Watering the Lawn While Conserving Water

Watering the lawn is necessary, and we tend to use a huge amount of water for this task. A beautiful and healthy lawn would naturally give us the impression a big amount of water has been used to care for it. But as environment consciousness arises among us, we get to think about conserving more water and not wasting it. This is especially so when water is a scarce resource in your area. Many areas in the country also experience drought or near-drought conditions so water conservation becomes a necessity.

Lawn grass can generally go without water up to six weeks (depending on the condition of the lawn, soil, and other factors, of course). For lawns that go dormant and turn brown, we will need about two weeks of adequate moisture to make them green and healthy again.

To keep our lawns healthy and green without wasting water, here are some tips to help keep the grass growing:

Mowing at the Highest Setting: When mowing your lawn, keep the grass up to 3 ½ inches high. This will help the grass shade its roots and reduces moisture loss from the soil.

Grass Clippings: If you've just used the clippers, you don't have to go through the trouble of cleaning up the grass clippings afterwards. Just leave them there and let them break down to improve the quality of the soil underneath. The clippings can shade the soil and also add a trace of nitrogen.

Early Morning Ritual: Make it a habit to water your lawn early in the morning. You can feel that there is more moisture in the air when you step outside at the early hours. When watering your lawn, try to keep the water flowing as close to the ground as possible.

Pray for Rain: Lawns generally need one inch of water every week. If the rain comes during the week, then you may skip the watering. You can also try to reduce the amount of water to ¾ to ½ inch a week for a couple of weeks. Apply the total amount in one application per week. Frequent and short waterings will only cause damage and root problems.

Stick to Your Decision: Once you've made the decision to water your lawn or not, you stick with it and follow through. Go with your routine always. If you allow the lawn to go dormant and then revive it after several weeks, you might encourage more damages to the grass and even invite pests and diseases. When this happens, you might be in need of more water than what you could have just allotted all throughout those past weeks of leaving your lawn alone.

These are just some of the things that you can do to take care of your lawn without wasting too much water. It's really all about management and knowing what makes the grass healthy or dry. Just always remember to follow through with your decision and lawn care routine. Caring for your lawn is not something you can let go for a few weeks and then take up again after a couple of months.