Lawn Watering Guide

Did you know you can use less water and have a healthier lawn?

I wish I could tell you I have this all figured out and tell you my secrets about having a beautiful lawn. Alas, I am still struggling. But I have done a lot of research and just wanted to share what I have learned along the way.

Most people over water their lawn. I know this because I see water running down the gutters every morning. The Utah water conservationists say that 65% of water use goes to our lawns, and half of that is waste. That is pretty sad. I know that we have water running down the gutter, but that is because we have a broken sprinkler by the driveway and I don't know how to fix it myself. It's on the "honey do list", but is usually pushed to the bottom.

In good conscience I have attempted to follow this Residential Watering Guide, hoping to have a healthy and pretty lawn and conserve water at the same time. It's all about efficiency, right? Too little means dead grass, and too much means precious wasted water. I collected water in my little cans and found that 10 minutes of application meant only about 1/4" of water, so we are now doing 20 minute applications every 3 days.

Everything was going well... until it got hot. Now I have brown spots. Big ones. In the same places as last year. I tried to get my landlord to fix the sprinklers last summer and she sent her dad over to tinker with them and say, "Yep, they're fine." I guess I might need another opinion.

Here is what the Water Agency says about it:

Coping with Brown Spots

No matter how much maintenance you do on your sprinkler system, no one’s irrigation system is perfect. It is impossible to design a sprinkler system that is 100% efficient. Don’t feel so bad.

After getting the system as uniform as possible, you may still have brown spots.

At this point, you have three choices:

1. Over-water your lawn, thereby wasting a valuable resource,
2. Hand-water the brown spots when needed, increasing your maintenance time, or
3. Plant something else there that doesn't need as much water

Wish I could plant something else. Like a bunch of trees. But it's not my house, and Jimminy Cricket says I can't over-water, so for now I am dragging the hose around the yard.