Don't Touch Your Dormant Grass Lawn

I made an epic landscaping mistake during last week's summer heat wave—I attempted to work on my lawn. Since the grass had seemingly died, I decided that I would "rake" the dead "clippings" so that any new fresh sprouts would have an easier time getting through.

Except that weren't any new sprouts. There was just dry dirt, and lots of it. And now my lawn looks like a pasture that a herd of buffalo have run through and torn up.

Turns out like that old adage about letting sleeping dogs lie, you should let your burned out or dormant lawn grass lie when you're in the midst of a heat wave and/or a drought.

There are a number of do's and don'ts when it comes to a dormant grass lawn:

• DON'T mow your lawn. This is, of course, assuming that during hot and dry weather that your lawn has grown at all. Longer grass provides some shade for itself, and longer stalks of grass can hold more moisture—thus keeping your dormant lawn alive. Plus, the act of mowing actually dries out your grass even more—not a good idea when there is no rain in the forecast. (Here are ways to mow the lawn safely.)
• DO water your lawn if possible. Some towns and cities have enacted watering restrictions during this heat wave, so please adhere to those watering rules. However, if you're free to water your lawn, water in the early morning or late evening, when the heat of the sun is less likely to burn off whatever water comes out of the sprinkler. (How to handle watering your lawn and gardens when you're going away on vacation.)
• DON'T water your lawn in fits and bursts. The ground may be wet after 15 minutes of watering but your lawn likely needs a good soaking if it's been awhile since it rained. Experts say you should shoot for an inch of water in a single watering. Not sure how much time it takes to get an inch of water on your grass lawn? Put out a container, with an inch hash mark on it, in the middle of the area you are watering. Then, time how long it takes to reach that mark, and then you'll have a good sense of how long you should be watering to give your lawn a good soaking.
• DON'T fertilize your lawn. Wait until cooler, wetter fall days to apply fertilizer. Because if you attempt to fertilize now, you're just going to burn your grass—perhaps even kill it for good.

Thanks to my "handy work" I get to plant a brand new lawn in the fall. Great. Like I don't have enough on my home maintenance "to do" list already. Well, at least I'll know how to water my lawn once the new grass seed is down, and what not to do next summer when/if my lawn goes dormant again.