Drought of 2012

This past summer the state of Iowa was blasted with record temperatures and very little rain.  Mowing companies had a great spring, but have had a very rough summer and fall.  To give you an idea of what we dealt with in Waukee, IA.  Below is a house that rarely water their yard this summer and the effect that it had.

The first picture is from June 5th, 2011.  Granted it's late spring, but that particular summer there was very little need to water the lawns on a regular basis as we received sufficient rainfall.

The next picture is the same property from this past September (2012)

Will this lawn recover?  Most likely, as will most of the drought stricken lawns.  Turning brown and going dormant are defense mechanisms to protect itself from these conditions and once the rain returns most lawns will recover.

However, what should you do to help the lawn along and speed up the recovery process? Once the rain returns, make sure to fertilize your lawn.  Grass needs nutrients and just fertilizing without any water is like throwing money down the toilet.  In addition, some of the grass may not return or your lawn may return thinner than years past, so it is really important to over-seed your lawn to help thicken the grass and green it up quicker.

Dogs, Urine, Winter & Brown Spots

Q: What do they all have in common?

A: Trouble for my lawn.

Meet Newman (and his freakishly long tounge, and yes named after the character from Seinfeld)

 
He was a birthday present for my wife a few years ago, and while he has been a great family dog, he does have one tendency that bothers me to no end. You see, I live in Iowa and the winters can be brutally cold, and Newman being a boxer has a thin coat, so he dislikes the cold months about as much as I do. So, when it comes to relieving himself, he doesn't venture too far outside, which ultimately leads to about a 5x5 area just off of my deck that is saturated, which ultimately ends up with urine burn the following spring.

What causes urine burn? 

In dogs urine there is a nutrient called "urea" and this is an organic form of nitrogen.  So, when Fido goes over & over & over in the same area it's like over-fertilizing an area of your lawn causing damage.  Also, urea has been found to be more concentrated in female dogs.

What can we do to prevent urine burn?

Well, we may not be able to prevent it completely, but there are some steps you can take to maybe limit the damage a little bit.

1.  Water the spot where your dog urinates, this will dilute the urea and limit/eliminate patches in your grass. (I live in Iowa, winters are very cold, not a legitimate option for me.)
2.  Train your dog to urinate in a certain area on your lawn so that the spots are isolated to a particular area as opposed to all over your lawn.
3.  Keep your dog hydrated, by doing so this will also dilute the urine your dog eventually discharges
4.  Avoid fertilizing these areas. The urea is a form of fertilizer, so adding more will only contribute more to the burning of your lawn.

We attempted Grass-Saver biscuits from  PetSmart, but our dog wasn't too fond the taste as he would just let them fall to the floor.

Come February or March I will do a follow-up to this post to show you how to fix these patches. Hopefully we have another mild winter, so I won't have to do too many.

If anyone has any suggestions for prevention of the spots, I'm all ears and will try nearly anything.