Last updated on October 23rd, 2023 at 08:30 pm
Many amateur gardeners struggle with this: During prolonged drought, they can hardly keep up with watering. The lawn in particular suffers quickly – the question is: How do you water correctly? When is the best time to water the lawn? How do you check the result? We have the most important info.
The most common mistake in lawn watering is watering the green area for too short a time – possibly even during the day when the sun is shining.
Contents
- 1 Our eight tips:
- 2 When you water, water intensively
- 3 Pay attention to the position of the lawn sprinkler
- 4 Garden hose or sprinkler system – the right irrigation for my garden
- 5 Check the result
- 6 Include precipitation in planning
- 7 Save drinking water – use rainwater
- 8 The right time of day
- 9 In spring: scarifying, fertilizing, reseeding as a basis.
- 10 Stay relaxed
- 11 Author
Our eight tips:
When you water, water intensively
In order for the moisture to reach the roots, there should definitely be puddles on the lawn. Therefore, it is better to leave the sprinkler or other watering equipment running in one place for a longer period of time and water here sustainably, rather than changing the location too often and too quickly.
Pay attention to the position of the lawn sprinkler
The water should reach 100 percent of the lawn and not water sidewalks or the patio as well. This avoids unnecessary water consumption. Examine your lawn for weak spots – where is the grass affected, where even burned? Here it pays to sprinkle consistently or to water manually with the watering can.
Garden hose or sprinkler system – the right irrigation for my garden
Another important criterion: where does the water run off particularly quickly on your lawn, are there grooves or ditches that absorb the water? Avoid the rapid runoff of the water.
Check the result
After watering, poke out a small piece of turf with a spade, for example, to see if the water has reached the roots. The sod should still be moist about 10 to 15 centimeters deep (this also depends on the type of grass). The turf that has been cut out can then be used again without any problems.
Another option is to place a glass on the lawn before sprinkling or watering – it should be filled with between one and two centimeters of water afterwards.
Include precipitation in planning
Plan for the weather forecast in your gardening efforts: If rain is in the forecast or temperatures are dropping, it’s possible to forgo sprinkling sometimes and save water.
Save drinking water – use rainwater
A supply of rainwater is ideal for watering. If possible, set up one or more rain barrels or a rain barrel in the garden, collect water. This replaces valuable drinking water – you act environmentally conscious and save money. Still in addition you know with rain water use with certainty that the water is untreated, soft – thus with small water hardness – and without additives again nature benefits. For larger gardens, a rainwater tank is recommended, which you can have installed underground in the ground. This gives you a large supply of water at all times. Electric pumps that pump the water from the tank into the garden hose are available for as little as 30 to 50 euros. Typical tank sizes start at 1,000 to 2,000 liters in volume, and there are also much larger versions.
The right time of day
The best time to water the lawn is in the early morning hours. During these cool hours of the day, the lawn absorbs water best and evaporation is comparatively low. The green is thus prepared for the following warming, when the sun shines directly on the lawn.
Practical: A simple timer is already available for a few euros. This makes it easy to plan and preset the watering period in the morning without having to get up early. In general, the marginal times of the day, i.e. evening and morning, are better suited for watering than midday, when the sun is at its highest.
In spring: scarifying, fertilizing, reseeding as a basis.
With the right measures in spring, you can strengthen your lawn in time and make it resistant to dry phases in summer (Successful seeding and reseeding of lawns).
Stay relaxed
Most lawns survive dry periods well – actionism is not necessary in Central Europe. After the few dry weeks in midsummer, your lawn usually recovers quickly from the short-term drought and shines a rich green again in late summer. One factor in this is also the right time to mow the lawn.