Is your lawn dead?

Your lawn's gone brown. Is it dead?

Here's a 10-second test that'll tell you for sure.

1. Head to the worst-looking patch
Pick the spot you're most worried about.

2. Give a few blades a gentle tug
Grip low, right at the base, and pull.

3. Read the result
Comes away with no resistance? That bit's dead. Stays firmly anchored? It's alive and well.

Nine times out of ten, it's the second one.

Because right now British lawns are under pressure. Weeks of heat, next to no rain. So they're doing what they're built to do — slowing down, stopping growth, going brown.

It's actually an incredibly clever defence.

A brown lawn is a lawn playing dead to survive. It pulls its energy down into the roots and waits for rain. When the rain comes, so does the colour and it's business as usual. 

Need proof? Turn on Sky Sports Golf and watch The Open this weekend. Royal Birkdale, one of the finest courses on the planet, and the fairways are the colour of a digestive biscuit.

Then look at any roadside verge or roundabout near you. 

Think of a tree in winter. Bare, brown, looks lifeless... scratch the bark and it's green underneath. Your lawn's doing the same thing, just in July.

So be kind to it. Don't panic. It'll be back.

As promised, lawn tips in under a minute.

Liam
Founder, Great British Lawn Co.