By Sharah Truett
Last summer, we had a warm, dry spring, as well as an extremely dry June with only 18% of precipitation recorded at the Elwha Ranger Station. In fact, the Department of Ecology issued a Drought Emergency for the Sequim-Dungeness River Watershed. This hit farmers hard across the state.
During a drought, people have to make hard choices about what to water and what not to water. Luckily, the lawn is pretty tough and has adaptations to get through dry times. In fact, most people overwater their lawns.
If you choose to not water your lawn in the summer and instead let it “Go Gold”, here are some tips to keep it healthier.
- You can rake out the thatch from your lawn and aerate the soil with a core aerator in the spring or fall. This will help rainwater move further down into the soil to reach the root zone.
- Make sure you don’t add fertilizer to your lawn once the dry season starts. This can harm your grass more than help it.
- Mow high (at least 3” or higher). Root growth is usually proportional to the top growth of turfgrasses. Taller grass has a longer root system and can access deeper soil moisture and nutrients.
- Keep lawn well weeded so the weeds can’t take deep water away from lawn roots.
- If you do decide to water, water deeply and infrequently
- Best way to water lawn? Apply water for a few minutes. Turn water off and wait a few minutes. Then apply some more. The soil can absorb more water this way and you won’t get runoff.
For more information see WSU’s publication “Drought Advisory Lawns and Other Turf.” Link to the publication can be found on the WSU Turfgrass Science Publications page.