GM wrote:

wrote:

I live in the New England area. My lawn is almost 90 percent brown.
I don't see any other lawns on my street burnt to this degree. My
landscaper tells me this is normal - that there is a drought going on
and most of their customers are experiencing the same thing. Granted
I did not start regular watering via my sprinkler system until
recently but it still does not make sense to me as I believe we have
been receiving a lot of rain. I also cannot figure out why my lawn
would be different than others on the street.


Although some will probably disagree with this, here is what I've
learned about lawns in my 14 years of being a homeowner. This has
worked very well for me and I stand by it. I live in a suburb of
Minneapolis, and despite what people might think it can get extremely
hot and humid here in the summer. During these times, when there is
also little or no rain, I do the following:

Let the grass grow long to about 3 1/2+ inches before cutting it. This
is especially relevent if your yard has little or no shade, as is the
case with my front yard which takes quite a pounding from the sun in the
summer. The longer grass buffers the grass roots from being burned out
by the sun and also actually creates a bit of shade to keep the soil
moist longer, which allows it to feed the grass longer. Many homeowners
are hell-bent on cutting their grass short (around 2 inches) all season
long regardless of conditions. These are the people on my block whose
lawns burn out while mine stays green. Yes, shorter lawns probably
look better but you risk burnout if you do that during heat/drought
conditions. I'll take long green over short brown. When it gets
cooler/wetter you can switch back to a shorter cut.

Water your lawn at least twice a week for 2 to 2 1/2 hours per time. It
is better to water your lawn heavily a couple times a week than it is to
water lightly many times during the week. In drought conditions, those
who water their lawn 1/2 hour every day are just wasting their time and
water. It will do little or no good at all. Water early morning when
water pressure is high and evaporation is low. Late afternoon is the
next best time. Right now, I am watering every 3 or 4 days for 2 1/2
hours per time. Of course, if your city/town has watering restrictions,
that could create a problem. My city has never had watering
restrictions, so perhaps I'm lucky. Also, don't be one of those damn
fools who waters their lawn for 2 hours in the middle of the day when
it's 90's and humid and just about all the water is lost to
evaporation. You never want to water when the sun is high in the sky
and bearing down directly on your lawn.

A longer term solution is to plant trees on your property to provide
shade to your lawn during times of drought. Of course, this requires
patience as it might be 10 years before a tree grows enough to provide
sufficient shade. I planted a Northwoods Red Maple in my tree-barren
front yard over 3 years ago and I'm still waiting for some above ground
growth.

Hope this helps.


Yeah, but tree roots tend to suck up water as well, don't they?