Nothing says summer quite like a backyard barbecue. The grill's sizzling, the cooler is full of ice-cold drinks, and the kids are running barefoot through the grass. But if your lawn is overgrown, the bugs are biting, or the mosquitoes are swarming, even the best burgers won't be able to save your party.
Preparing your backyard for a BBQ isn't just about making your lawn look good; it's about creating a safe, clean, and enjoyable space for your guests. Whether you're hosting a big celebration or making your patio the go-to spot for family and friends, here's an easy checklist to ensure your yard is guest-ready.
Get Your Lawn in Shape for the Big Day
Your lawn is the welcome mat to your backyard and serves as the backdrop for everything from the grill to the game setup. With just a little lawn prep a week or two before your outdoor event, you can make your yard look like it has been well-maintained all year.
Here are some quick tips to get your turf looking its best before your get-together:
- Mow 2-3 days before the event to give your grass time to recover and let the clippings settle. Only cut off about 1/3 of the grass blade to keep your turf healthy.
- Trim & Tidy Lawn Edges along fence lines, garden edges, walkways, and trees. Clean lines in these areas will help give your entire lawn a more polished, pro look.
- Water your lawn a few days in advance to keep it looking lush and green. Avoid watering the day before or the day of the event to prevent soggy or muddy spots.
- Clear the lawn of debris, including leaves, sticks, and pet waste.
Keep Bugs Off the Guest List
There is nothing worse than swatting away flies all afternoon or hearing your aunt scream as ants crawl across the patio table towards the potato salad. While you may not be able to eliminate every pest, you can take steps to control common summer pests that may show up during your event.
Here are a few tips on how to knock out pests and keep them away before they crash the party:
- Ants: Ants are a common nuisance for outdoor events. Keep food sealed and clean up spills promptly. Control outdoor colonies with ant baits and sprays like Advion WDG.
- Fire Ants: These aggressive ants can cause uncomfortable stings. Fire ant mounds can be treated with fire ant baits or mound drenches. To learn which treatment is right for your lawn, see our guide on how to get rid of fire ants.
- Mosquitoes: Mosquito bites are itchy and irritating, and sometimes it feels like the bites won't quit. Remove standing water sources around your lawn and use larvicides in areas where you cannot control water collection. Treat your yard with a liquid insecticide spray like Talstar P, being sure to also spray the underside of leaves since mosquitoes often rest there during the day. DoMyOwn's Mosquito Control Kits include all the professional-grade mosquito control products you need to treat your entire yard.
- Flies: Open food, trash cans, and warm temps invite flies to your party. Keep flies away by applying a perimeter insecticide spray a few days before your event, using fly baits around trash bins, and hanging fly traps away from dining areas.
- Wasps & Yellow Jackets: Insects like wasps and yellow jackets can cause painful stings, especially if their nest is disturbed. Inspect common nesting areas like under porches, deck railings, sheds, and the underside of roofs, and treat them promptly with a knockdown insecticide like PT Wasp Freeze II if nests are found.
Pro Tip
If you have pets or if pets will be part of your invite list, treating your yard with an insecticide treatment like the Outdoor Flea & Tick Kit can help combat ticks in your yard. Keep pets treated with flea and tick prevention, and check guests, both human and animal, for ticks after outdoor activities.
Looking for pest-specific treatments? Tap on each pest in the list to discover detailed control tips, recommended products, and expert advice.
Products needed for 2
Add a Few Finishing Touches to Make Your Yard Shine
Just like with the garnish on your favorite BBQ plate, it's the finishing touches that can take your landscaping and yard from "nice" to "next-level". While these tasks are not complicated, they make everything look and feel complete.
Here are a few things you can do to help create that wow-factor in your yard before your party:
- Freshen up mulch and pine straw in landscaping beds to give a clean, finished look and help suppress new weeds.
- Prune back shrubs, hedges, and overgrown plants to keep things looking neat.
- Add a splash of color with potted flowers for easy and festive summer vibes.
- Sweep off and hose down patios, decks, and walkways to remove any dirt or grime.
- Prep your patio setup by wiping down outdoor furniture, putting out seat cushions, and cleaning off tables to give guests a clean and comfortable space to relax.
Keep Your Lawn Ready for Guests Year-Round
Hosting a summer get-together is a lot easier when your lawn is already looking its best. By maintaining a beautiful lawn all year, you'll always be ready for any last-minute gatherings, and your backyard will become the go-to spot for family and friends.
If you want your yard to be ready at a moment's notice for last-minute cookouts or a full family reunion, it starts with having a game plan. You shouldn't wait until the last minute to think about your lawn. If you don't have a lawn routine, check out the resources below to start putting your plans in place.
- DoMyOwn's Lawn Care Maintenance Schedules - These handy lawn care calendars help you know what to do and when to do it (like fertilizing, seeding, weed control, disease control, and more) based on your grass type.
