If you live in a house and have a backyard, chances are, one of the things you could be the proudest of is your lawn. Maintaining a healthy, beautiful lawn can be tricky if you’re not sure what you’re doing, but then again – it could be really simple. Maintaining a lawn isn’t necessarily a chore, even though it can seem like that sometimes, especially during the grass growing season. But, mowing your lawn can be therapeutic. We’re sure that, even if you’re not one of those people, you know someone that more than enjoys mowing the lawn.
Whatever the case may be, whether you enjoy mowing or not, the thing is, if you want a beautiful, green, fresh lawn, you’ll have to mow and water it more than occasionally. If it does feel like a chore, maybe put on some headphones, play some of your favourite jams and just relax while doing the work.
Now, let’s talk a little bit about lawn maintenance. A good looking lawn doesn’t just happen out of nowhere. Like we’ve said, you need to mow, water and fertilize. It’s not necessarily too much work, but if you don’t know when and how to do it, it might look like it. However, we’ve decided to help out. Today, we’re going to talk about a few things that everyone longing for a beautiful lawn should know.
Should you water your lawn right after the mowing?
One of the most common questions about lawn maintenance is about when to water the lawn. Usually what happens is – people finish up mowing the grass and immediately grab a hose or turn on their sprinklers to give their yard a good, thorough soak. Although that might seem like a good idea, and sometimes it really is, that’s not necessarily always the case. You don’t have to water the lawn right after the mowing. You don’t drink water when you don’t need it and the same goes for grass. All you need to do is take a look at whether your lawn needs water or not. That’s all there is to it.
Is it good to water after mowing?
There is no definitive answer to this question – it can be good and it doesn’t have to be. It all comes down to whether the lawn needs it or not. If you know you haven’t watered in a week and it hasn’t rained for a while, then, by all means, water the lawn. If you’ve watered it yesterday or it rained the day before, then a trip is all your lawn needs.
Is it good to water before mowing?
Unlike the previous question, the answer to this one is pretty straightforward – no. Watering your lawn before mowing will almost certainly clog your lawnmower and leave chunks of wet, grass lumps all over your lawn.
How to determine if the lawn needs watering?
When it comes to determining whether the grass needs some water, there are two things you should pay attention to. The first thing you should take a look at is the colour of the grass. Now, this may be tricky and finding subtle differences can be a little bit hard, but it’s possible. Healthy grass is vibrant, bright green – all of us recognize that healthy shade of green. A grass that is thirsty looks a little bit different. On the other hand, if the grass is looking faded, kind of dulled down blue-ish green, it might be a good time to turn on the sprinklers. If that seems like something you might not be able to notice, you could seek help from someone who can, like likemowing.com.au and have them maintain your lawn.
Another thing to look for are footprints. Generally, if you cannot determine whether you should water or not is to walk over the lawn and check for footprints. If the grass is healthy and watered, the grass blades should be ‘footprint resistant’. It will usually spring back up, just like a well-moisturized curly hair, while dehydrated grass will not. So, if you notice the footprints, it means that the grass is craving some water and it’s time to grab a hose.
When should you water the lawn?
Now that you know how to recognize the thirsty lawn, let’s take a look at when you should water it. It’s not uncommon for people to set their sprinkler systems to go off during the night. You might be spending a lot of time in your backyard during the day and you don’t want to get wet. However, that is not quite the right way to do it. You see, during the night, temperatures are lower, water gets cold quickly and the grass isn’t able to properly absorb the moisture, which can lead to fungal growth or turf diseases that can ruin your lawn.
Also, watering during the day, especially in the summer when the temperatures are high and water is much needed, is not that good either. If you water during the midday on a hot summer day, the water will evaporate rather quickly, which will not properly hydrate the grass.
That leaves us only with the morning. The mornings are ideal for both mowing and watering the lawn. If you can, water the lawn between 6 and 8 o’clock in the morning. That should leave more than enough time for the lawn to soak up all the water before the midday heat sets in. If you don’t mind getting up at 6 am, that is. If you do, luckily for you, there are all kinds of different sprinkler systems that can be scheduled so you can sleep in.
How often should you water your lawn?
There is such a thing as too much water, too. The general rule of thumb is to thoroughly and deeply water your lawn once a week, for about half an hour or so. Don’t over-soak your lawn though. If it were raining the week before, you don’t have to do it. Too much water can damage the roots of the grass making it weaker less absorbent.
There you go, those were some general rules on how and when to water your lawn. Hopefully, you’ve learned something new today and your lawn is about to become, or stay, bright green for as long as possible.