MAPLE GROVE, Minnesota — With all the heat the past few weeks and not as much rain, some lawns might be looking a little (or a lot) brown.
"It dried out pretty good," said Jeff Curtis of Maple Grove.
Curtis watered his yard over the weekend and then got some help from a brief afternoon storm on Sunday.
"About time. It's hit or miss. We'll take all we can get though," said Curtis, adding that he has seen only a quarter-inch of rain or so in the past two to three weeks.
On top of that, more heat is on the way this week.
"Most days have been above average. I think there's probably a handful of days where we were at average or maybe a few degrees below average for daytime highs. So it has been exceedingly hot for the better part of the last 30-40 days," KARE 11 Meteorologist Jamie Kagol explained. "We have been in a weather pattern that has kept our weather pretty stagnant and very warm. We've had a ridge pattern which basically means the jet stream is to our north and allows a lot of warm air to come north with it."
Kagol said while we're not in a dangerous drought, we have been drying out since mid-May.
"It's the topsoil that's really suffering right now," he said.
Matthew Ohrt, owner of Majestic Landcare, and Preston Kroska, owner of Organic Grass Care, have three established tips to help your lawn.
1. Water in the evening around 8 p.m., giving it more time to soak in.
"Don't water during the day. You're going to have magnifying glasses on your grass burning it," Kroska said.
2. Look into lawn aeration.
"When you keep the soil like a sponge, it absorbs more moisture and allows the root to grow deeper," Kroska said.
3: Overseed your lawn.
Ohrt said instead of mowing once a week, right now they are mowing lawns every two weeks.
He also recommends setting your mower at a higher level. "We see often times people mowing around 2.5 inches and in these conditions, we recommend somewhere between 3.5 to 4 inches. When you're cutting the grass that way it kind of protects or hides the soil and keeps that moisture in the soil."
Kroska and Ohrt also remind homeowners that it's important to sharpen lawn mower blades halfway through the season.
While lawns are mainly struggling, there is a nugget of good news: Crops are still benefiting from moisture deeper in the soil, left by a snowy winter. The latest USDA crop report shows corn emergence has reached 94%, while 99% of soybeans have been planted. Both are above the five-year average.
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