Summer is almost here, and there’s nothing more beautiful than a lush green lawn to take pride in, or when hosting backyard barbecues.
Trouble is, once it starts to look parched, discolored or loses its bounce from the heat, it can often be a challenge to maintain a green and healthy lawn.
Despite your best efforts at lawn watering, if not done correctly, this could actually do more harm than good. You can water too much, too little or at the wrong times. So getting it right is the best way to keep your lawn lush.
What’s more, you could be wasting precious water and time — which can also have a negative impact on your utility bills!
Luckily, there are some simple things you can include in your lawn care regime, to ensure you get greener grass all summer — while staying eco-friendly.
Water at the right times
Although you might be tempted to water your grass whenever you’re in the mood or have the spare time, this isn’t ideal.
Timing is crucial, and knowing the best time to water your lawn can make all the difference to maintaining your grass.
According to experts, the best time to water your lawn is early morning (before 10am), or late evening when it’s cooler. This is because if you water during the hottest periods of the day, most of the water will evaporate, and won’t absorb into the lawn.
"Avoid the urge to water if it's humid," advises Craig Elworthy, founder of Lawnbright. "You may think giving your lawn some water will help - but your lawn is actually fine.
When it’s dry, there’s an imbalance in water between your lawn and the air, but in humid air there’s no imbalance, and water in the soil is retained. So hold off on watering unless your lawn needs it."
Use the right amount of water
Besides knowing the right times, you also need to know exactly how much to water your lawn to keep it green.
What’s more, this will avoid the risk of overwatering or underwatering your lawn — both of which could affect the results of your grass blades.
So how much is too much water? Experts suggest that a lawn needs no more than about 1-1.5 inches of water each week to keep it green and healthy.
And if you’re unsure, a top trick is to place an empty can or container with straight sides under the sprinkler. Once this fills up to a depth of an inch, that’s a sign to turn the sprinkler off.
"A simple rain gauge is all you need,” adds Elworthy. “Some even use a coffee mug and a ruler. It doesn’t have to be overly precise."
Another way of checking this is by probing the soil with a stiff metal rod, stick or a screwdriver. The rod should move easily through the wet soil and then stop once it gets to the dry soil. But if the soil is tough to penetrate, then the lawn is parched and needs a good watering.
Catch and recycle rain water
If you want to be resourceful, there are many ways to collect and reuse rainwater.
In fact, the United States Environmental Protection Agency encourages homeowners to collect rainwater from roofs to use in outdoor spaces/lawns. Plus, this would cut down on your bills too!
One of the easiest ways to collect rainwater is to invest in a rain barrel. Simply attach to your existing guttering to allow the water to overflow into the barrel.
You could even place several around your yard to collect the water that falls onto a shed, garage, workshop and even a greenhouse.
If you don’t have a rain barrel to hand, watering cans, buckets or any large containers can come in useful for collecting rain water.
Additionally, if you’ve got a rain chain, you can use this to direct water into a rain barrel. Here are some pros and cons to rain chains.
Check your irrigation system
In addition to lawn care, you also need to maintain your irrigation system.
Whether it’s a leaking sprinkler or wrongly positioned head so it doesn’t utilize water effectively, always check its condition to ensure it works well.
Essentially, it shouldn’t be leaking or forming puddles down the path or drive. If this is the case, repair or reposition as soon as possible, as this will save you water wastage — and a lot of money in the long-run!
What’s more, you also don’t want standing water forming next to your property — this can quickly attract pests including mosquitoes as well as rats and mice.
Avoid water run off
If you’re overwatering your lawn, especially in a heatwave, the excess will run off into gutters or elsewhere.
To avoid water wastage, experts recommend watering in short bursts of about 10-15 minutes.
You can either turn off the water or move the sprinkler to allow the water to soak into the lawn properly. Then you can turn it back on for another 15 minutes.
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