theHword.com

Picture your world – relaxing in the hammock, gentle breeze, sun behind the clouds, patches of color from flowerbeds around the yard, lawn just mowed, sprinkler automatically running about 4:30 a.m., butterflies overhead, no storm reports, no mosquitoes,- – - WHAT, NO BUGS!! WAKE UP!! GET REAL. Dreaming is good, reality is probably better. Life just isn’t this easy.

Carefree summer days for the gardener are continued work, but with the satisfactions of watching another plant life cycle developing from sprout to seed. This includes trees and lawn. Blooming flowers or fresh vegetables from the garden more than offset the efforts expended. The shade from the tree I planted 10 years ago, the fragrance of the different blooming viburnum shrubs, the blooms opening from the Easter Lily bulbs I planted last year are continual reminders that efforts to maintain a yard have rich rewards.

Let’s review summer lawn needs. Mowing height should be set to 2.5 inches now through August 30. The longer grass blades give protection to the surface roots, and help the plant tolerate heat stress. University of Nebraska Extension offers an alternative mowing schedule that I like. Maintain the 2.5 inch mowing height throughout the season to promote rooting and stress tolerance. This means less changing of the mowing height. I note that more of us are using lawn services in maintaining the look we desire. It’s not too late to thank these folk for their efforts. It’s certainly a visible use of our money and a great resource for resolving lawn issues. Regardless of who mows the grass, take time to observe the practices that keep grass healthy.

By now the second application of fertilizer should have been applied. This second application of fertilizer would be .5-1.0 lb of actual nitrogen per 1000 sq ft, about half of the spring application. I am about 2 weeks behind this summer. During July and August I avoid fertilization.

Watering of lawns gives us two options. Apply 1.5 inches of water a week or be a water conservationist and allow the turf to go dormant. Irrigate only if sustained drought occurs, (e.g. three weeks without rain). The lawn will green up with sufficient rainfall in the late summer or early fall. As water costs continue to climb, I believe many of us will begin utilizing the water conservation approach and be content to let the lawn go brown.

During July, spot treating for weeds may need to be done. The next insect to check is the sod webworm larvae and control if necessary. The usual talk is white grubs, but it is doubtful we will see many of them until August. If the high humidity and high temperature continues, diseases we call summer patch and brown spot will likely emerge. Several thick, well maintained lawns in town have already been treated.

Sometimes we beat ourselves up trying to maintain the same quality of lawn in the summer as in the spring and fall. Maybe we need to remember that bluegrass and tall fescue are quite good at sustaining the summer heat. Bluegrass is certainly a cool season grass.

It’s time to prune the trees that bleed clear sap from pruning wounds if they are pruned during late winter or early spring. This bleeding is not harmful, but considerable sap drips from the tree or runs down the tree trunk and discolors the bark. Trees considered “bleeders” are the birch family, maples and walnuts. These are the trees that should be pruned in mid-summer. Most of the other broad leaved trees can also be pruned during the summer. Careful with the ladder!

I suggest you use one of the many quality tree trimmers in our area for pruning. Tree trimmers have learned that limbs are best cut off just outside the collar of the branch attachment to the tree trunk. This is a newer technique that has replaced cutting the limb flush with the trunk of the tree. Trimmers also understand the meaning of cleaning out the center of the tree which enables the wind to best blow through the tree. It is possible some of the trees lost in the past storms may have been saved with proper pruning. Remember, no topping trees anymore. Too many insects and diseases enter the tree with topping cuts. Add to this the overabundance of sprouting that occurs along the cut, and the topped tree is doomed.

Gee, I think I still write like an educator, even after retirement. What ever happened to pure enjoyment of God’s green earth? Take a moment to note the beauty in this great community. It’s time to say thank you to the neighbors who spend so much time in their yards and create the settings we so enjoy. Thanks for enduring the bugs, the heat and the temperature extremes, and giving of your personal time to plant, cultivate, water and fertilize for the rest of us to say “wow, look at that?”. Oh, these carefree summer days!!

About the author: Don Siffring

Don Siffring is a 6 year Master Gardener with the University of Nebraska Extension in Adams County. He is a professor emeritus with the University of NE, Institute of Agriculture. Don works part-time as a Horticulture Aide with UNL Extension in Adams County. Don and his wife, Bev, retired to the Hastings Community in in 2003 to be closer to their married daughter and husband, Christi and Brian Berns of Bladen.