As Texas moves into the peak of summer, watering lawns becomes more and more essential. But how can you stay environmentally conscious while still maintaining your lawn? It may seem difficult but, we promise, it is entirely possible. All it takes is some helpful tips to think through and proper preparation.
Here is our guide to the most important factors to help you save water while maintaining your lawn!
1. Know your lawn
- In order to determine proper watering, it’s important to know the landscape of your lawn. You should be aware of things like low spots or slopes in your turf. Low spots often retain moisture and therefore need less water than high ground. Slopes on the other hand would require a cycled watering in order to prevent runoff and help you save more water!
2. Nurture your Lawn
- An easy way to save water is to make sure your lawn is happy and healthy. A lawn that is in stress requires more water than a healthy lawn. Be sure to pay attention to the health of your turf and quickly address any environmental stressors so that it will not require additional water than necessary.
- Feed your lawn. A lawn that has all the nutrients it needs readily available will also require less water. Fertilizing regularly will ensure the nutrients it needs are always in the soil and therefore the turf will require far less water.
- Water for longer, less frequently. It may seem like you are saving water if you are watering for only 5-10 minutes a day but ultimately this wastes water as most is lost to evaporation. Switching to longer waterings, but much less frequently will allow the water to sink deeper into the soil.
Not only will this reduce evaporation, but it will also encourage a healthier root system by encouraging the root system of your lawn to grow deeper in order to search for water.
3. Good Mowing Habits
Maintaining proper mowing habits is critical to saving water because it greatly reduces the stress to your lawn.
- Sharpen the blades: A sharp blade will create a clean cut to the turf where a dull will create a tear. Tearing stresses the grass and can even result in browning at the tips of the grass. We recommend sharpening mower blades a couple of times in a season.
- Raise Mower height: Keeping the grass at a higher height will result in the need to mow more often, but it will help save water. This will create a canopy to help the grass shade the soil and lose less moisture to evaporation
4. Have a good Irrigation System
- Consider utilizing drip irrigation in areas it is allowed, especially in small areas or the edge of turf. For example, most parkways use drip irrigation so that the small strip of grass gets adequate water but it is not wasted on the sidewalk. Use this same principle where you are allowed so you do not waste water on your driveway, patio, sidewalks, etc.
- Adjust your sprinkler heads: Your lawn’s water needs change throughout the year. A grass turf will need significantly more water in August than it will in November. Make sure your irrigation system is adjusted properly to avoid overwatering in cooler months to save water.
- Have your irrigation system checked at least annually. This will help prevent leaks and repair any damages. Even the smallest leak can outpour gallons of water over the course of a year.
5. Don’t Overwater
- This may seem unnecessary to mention but it is easily the most common source of wasted water. Not only is it wasteful, but overwatering can result in a variety of problems in your turf like root rot, fungus growth, and many other problems.
- It is also important to make sure you have the right type of sprinkler head for the size of the area that you are watering so that you achieve proper coverage. A sprinkler head that is spraying too wide will overlap with other zones causing overwatering, and one that is too narrow will underwater areas causing drought.
Get Help with Lawn Maintenance
Navigating how to set up and maintain proper watering for your lawn can be difficult. There are so many factors to consider and mistakes can have terrible consequences for the aesthetics of your home. Bad watering habits is one of the leading factors in a declining lawn. Luckily, our technicians have over 30+ years in North Texas lawn care. We would love to work alongside you and create a plan for watering to help you achieve the lawn that you love!
