Lawn Care Tips: Watering

Everyone knows that lawns need water especially in the warmer and drier months of the year. What many don’t know is exactly HOW they should water. The first advice I can give is to water early in the day. Passengers in my vehicle can attest to my disdain whenever I see a sprinkler at full blast spraying water at noon on a mid summer day as the temperature is about 90 with full sun. It’s far more effective and environmentally conscious to water early in the morning before the heat and sun evaporates a lot of the water you are putting on your lawn. We won’t even go into my disdain for sprinkler systems that run in the middle of a rain storm. Just an FYI, there are products available to add to sprinkler systems so that they do not go on if it’s raining. The next piece of advice I will give for watering is to water deeply. This means watering for about 20-30 minutes on an area when watering. An easy way to know when you have watered enough is to use an empty tuna can. When that can is full, you have watered enough in an area. If you are watering this much each time on an established lawn, you should be able to get away with watering every other day or even every two days if your lawn is not in full sun in the summer. Lastly I will offer advice on mowing during the summer which directly affects the need for watering. Mow at 2-4″ I even tell people to “mow as high as you can stand it”. This is no time to be looking for that fairway looking lawn, leave that up to the golf courses. A thicker cut lawn will not need as much water and will be able to compete with the weeds that love to steal precious water and nutrients in your lawn, and not to mention look fairly unpleasant in the process. Enjoy your summer while it lasts for it won’t be long before fall is upon us.