As a community association board member, you are tasked with ensuring your community is a pleasant place for its residents. A major part of this is staying on top of landscaping maintenance so that the neighborhood is beautiful and inviting.
However, with summer nearly upon us, high temperatures and dry conditions could stress your plants and dry out your community's perfectly manicured grass. This makes it essential that your community takes certain precautionary steps to protect your landscaping before summer arrives.
To help get you started, here is a look at a few things that you can do to prepare your community's landscaping for the heat of summer.
Change Your Watering Schedule
The first thing that you should do to prepare your landscaping for the coming heat is to update the clock on your community's irrigation system to a summer schedule.
Summer heat means that grass and other plants will dry out much more quickly, so you will need to set your irrigation system to water more frequently than you did in the winter to prevent the ground from drying out.
Depending on your climate, you may need to water your community's grass every 1 to 3 days during the hottest part of summer. Make sure to water deeply to encourage plants to grow deeper roots, as this will help plants to better tolerate the heat, giving them a better chance to survive the summer.
Leave Grass Longer
In addition to watering deeply to promote root growth, you can also protect your grass from coming heatwaves by letting your grass grow longer. Cutting grass too short stresses the plant, which could cause the plant to die in extreme summer conditions.
Instead, consider having your gardeners set their lawnmowers to a higher setting that would leave the grass 2.5-3 inches long. This will not only prevent the grass from becoming stressed, but longer grass will also help shade the soil, which can prevent the root systems from drying out in the summer heat.
Make Sure to Fertilize
Before summer arrives, you should also make sure that your gardeners fertilize your community's grass.
Fertilization is not only critical in ensuring your grass continues to grow lush and green, but it will also keep your grass healthy, helping it survive the summer months. Fertilizer also reduces the amount of water grass needs, making it more tolerant to heat and drought conditions.
Mulch Well
Adding mulch to flower beds can go a long way in helping to protect them from the summer heat, as mulch helps keep roots cool and prevents the soil underneath from drying out too quickly.
Three inches of mulch around flowers and other plants is ideal for protecting them from extreme heat. Trees can also benefit from mulch, but it is important that you keep mulch at least 12 inches from the base of the trunk.
Invest in Native Plants
A great way to ensure your community's landscaping survives summer with little maintenance is to go native.
Planting native plants will help ensure your landscaping is able to make it through the hot summer season, and it can actually reduce your community's watering and landscaping costs.
Conclusion
As summer approaches, your community association will need to take certain precautions to protect your plants from coming heat waves.
From increasing watering schedules to adding mulch, taking simple steps now will ensure your landscaping looks great all summer.
Contact us to learn more about the steps that you can take to prepare your community's landscaping for the summer heat.
Jennifer Harvey
Steve Walz
Camille Moore
