Watering

Don’t be wasteful.

Watering is one of the most common maintenance practices one might think of when trying to achieve a nice lawn.  Proper watering helps keep a lawn healthy and able to resist environmental damage from traffic and drought.  On average, your lawn likes ½ to 1 inch of water per week.  Normally, regular rainfall is enough for a healthy lawn but sometimes it may need help.
Water slowly and deeply.  Deep, infrequent watering promotes deep roots. Proper mowing, fertilization, and soil building will also make your lawn more drought tolerant.

Tips:

If your lawn is drying out and we are forecasted rain, it can be beneficial to prepare for the rain by watering a day or two before.  By doing so, you will soften the soil; making more of the rain soak in rather than runoff.  Also, if we get ½ inch of rain, and you watered ½ inch beforehand, you have achieved a 1 inch soaking.  Watering is helpful, but rain does wonders.

If you are using an irrigation system, it is very important to be sure that it is operating correctly.  Too often, irrigation systems are not set up properly, are not regularly maintained, and are misused.  It is not healthy for your lawn to give it a consistent overdose of water through an irrigation system.  Not only is overwatering a waste of money, but frequent overdoses of water will promote a shallow root system which make it vulnerable to environmental stresses and pest problems.  Water is a valuable resource, use it wisely.

It is normal for the cool season grasses in our local lawns to go dormant during an excessively hot, dry period during the summer.

When rainfall returns, these dormant lawns will green back up and return to their previous growth pattern.  Only in an excessive, epic drought will you risk losing your lawn.