Utahns take pride in their homes. You can drive through almost any neighborhood and see dark green manicured lawns, weed-free flower beds, and neatly pruned trees and shrubs. The waning of winter giving way to spring is almost like watching a nature show on public television. If you watch long and hard enough you can almost see the bulbs peek through the soil, the buds on the trees swell, and the golden hue of dormant grass begins to turn bright green.

Green grass

Having a perfect, green lawn is a high standard sought by many homeowners.

Achieving this standard can be costly. Fertilizer is needed multiple times a year, weed killer is applied, edgers are primed and mowers can be heard running nearly every weekend morning.

As spring gives way to summer, lawn maintenance increases dramatically. But did you know that the best thing you can do for your lawn this time of year is preparing it for the heat of the summer? How do you get it ready?

In Utah, 90 percent of lawns are cool season grasses. These types of grasses thrive in the cooler parts of the year and struggle in the heat. That is why lawns green up readily in the spring and in the fall and go yellow as the temperatures increase. When it goes yellow it is not dying, it is trying to go dormant. Utah lawns are actually extremely drought tolerant because they can go dormant (yellow) and can live with very little water. But who wants a yellow lawn in the summertime? Not most people. To combat this and keep the grass green they pour on the water.

Here are three easy, inexpensive things you can do this time of year to get your grass ready for the heat.

1. Let your lawn stress a bit

This may sound odd, but the best thing you can do right now for your lawn is let it go as long as possible without water. Local soils are still nice and wet from the moisture received in winter and recent rain storms. Soil is like a reservoir for plant roots. When the reservoir is full, it’s full. Adding more water won’t do anything. It will either drain out of the root zone or run off and be wasted. Let your soil get dry before watering. Try holding off watering until Mother’s Day or even later depending on the weather.

Letting the soil dry out a bit by waiting as long as possible to water forces plant roots deeper into the ground. The same principle applies later on by not watering as frequently when you do water. These deep roots will keep your grass nice and green when it gets hot. Watering every day encourages shallow roots (why would they go deep if they don’t have to) and thatch. Thatch prevents water from permeating into the soil and shallow roots dry up quickly in the heat, causing people to think that they need to water more frequently.

Why is this a good time of year to let your lawn stress a bit? Because it’s still cool and you won’t see the effects of the stress as much as if you were trying to train your grass to grow deep roots in July and August.

2. Aerate

As mentioned above, thatch can be an issue. Contrary to popular belief, thatch is not dead grass clippings that have been allowed to fall during mowing. It is made up of tiny surface roots that make a mat-like layer at the surface of the soil that sometimes doesn’t let water through. What causes it? Overwatering and too much fertilizer. Aerating your lawn once a year with a good core aerator is a good habit to get into. You may want to do it twice a year if you have heavy soils (like clay) or compaction issues. Those with sandy soils or good irrigation practices can often get away with aerating only every other year.

3. Fix your irrigation system

This may seem obvious, but many dry spots result from mismanaged or poorly designed irrigation systems. These spots are often the result of sunken, tilted, broken, clogged, turned irrigation heads, or heads spaced too far apart. Fix everything right now to avoid ever getting pesky dry spots. Do a monthly audit. Turn on each of zone and see if sprinklers hit the dry spots. Most people water during the night and don’t see how their sprinklers are doing, remaining oblivious to maintenance issues that need to be fixed. Don’t be oblivious − turn on your sprinklers and take a look at what’s occurring.

By doing these three simple things, letting your lawn stress a bit, aerating, and auditing your system on a regular basis, you can have the greenest lawn in the neighborhood this July and August without too much money or water being wasted. Let’s keep our lawns green and happy the healthy way

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