Beautiful yards take a lot less water than you think. In fact, more Mississippi lawns are damaged each year from over-watering than they are from lack of water. When you use water wisely, you can provide your lawns and landscape plants with the water they need, even during the hottest part of the summer. It just takes some common sense and watering know-how. Read on to learn how to water your landscape wisely.

One of two of the most commonly asked questions during the summer months is, “How often do I need to water my yard?” This is definitely an open-ended question with several factors determining the answer. Namely, how much rain has your yard received and how much? Localized rain should be sufficient to penetrate the soil to a depth of 4-5 inches. Water penetration depends primarily on your individual soil type. Grass can suffer from too much or too little water.

Watering should be uniformly spread across the lawn to insure an even saturation. An easy trick to determine your sprinklers output and distribution pattern, is to place old coffee cans in different locations throughout your lawn. Water until you reach a 1” depth in the coffee can, and then turn off the sprinkler system. Check each can that you have put out to make sure you are reaching all areas of your yard.

It is best to water your lawn early morning while the morning dew is still on the ground. This will help to slow the water loss due to evaporation and insure better water saturation. It also prevents the possibility of scorching the grass during the mid-day heat. Watering during mid-day reduces the useable amount of water that can reach the grass roots. And watering your lawn late evening can cause excess moisture retention and lead to fungus buildup in the turf. It’s also best to keep your watering to those times of the year when temperatures are above 60 degrees at night and above 80 degrees during the daytime hours. Water as infrequently as possible. Thoroughly water when you do water so moisture soaks down to the roots. Exceptions to this general rule would be for newly seeded lawns where the surface needs to stay moist, newly sodded lawns that have not yet rooted into the soil, or when summer patch disease is a problem. Otherwise, avoid frequent watering, which promotes shallower root systems and weeds.