Spring means it’s time to think about caring for your lawn.
This includes revving up that mower and getting the blades sharpened for a great cut every time. You may even want to invest in a fertilization and lawn care service as well to better the health of your yard.
And proper lawn care isn’t complete without correct watering.
While you might think watering is something Mother Nature handles and you don’t have to worry about, that’s not always the case. Sometimes the queen of weather conditions doesn’t come through with the water your lawn needs to thrive. That’s when you have to step in and help your lawn out.
Best practices on how to water your lawn can certainly help keep your grass healthy.
Lawn Watering Tips for Maryland
You hear a lot of facts out there about how to water your lawn, but sometimes it doesn’t make sense.
For instance, if your lawn needs 1 inch of water a week, what does that even mean? How do you know what 1 inch looks like?
Let’s explore some facts so you have a guide to help you with proper lawn watering techniques in Maryland.
How Much Do I Need To Water My Lawn?
Generally, your lawn needs 1.5 inches of water per week to remain growing and green. This includes taking rainfall into account.
How do you do that? Here’s a lawn watering tip: Take a rain gauge, tuna fish can or coffee can and set it in your yard. Turn on the sprinklers or irrigation system and water until the container you set out fills up about 1 inch full. Monitor how long that took. If it took 30 minutes, then you know that you need to water approximately 30 minutes a week.
Including rainfall in this total just means shortening your supplemental watering a bit. So if it rains about 1 inch, you only need to water to add up to about half an inch of water, which would be one-third of your watering time compared to 1.5 inches.
Spread Water Evenly Across Your Lawn
Since your sprinklers can vary in their water distribution, you want to ensure some spray overlap for uniform coverage. 
Another lawn watering tip: When measuring how much water your property is getting with the tuna can/rain gauge method mentioned before, you might want to place these cans across your property during your test to see if some areas get more water than others and adjust times accordingly to still reach your goal of 1.5 inches across the entire lawn.
How Often Should I Water My Lawn?
Deep, infrequent watering is the No. 1 lawn watering tip. You also want to water slowly; watering too fast won’t give your lawn a chance to absorb the water and the excess will run off, wasting water and your hard-earned dollars.
To reach your 1.5 inches per week, this might mean watering each area 15 to 20 minutes every other day or three times a week, depending on how your irrigation system or sprinklers work and how much rainfall you receive.
When Should I Water My Lawn?
Timing is actually pretty essential when it comes to how to water your lawn.
You want to focus on early morning watering -- think pre-dawn or dawn. Why? This helps prevent evapotranspiration, which means you’re losing less water to the intense sun that comes mid-day. This also saves you money on watering because each drop of water is maximized. 
You want to avoid watering at night because it can cause extensive disease pressure on the lawn. The combination of heat and humidity mixed with water can enhance the potential for pressure from diseases such as brown patch, dollar spot, and others.
Avoid Overwatering
Overwatering does almost as much damage as underwatering when it comes to weakening your lawn. It makes the turf more prone to insects and diseases and also increases the likelihood for stormwater runoff, not to mention elevating your water bills.
To help conserve water, remember to mow your lawn so it stands at about 3.5 to 4 inches tall and control thatch buildup and soil compaction with annual aeration and overseeding. These lawn watering tips are just as important to the whole moisture process because they ensure water reaches the root zone of the lawn and allows it to breath and grow strong.
Maximize the Benefits of Proper Lawn Watering
No one wants to waste money on something they think is helping their lawn. Watering is one of those things. The right lawn watering tips can make all the difference in the look and health of your Maryland yard.
Of course watering is only one element of a great lawn. Proper mowing, adequate fertilization and insect and disease prevention and care, as well as aeration and overseeding are the other key elements in your total lawn maintenance playbook.
Confused or worried that your lawn might be lacking some care or that you don’t know where to start? We get it. Lawn care can sometimes seem like an overwhelming task, especially when you’re busy with other things.
But don’t worry. The right lawn care service partner can educate you on the basics and make you feel comfortable so you know how the process works and how to easily strategize a lawn maintenance plan so you don’t miss anything during the growing season.
Then you can maximize that summer chill time outdoors without stressing about what your lawn might be lacking.
Want to rev up your lawn’s health and maximize your dollars … and overall happiness? Natural Green can help. We provide lawn care services in Central and Southern Maryland. Get started today with a free quote. Together, we’ll customize a plan that makes your lawn look like the star of the block.
Image Source: Running Sprinkler with Full coverage, Irrigation System, Sprinkler head, Lawn Mower
