Should I water my lawn?

Most lawns need 1 to 1.5 inches of rain a week. With no snow over the winter and a fairly dry spring, lawns are in desperate need of some water. Here are a few recommendations to lessen the effects of the summer weather.

Mow high! Keep the length of the lawn around 3.5 to 4 inches. This will reduce the temperature within the lawn and allow the roots to maintain moisture and grow deeper into the soil.

While your lawn can survive a couple weeks of drought, it will eventually thin the turf and create an ideal environment for weeds to invade. If you want a healthy lawn, you will definitely need to water it from time to time. We recommend watering deeply, but infrequently. This will lead to stronger root development and drought-resistance than watering briefly every day. You can break up these waterings into twice a week during most of the year, or three times a week during the hot summer months.

The best time to water your lawn is before 10 a.m., preferably between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. At this cool time of day, it’s less likely the moisture will evaporate before your grassroots can absorb it from the soil. If you can’t water before 10 a.m., don’t make the mistake of watering late at night. It may be cool then, but if the moisture sits on your grass overnight, it can make your lawn more prone to disease. The second-best time to water is between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m.