Most of us are quite familiar with the fact that an under-watered lawn will soon be a dead lawn, but perhaps less appreciated are the dangers of over-watering. While the exact amount of water that is ideal to cover your yard with will vary based on numerous factors such as type of grass and type of soil, all grass will become less healthy or even suffer root rot if left too long in puddles or highly saturated ground. Avoidance of overwatering is the first solution, and the second is a good drainage system.
Avoid Watering Your Lawn Too Much
Lawns in different regions will often have grasses that do better in colder or warmer climates to adapt to the local conditions. Warm season grass is more tolerant to heat and drought, while cold season grass stands up better to Winter conditions. A cultivar is a combination, cross-bred, grass that gains some qualities from both warm and cold season varieties, and is rather usual in the common lawn.
Despite all the genetic engineering, lawns require a large quantity of water to keep them growing- it is estimated that U.S. lawns cover three times the area of U.S. corn fields and consume a majority of the residential water supply. Yet, when this watering principle is taken too far, problems occur. The root systems of lawn grass must be kept moist but not in underground mud deposits. When the top two inches of your soil are dry, then it is likely time to water. You can use a screwdriver or other stick to test the soil to that depth. Only one or one and a half inches of water per week should be enough to keep your lawn healthy. New lawns should be watered often, but lightly, as too much water can keep the roots from digging deep into the soil- why should they go deep if the water is all up shallow? Without a deep root system, the plants will never be strong enough and the shallow instead of deep watering will persist to be necessary. This surface watering will cause weeds and bacteria to increase. Established lawns are better served by infrequent and deep (6 to 8 inch deep) waterings. According to YourLandscaptingSolutions.com, you should keep the root-encasing soil moist, but do not soak it. They said, “Soaking removes air pockets from the soil so that proper aeration ceases to occur and root or seed rot follows. Also remember that watering too much raises your water bill and makes for more mowing which increases your gas bill!” Finally, clay soil holds water longer than sandy soil, so sandy soil needs to be watered more often.
Install a Good Drainage System
Even with proper watering methods, you cannot always control how much water gets onto your lawn. Rain and runoff from your roof or from the neighbors yard are to be expected. One method of drainage is to use the contours of the land to let water flow away and not puddle. This may require re-grading in some cases and may not be always able to solve the entire problem, but it helps. Only a slight incline is necessary (a swale), and it can optionally deposit water in a “bog” where water-thirsty plants can use it. Water from the downspouts can be disbursed across the yard (underground) using corrugated plastic tubes, or it can be sent to a drain hole. Drain holes can collect water into additional underground yard plumbing (PVC pipes often) which can take the excess water off of the property, spread it out under the soil, or store it in a dry well that will gradually let the water out into the ground water supply. Spot draining areas that tend to puddle or flood is another option for a lawn drainage system. One needs to give some thought to how much of a water problem they have and how much they want to spend on one.
While a lawn must be kept well-watered and cared for to survive, overdoing it can lead to a poor lawn or a dead lawn. The two main answers are knowing how to give just the right amount of water to your yard and having an adequate drainage system installed to deal with rainy or wet seasons.
