As the weather gets warmer and we head towards summer, words such as “hosepipe ban” start coming to the forefront of our minds. Warm, dry weather is great for those of us who like to spend time in the sun, but it’s not great for our gardens. If you want your lawn to look lush and green, then you will need to find ways to keep it watered without wasting too much water. Here are a few tips to help you do exactly that and get the most you can out of the minimal supply of water.
Time When You Water Your Lawn
The timing of your watering can make a huge difference when every drop is precious. If you water the lawn at the height of midday, then you will lose a lot of water because it will evaporate before it soaks into the lawn. The best time to hydrate your lawn is in the morning before the temperatures reach their peak.
Aim The Water At The Right Spots
As obvious as this sounds, one mistake that a lot of people make is that they spray water all over the lawn, scatter spray, but then don’t hit the important parts. You should water the base of your plants, because they need the extra water. You should also try to cover the lawn evenly, rather than soaking some spots until they get soggy and ignoring others.
Re-Use Rainwater and Grey Water
Set up a large water bucket to collect rainwater during the spring and during rainy periods and use that to water your lawn during dry periods. You might get a surprise at how much water you can collect and save. You can do the same with certain kinds of grey water, such as water that you have used for cooking vegetables. Don’t put water that you have bathed or showered in on your lawn if you have been using soaps or bubble baths but do consider recycling other water that isn’t full of chemicals. Things like dishwater can be re-used to flush the toilet.
Use Compost
Compost fertilizes the garden, and it also helps the garden to soak up extra water. Dig in compost or manure on the areas where your plants are, and it will improve the health of the soil, and also allow it to hold on to moisture for that little bit longer.
Weed Your Lawn
Weeds are nutrient and resource-hungry, and they will leech all of the goodness out of the soil, and also make it dry out more quickly. For this reason, it is important that you weed your lawn regularly, and that you make sure that you get rid of the whole thing, including the root, so that they don’t grow back.
Feed Your Lawn
Grass needs nutrients, if it is well fed, then it will grow thicker and darker. The exact fertilizer or lawn food that you buy does not necessarily matter. Different areas will have soil of different nutrient profiles and may require specific types of fertilizer. Experiment, or ask a local gardener or store owner for advice.
You should feed your lawn regularly, at least twice a year, if not four times per year, so that you can keep it looking good. If it is fed properly, then it will actually look better, and it will even hold water better too, because there will be more grass and roots to soak up the moisture, meaning less that will run off.
Make sure that when you mow the lawn, you set the mower to the right height. Too long can look disorderly, but too short can be bad too. Some warm-season grasses like to be cut to a low setting, zoysia likes a mid-height setting, and Bermuda likes to be cut to 1.5 to two inches. Most lawns like a three to four-inch cut, which will provide plenty of cushioning.
Rain Helps
Most of the year, nature should do a good job of supporting your lawn. There should be enough natural rainfall that you don’t need to worry about mowing the lawn. If you do think about mowing it, then you should look at doing so when the lawn has become a dull green color. If you see the lawn starting to wilt, to the point that when you walk on the grass the footprints remain visible, then this is a sign that you should water the lawn.
Don’t Panic If the Lawn Goes Brown
Grass will start to turn brown and go dormant during periods of drought. Don’t panic if this happens, it doesn’t mean that the lawn is dead. Most lawns will actually survive for two months in this state and will then recover when the weather cools and the rain start to fall again.
If you really want to keep your lawn green all year round, then you can use a smart irrigation system to help. These devices will identify when the lawn is starting to dry out and will then water the lawn just enough to bring it into a fresh state. If you don’t want to run the risk of automating watering the lawn, then you can use a system that will send you an alert so that you can check for yourself and water manually.
Lawns will want to consume a lot of water, and sometimes you will get told by your council or local authority to not water them. Follow this advice, because droughts can cause serious issues, and it is better to save the water for other essentials rather than on watering a lawn or playing under sprinklers. Certain parts of the country are facing droughts where there is not enough water for crops, let alone cosmetics. We need to do everything that we can to minimize waste. If you have fed your lawn and kept the soil in good condition and contacted the best lawn care services, then the grass drying out for a little while during the hottest part of the year will not be a long-term issue.