- DoMyOwn's Grass Care Guides - From Bermudagrass to Zoysia, learn how to care for the most common turf types found in home lawns across the United States.
- DoMyOwn's Turf Box- Take the guesswork out of preventing weeds and disease. We'll ship you what you need, when you need it.
Here are some of the big things you can do in your lawn to always keep it one step away from hosting the next great BBQ.
Stay Ahead of Weeds So They Don't Take Over
Weeds can be like an uninvited party guest. If you let them in once, they'll keep coming back and bring more friends. Once they are in your lawn, they can quickly steal the spotlight from your grass and make it more susceptible to pests and disease. Use herbicides to achieve a weed-free lawn. To control weeds effectively:
- Stop Weeds Before They Begin: Pre-emergent herbicides, or weed preventers, can be applied in the spring and fall to prevent weeds from growing. This saves you time and money later in the summer and helps keep your lawn free from weeds.
- Spot Treat Weeds: If you missed your pre-emergent application or have a few break-through weeds, apply selective post-emergent herbicides, or weed killers, directly to actively growing broadleaf and grassy weeds to minimize damage to surrounding grass. Apply when temperatures are below 85 F to prevent burning the turf.
For detailed, weed-specific treatment, check out our Lawn Care Weed Control Guides to target common lawn weeds with confidence.
Don't Let Fungus Get a Foothold
Lawn diseases can be sneaky. One day, your lawn looks perfect. The next day, you're dealing with brown patches or strange circles popping up. The heat and humidity of summer create ideal conditions for fungal turf disease development. Prevention is your best friend.
Common Lawn Diseases: Here are some of the most common lawn diseases that thrive during the summer months:
- Dollar Spot: Characterized by small, sunken patches with bleached grass.
- Brown Patch: Appears as large, circular brown areas, often with a dark ring at the edge.
- Leaf Spot: Identified by small brown spots with yellow or purple borders on grass blades. Leaf spot can escalate to melting out where the roots rot, and the plant eventually dies if left untreated. Melting out appears as reddish-brown streaks and yellowing from the grass tip to the crown.
- Pythium Blight: Irregular patches or streaks on the lawn. A white, cottony growth may be visible on blighted grass in the early morning when dew is present.
Prevention Tips: Use these tips to stop fungal disease before they have a chance to take hold and damage your lawn:
- Fungicide Application: Use fungicides as a preventive measure, especially during periods of high humidity or disease pressure. If you do notice fungal issues, a curative fungicide application will be needed to stop the disease's progress.
- Watering Practices: Water your lawn early in the morning to allow grass to dry before evening, reducing disease risk.
- Mowing: If your lawn is already showing signs of disease, it's best to bag the clippings. This helps prevent fungal disease from spreading to healthy areas.
To learn more about the different types of fungicides and how they can help protect your yard, check out our guide on Why You Should Use Fungicides in Your Yard.
Win the Bug Battle Before the Party Starts
The last thing you want to be doing at your party is swatting, scratching, or stomping pests. Outdoor insects are a part of summer and can be a problem all season long. But that doesn't mean you have to tolerate them at your barbecue.
Keep up with regular preventative pest control treatments for mosquitoes, ants, fleas, and other common lawn insects to maintain your yard throughout the year.
While preventative liquid or granular lawn insecticides, such as Talstar XTRA, can be applied to the turf from spring until the fall to keep common lawn pests away, other turf pests may require special treatment.
- Grubs are the larvae of beetles like June bugs or Japanese beetles. They live underground and feast on grass roots. Timing is everything when treating for grubs, so it's best to learn if a curative or preventative treatment is needed to get rid of grubs in your lawn.
- Armyworms do not mess around. These small caterpillars can destroy entire lawns in just a few days.
- Chinch Bugs are small, but mighty destroyers of lawns. After sucking the juice from your grass, your turf may appear dead or under drought stress.
Lawn Maintenance that Keeps Your Yard BBQ-Ready
Keep your lawn healthy and event-ready throughout the year with these general lawn care and yard maintenance tips:
- Fertilize Regularly: Feed your lawn with fertilizer based on the season and your grass type to keep it growing strong. A soil test can help identify which fertilizer or nutrients your lawn needs.
- Mow on Schedule: Mow regularly and avoid cutting more than one-third of the blade height at once. Keep blades sharp for a clean cut.
- Repair Bare Patches: Start reseeding or sodding sparse areas early as repairs can take time to fill in and look natural.
- Keep Debris Off the Lawn: Remove leaves, sticks, and lawn clippings to help prevent pests and disease and keep your yard looking tidy.
- Water Without Over-Watering: Water your lawn deeply and early in the day to promote deep root growth and reduce fungal risks.
- Maintain Ornamentals: Trim and clean ornamental plants and keep landscape beds weeded and mulched to enhance curb appeal