A lawn is a beautiful addition to any home. We all enjoy a lush green expanse of grass as a central part of a yard or garden, and you may not be aware that a well-kept and beautiful lawn adds value to your home. Whether selling or not, you want to keep your lawn in the best condition. That can be difficult in the extreme Texas heat! What can you do to have a healthy, lush and glorious lawn in Texas? Here are some tips to help.
Watering – The When and How
Keeping a lawn healthy in the Texas heat is largely about watering. Rainfall usually keeps lawns watered in most places, but in Texas through the long, hot season there is no rain to help so we have to do it ourselves.
Now, before we go on to tell you when, how often and how much you should water your lawn, we have an important piece of advice: check your local laws as water is rationed in many places in Texas during the summer. The first restrictions put in place will apply to watering yards, and violation can mean very heavy fines.
So, let’s have a look at what you need to do to make sure your lawn is sufficiently watered.
When to Water the Lawn – if you can, always water your lawn as early in the morning as possible, before the sun is at its hottest. This is the time when the wind will also be lower, and the combined lack of heat and wind means less water loss than when hotter later in the day. This method also gives the grass time to dry, which you want it to do as quickly as possible to prevent decay.
How Much Water to Use – many people will water lightly and often. This is the wrong way to do it, and may be against the summer water restriction laws in your part of Texas. Grass has surprisingly deep roots – they should be between 6 to 8 inches beneath the ground – so you need to allow enough water to get that deep too. A quick sprinkler run will not achieve this, so you need to leave the sprinkler on for a long time, perhaps twice a week if possible. The ideas is to moisten the soil around the roots, not the grass on the top.
That’s the basics on watering, now let’s look at some further tips on growing a lawn.
More Advice on Lawn Care
We would also suggest that if you are having trouble keeping your lawn maintained you contact the professionals, and in the Texas area you’ll find Greener Acres Lawn Care are experienced, professional and more than happy to help. They offer excellent service at sensible rates, so if you don’t have the time to keep up with maintenance, they are worth contacting.
Mowing your lawn in a certain way will also help keep it healthy. Mow on a regular basis, but don’t cut the grass down to the minimum. Let it grow to a decent height and then set the mower to cut around a third, leaving the lawn higher than you would normally do. This encourages the grass and helps it remain healthy, green and beautiful.
If you are installing a lawn, then we have one final point for you: choose Bermuda Grass for easy maintenance as it is drought tolerant. It may become dormant if there is an excessive drought, but it will spring back when the rains come and if kept watered as above will make the perfect choice for your lawn.
We hope we’ve helped you with the above, so enjoy your Texas lawn this summer.