What about watering restrictions? Watering restrictions actually promote good lawn maintenance. It's also a good idea to know what kind of grass works well in your climate. When asked about watering restrictions,...
When asked about watering restrictions, Merrideth Jiles, who is the garden center manager at The Great Outdoors Nursery and Landscaping Center in Austin, Texas, says, "I think if you establish a good healthy lawn or good healthy plants, they will tolerate less frequent watering. It goes back to using the right things. For example, people move to the South from Kentucky and they want to grow Bluegrass, because that is what you grow in Kentucky, you grow Kentucky bluegrass. Well, bluegrass does not grow in Texas. For whatever part of the country you're in, the first thing you need to do with a lawn is pick a grass that is good for your part of the country, because every climate has its issues. If you move to Seattle or Oregon, you've got to find something that tolerates being wet all the time."
Jiles goes on to say that there will be times that your lawn is just not as healthy looking as it is at others. He says, "If you're driving around in August and it's 110 degrees outside and you see a really lush, green lawn, I can almost guarantee that homeowner is not respecting the environment on many levels. Southwestern and western climates can be relatively harsh, and anyone that is being a responsible homeowner and doing responsible things with their lawn is not going to have a great looking lawn in August in Arizona. If you water when your community advises, your lawn will look good and it will stay alive and you won't be the embarrassment of the neighborhood, but it won't look like it does in April. In such harsh climates, it's difficult to have this really lush, really green lawn when it's 110 degrees outside for two weeks."
It is recommended that, in order to establish a healthy lawn, you should water thoroughly but less frequently. If you water too often, the lawn becomes dependent on it and the grass's roots will not dig deep enough to find its own moisture if faced with a situation in which it is not getting the water usually given to it.
Jiles goes on to talk about other things that you can do to help your lawn survive through droughts, "Again, that's why I say fertilize in the fall to fill in the little patches that may die off over the summer and then build your lawn back up for the winter." The fertilization of your lawn, as well as other choices you have in this preparation depends largely on the type of grass that you have as well as the climate that you live in.
So, research the different aspects of your lawn and prepare it for unforeseen circumstances by making it as strong as possible.
Jiles says, "If you have a nice, established lawn and it's healthy, it will survive using just the watering restrictions. By using the recommendations from the city, which is usually to water every seven days or something like that, your lawn will survive and it will look decent."
