Strategies to make that green lawn last a little longer into the hot summer

SALT LAKE COUNTY, Utah – Northern Utah has had some good luck this month, with wet weather helping lawns to green up even though irrigation systems haven’t yet been turned on in many places. Experts say there are some strategies to help your grass stay green a little longer.

Arborist Jason Laws with the landscaping firm of Stratton & Brätt says the soil beneath your lawn doesn’t dry out even as temperatures warm up.

“We don’t have the same thing going on underneath the soil. Down there we can maintain the moisture in the soil for quite a while, for two or three weeks into 70 and 80 degrees,” Laws told KSL Newsradio.

Once irrigation systems have been turned on, Laws says it’s a good idea to water less often and more deeply.

“That’s gonna just push the roots that are now developing and growing into our lawns and into all of those smaller shrubs a little deeper, which will allow them to be a little more drought tolerant,” he said.

Candace Shaible with the Utah State University Extension says another strategy to help lawns stay green longer is to aerate and then add organic material.

“So just spreading compost over the lawn area and raking it in so it works its way down into those holes will really improve the water-holding capacity of that soil,” Shaible said.

Eventually, though, limited water supplies mean lawns won’t stay as green as we’d like. Even then, the experts say grass turning yellow doesn’t mean it’s dead.

“It does handle drought, as far as surviving,” Laws says, and it’ll turn green and come back when temperatures cool and more water is available.