to the one-third rule. Never cut more than a third of the height of the grass in one go - otherwise you're not mowing enough!
- Change you direction of cut monthly. Mowing in exactly the same way / pattern will caught wheel ruts and lateral growth / additional thatch
- Check your mower blade. You've carried out a lot of mowing by this point. Make sure your blade is sharp to avoid damaging your lawn
3 - Weeds...
We had a quiet start to the year for weeds, even as a lawn care service! With so much dry weather, weeds were struggling to germinate and establish...
...however, times have changed!
Most of us are happy to tolerate a few weeds in our lawns, however we do not want them to take over and choke the light, nutrient and water of our grass. Some weeds can grow and spread aggressively, and many new enquiries are often concerned by thistles (a sharp weed) when their children are hopeful of using the lawn across the summer months. Here are your options for weed control:
A) Manual removal
The most tedious, but also cost-effective way of ridding your lawn of weeds. Be careful that when digging our weeds to remove as much root as possible, and not to take a chunk of soil with you. We often get new lawns where we need to treat the weeds, and repair divots!
B) DIY - herbicide, or selective herbicide?
A non-selective, or total herbicide will kill weeds, and grass. If looking to treat yourself with a DIY product, use a selective herbicide to avoid killing areas of growth within your lawn. Again, we gain a number of calls following this. If using a herbicide, always read the label...
C) Use a lawn care service - a qualified, licenced, accredited professional
The application of a professional selective herbicide with your upcoming lawn care visit will yield far superior results, meaning that no product needs to be purchased, stored, or used incorrectly. Some lawn care services (ourselves included) will offer a guarantee on such applications so there is no risk to you - both product wise and results!
4 - Ants!
Now we have had some rain and soil temperature is warmer, we are seeing more ant activity.
Ants are harmless to your grass (they are doing a job de-compacting soil to be fair to them!) however the mounds they can create if not managed are not ideal for an attractive lawn.
This is another common lawn care issue that I have covered in greater detail previously, so head there if it can be of help!
5 - Mushrooms & Fungi
Mushrooms and fungi in lawns thrive in:
- Healthy soils (rarely seen in new builds!)
- During warm and wet conditions
As we have seen rain for most days in the last two weeks, we are getting some early reports of mushrooms in lawns. These are usually harmless, but I'm no mushroom expert and there are many of them - it is best not to eat them, and that goes for dogs too!
Even as an experienced lawn care service, we do not have a treatment for mushrooms in lawns. These are naturally occurring and can be seen in treated, or untreated lawns, or on playing fields or your local park.
The best thing to to us to pick these mushrooms out before mowing. Not only will this mean they don't make a mess of your mower, but they are less likely to spread.
As soon as we get some drier conditions they will be spotted less frequently.
If they are a recurring issue in your lawn, it could be due to rotting tree roots releasing excessive carbon into the soil, being part of a fairy ring, or excessive thatch - meaning scarification and aeration is advisable. This will reduce the organic matter than mushrooms and fungi thrive in.
6 - Red Thread Disease
We haven't seen much Red Thread Disease on our lawn care rounds yet... it would need more prolonged periods of rain and grass wetness... but a lot can change in a week or two!
Red thread would be more common in lawns that are being over-watered - maybe if looking to establish new turf for example.
I have covered red thread previously and we have a dedicated webpage for this, but if your lawn is particularly susceptible to disease then I would suggest that watering early in the morning, and at a reduced frequency would be the way to go. Regular evening watering is likely keeping the disease active with your lawn then sat wet for a long overnight period.
We are excited to be using a new treatment this summer with the target of combating red thread disease, and promoting a rapid green up for lawns. This mix of liquid nutrition will be providing hundreds of our lawns with a quick pick-up if that be in time for a BBQ or the school holidays!
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