When it comes to watering your lawn, there’s a lot to take in. Depending on when you water, how much, and the time of day, will truly make your lawn lush and green or eventually end up killing your grass. For those of you that want to retain a beautiful lush yard, it’s imperative that you brush up on these watering guidelines for the time of day and time of year from your Denver sprinkler experts!

The Time Of Day

Watering your lawn at the optimal time of day can reduce evaporation, prevent fungus growth, and ensure your lawn is green and healthy. The ideal time to water your grass is roughly an hour from sunrise. This allows an ample amount of time for the water to soak into the ground, but also leaves the blades of grass damp for a shorter amount of time compared to watering at night. Damp night air also softens the soil so water will be able to easily soak into the ground.
The more water that soaks into the ground, the more healthy the grass roots will be.

There are two really common mistakes that homeowners make when watering their lawn. The first is that they water at night, believing that the cool air will prevent evaporation. While it’s true that evaporation is minimal after sunday, but that cool air causes your grass to stay damp for a long period of time. This creates a perfect environment for disease and fungus. Simply put, nighttime watering will wreck havoc on your lawn.

The second common mistake is to water during the afternoon. Many homeowners believe that this will prevent grass from burning, which isn’t the case at all. Watering during the hottest part of the day is just wasteful of water. Water evaporates almost as soon as it hits the lawn on extremely hot, summer days. Soil will also harden in the sun, so it won’t even soak up the water that you do try use.

When you install a sprinkler system with us, one of our expert technicians will come out to your home and help you layout a plan for the best places to put sprinkler heads and also the best kind of sprinklers for your lawn. Our sprinkler systems can be set to start at any time in the morning and water certain zones at a time. This will be instrumental in helping your grass become as healthy as possible.

Watering in the Summer

Denver summers are know to bring about outdoor activities and events, but it also brings out some of the strongest heat your lawn will be exposed to throughout the year. One of the most common mistakes homeowners make during the summer is to water their lawn all the time. This actually ends up hurting your lawn more than helping it, and you can waste so much water doing so.

So, when should you water your lawn in the summer? In the morning - it’s as simple as that. During these hours, the air is cooler making it the perfect oportune temperature for your lawn to soak it all up. Typically in the morning, wind isn’t an issue which can blow away the droplets of water. Another summer watering mistake is to water during the evening, but doing this is risky and causes a lawn disease. Watering overnight causes the droplets to cling to blades of grass which sits there for hours, creating the perfect environment for fungus.

In the summer, it’s imperative that your lawn receives between one and one and a half inches of water each week. For optimal results, be sure to water your lawn every other day. You can also water your lawn every two days to create deeper grass roots which means your grass will be better at protecting against a drought.

Watering in the Winter

Believe it or not, yes you should water in the winter - but very carefully. While you might be prone to wanting to put away your hose or stop your irrigation system as soon as the snow falls, the fact of the matter is that you should continue watering your lawn up until the ground temperature is below freezing.

Once the cool air descends upon the Denver area, you’ll notice that your lawn will go into dormancy for the winter. What this really means is that your grass will stop growing. Grass starts to change and eventually stop growing once the first hint of winter comes around. Because of the incoming winter season, you’ll have to change your watering frequency which won’t be anything like you did for the spring, summer, or fall.

For the winter, there really is no set schedule of when you should water because you don’t really know the exact date that temperatures will drop and the ground will freeze. We suggest changing your frequency of watering to once a week until the ground starts to freeze. The cold temperatures that come about means that water will not evaporate as quickly as it did in the spring, summer, or fall, so it’s crucial that you do not overwater your lawn, or water more than once a week.

How do you know if your grass needs watering? It will tell you by the way it looks. The grass blades will fold in half and begin to appear a bluish, gray color when it’s time to water. Another way to tell is to simply walk on your lawn. If you see footprints after you take a walk on it, it’s good to go and doesn’t need watering.

Regardless of if your anticipating snowflakes or a snowstorm, keep watering until the ground is frozen. Once the ground is frozen it acts as a barrier to prevent water from getting soaked up and down to the grassroots. If you do happen to know when the big freeze or snowstorm of the season is about to hit, water your lawn the morning before it happens. If the soil is moist, it will act as insulation for your roots and if your roots are dry, your roots are more at risk of freezing.

At Water Solutions Company, we know a thing or two about the proper way to water a lawn. Contact us today with any questions you have about watering guidelines, and if you want to have an expert come look at your lawn!