You mow your lawn every week, you fertilize, you have an irrigation system. You just, “set it and forget it”, Right? There’s more to it than that. Putting a little more thought into how you water your lawn, can really improve the way your lawn looks and stands up to different types of stress including heat and weed competition. Here are our best tips for watering your lawn this year!
Water Longer – When watering, you want the water to go deeper into the soil. In order to get the most benefit out of watering your lawn, you should be watering for a longer period of time. This will result in deeper roots, which will help your lawn withstand the hot temperatures of the season, as well as fill in thick to help out grow competing weeds.
Water Less Frequently – Watering daily is not the best for your lawn. If the lawn is too wet, it will not develop a deep root system. This can also lead to more compaction as the water can eventually fill in the air pockets your lawn needs to breath. We recommend watering 3 times a week.
Water Early – Watering early in the morning is optimal. This way the lawn will dry when the sun comes out preventing disease. It will also prevent water evaporating, which happens if you water in the middle of a warm sunny day.
Use your Judgement – You know your lawn best. The tips above are recommendations. In some cases, you may have to adjust, if you have an area that is abnormally hot, you may need to water more often during the summer months. Like everything, even your lawn is trial and error, everyone’s lawn is different. Find what works for you and your lawn.
In a Nutshell – Water is a key component to a beautiful lawn. Watering your lawn correctly will help your lawn, and help you to get the most out of your water. The goal is to get a deep root system that will out compete weeds and tolerate stress conditions such as summer heat. Watering for 10 or 15 min every day will lead to shallow roots, which will dry out quickly on a hot summer day. The deeper the roots, the better your lawn will handle stress like this.