Summer Newsletter 2025

Summer is here! We hope you and your family are having a great summer so far. We like to help out where we can, so take a moment to read our newsletter below, to obtain seasonal information, helpful hints, and maintenance instructions tailored to this warm weather.

It’s Summer Time!

Summer is here and it is starting to warm up. We get a lot of questions this time of year regarding new sod and established lawns regarding stress levels in the lawn. Typically the biggest problem homeowners have this time of year is water related. Remember one setting on your sprinkler systems don’t apply all summer long. This also applies to homeowners without sprinkler systems and are watering by hand.

As the temperature rises the water amounts will need to go up. As an example if you are watering every third day you may need to water every other day to keep the lawn healthy. If you’re already watering every other day you may want to water twice (morning and evening) every other day. Shaded areas will need less water than fully exposed lawns. Understanding that you may have water restrictions in your community most will allow supplemental watering by hand. You may need to do that to get the lawn through the warmer months.

The best time to water your lawn if it is an established lawn would be early mornings or early evenings. These are cooler times of the day which will allow the water to soak in a lot better than if you did it in the heat of the day. The only down side of watering in the heat of the day is you will lose some water due to evaporation.

Don’t be fooled by the old wives tale that if you water your lawn in the heat of the day it will burn your lawn. Sometimes the lawn needs a little water in the middle of the day if the watering has been neglected and you’re trying to bring the lawn back. Remember depending on the type of sprinkler head you will need to make adjustments to your water duration.

As an example if you have a head that oscillates side to side or back and forth, it will take you twice as long in the area than a head that simply sprays up and out. Heads that spray up and out typically can run 10-12 minutes and it will be fine. Heads that oscillate will need to run 25-30 minutes to get the same amount of water down in the areas.

Bluegrass Resiliency

Bluegrass is very resilient and if it is struggling and you start applying the appropriate amount of water and TLC it will bounce back nicely for you. See the picture below of an area that was very yellow but after some TLC with added water it bounced back very nicely. Often homeowners think that their lawn is dead when in reality it went dormant to try and preserve itself through drought conditions. Bluegrass is one of the best species of grass that bounce back very nice when the drought condition is over. It is possible that the grass did die depending on the amount of time without water but don’t give up too easy and try a little extra water to see if it will start turning around.

Fertilizers

We get a lot of questions about fertilizing and what the best type of fertilizer is to use. First you need to know over fertilizing an area will burn your lawn so you need to be very careful with the application. In regards to brand of fertilizers, we recommend choosing a brand and sticking with it. We recommend buying a spreader that is outlined in the chosen brand instructions so the application can be followed precisely.

Another important thing to understand is type of fertilizer. Some fertilizers are a weed and feed type of fertilizer that would be used to kill any weeds you have in your lawn and also provide the proper nutrients to feed your lawn to promote a healthy lawn. Other fertilizers can be a feed only type of fertilizer used for lawns that do not have any weeds in the area.

It’s also important to understand the numbers on the bag also known as the NPK Ratio. N is for Nitrogen, P is for Phosphorus and K is for Potassium. These are the main three nutrients used to help with the lawns overall health. The Nitrogen promotes the green in your lawn and the hardiness of the lawn, Phosphorus is for overall root health, and Potassium helps fight disease and helps with water absorption.

To determine what’s best for your lawn will depend on what you are trying to achieve. Many bags of fertilizer outline instructions for different types of grasses and also outline the application rates. It’s very important to follow the instructions precisely to avoid burning the lawn. Bluegrass and Fescues do well with fertilizers higher in Nitrogen to help get your lawn nice and green. Some fertilizers also have higher Iron percentage which also helps promote green lawns.

In the fall it’s good to add a winterizer fertilizer to the lawn because it is higher in Phosphorus and Potassium which helps strengthen the root system and fight diseases to get it ready to go through the winter. The Sod Guy carries a fertilizer high in Nitrogen and Iron to help with greening. We also carry the same brand of Winterizer. We do not carry a weed and feed. The Fertilizer has an NPK Ratio of 25-5-5 and the Winterizer has an NPK of 18-6-12. Use these as examples for ratios that do well with Bluegrass and Fescue grasses. Our brand is called Jirdon but cannot be found in the big box stores. Follow the recommendations on the bag of your choice for how often to fertilize.

It’s Ok to Install Sod in the warmer months!

Many people think you should not install sod in the warmer months of the summer. The most important thing to do when installing sod and especially in the warmer months is to amend your soil correctly. The best practice is to amend with a good organic compost at 4 yards per 1000 square feet. This will help with water when watering your new sod.

It is not good enough to simply rototill your existing soil. Many people think by simply rototilling your existing soil will loosen it enough to get it ready for the new sod. This is false. If you have hard compacted clay soil and you only rototill it and lay the sod it will go back to its original hard compacted state very shortly after you start watering the new sod. This will impact the water efficiency and not allow the water to be retained at the root zone where it needs to be. Adding a compost at 4 yards per 1000 square feet will add a good organic material to the soil and assist in water retention. You will use a lot less water in the long run with proper amended soil.