Lawns in drought: don't panic, Mr Mainwaring!

This year, we're having August in July, just to make a change: weeks with no rain to speak of, and then a massively hot spell, with temperatures up in the ridiculous, even if only for a few days: and then more dry weather. Cooler, but still dry, and all the water butts are empty.

Most people are looking at their gardens in despair, because they look so sad - apart from the roses, of course, which are having a great year! But everything else is wilting: perennials are browning off and saying "that's it, no more, I'm done for the season!" and as for the grass, well: "crispy" is the word.

Annoyingly, this is when the weeds come into their own.

Just look at this lawn, left: the only green patches are the pesky Yarrow!

But fear not: grass has a wonderful way of recovering, and all we need is a bit of rain and all will be well.

There is no point wasting water in watering the lawn (unless you need a lush bowling-green lawn, for some reason) (and if you do, then you have probably already been watering it...), it is much better to just leave it crispy and brown, and wait for the rains to come.

Which they will: this is England, after all!

And the minute it rains, up will pop all the new shoots, and in no time at all we will have forgotten that it was ever looking so dead.

In fact, as I frequently say, if grass were invented now, it would be hailed as a miracle ground cover:  it takes all the abuse that children and dogs can throw at it, it recovers from drought, and all it needs is for the mower to be run over it once a week. It can go for years with no feeding: it can be accidentally left to get rank and lumpy, and if you start cutting it again, in no time it's back to being lush green lawn.

It's a miracle! 

So don't panic if your grass is brown and apparently dead: it is NOT dead, it WILL recover, and just think - in the meantime, you don't have to mow it!!

Did you enjoy this article? Did you find it useful? Would you like me to answer your own, personal, gardening question? Become a Patron - just click here - and support me! Or use the Donate button for a one-off donation. If just 10% of my visitors gave me a pound a month, I'd be able to spend a lot more time answering all the questions!!