Watering your lawn

Summer is here finally and of course we have less rain so deciding on watering your lawn is straightforward if there is a hosepipe ban, please do not water.  If there is not a hosepipe ban, then now is the time to consider if to water or not.

Not watering your lawn

If you choose not to water your lawn during periods of dry weather, it will soon turn brown.  The grass plant will protect itself and go dormant and turn brown. Then grass will not start to recover until substantial rainfall arrives.

Most lawns will recover within a few months but if we have a prolonged drought, it’s likely that the lawn will need remedial work to bring it back to good health which can be expensive.  In occasional cases, especially lawns grown on poor soil or those that are very old and thatchy it is possible that the entire lawn could die and require replacement.

Watering

It is important to water your lawn during a hot and dry period of weather if you want the lawn to stay green and healthy.  Watering supports the thousands of grass plants that make up your lawn, which are removing carbon dioxide from our atmosphere. Your lawn is part of the solution, not the problem.

Watering just once per week during a testing summer for your garden should be enough, providing it is done so deeply and to saturation will be enough to allow your lawn to hang on in there – at least providing it with a life support level of moisture. By watering deeply, infrequently, when rainfall does arrive it will be accepted by the soil surface. Lawn Bright suggests at least 25mm of water in the lawn which can be measured by putting a container on the lawn so it can collect the water from the sprinkler, and you can measure the depth.

If your lawn hasn’t been watered at all, much of this precious natural rainfall will bounce off. This deep watering will encourage roots to seek downwards to find this water.  We do not recommend light watering as the roots will remain close to the surface and not find the moisture that’s usually deeper in the soil, and your lawn will be suffering from the symptoms of drought far sooner.

Watering in the evening is recommended as the water will not evaporate in the afternoon heat.