Oh my God! Sin of sins! I am actually going to put up an article on lawns! I am a water-wise gardener, use drip irrigation, wet-medium-low water zoning, and all the rest. Because of the scarcity of water in California (that first letter really is a "C"-it's Vivaldi font) I use Round-Up to kill all the grass dead. Why have grass when you can grow flowers? Flowers besides are more water efficient. The ultimate boring "garden" is the green lawn with green shrubs. But, where water is not a problem grow a lawn, be happy. But read this article first!
This was in the Fine Gardening "Over the Fence" section May-June 2001, © 2001 by The Taunton Press, Inc.
Questioning Watering Wisdom:
As a new subscriber, I was shocked at the suggestion of Janet Macunovich in the April edition to water lawns daily at midday in summer ("Learn to Water Well, FG#78). This flies in the face of any water conservation efforts I have ever heard of, or good lawn maintenance practices for that matter. It may be okay in Detroit to water at midday, but not in Texas where water is considered a precious resource. John H. Pickett, Glen Rose, TexasJanet Macunovich responds: As I explained in my article, there is never just one answer to "How should I water?" The plant's needs, the gardener's abilities, the site, and other factors all have to be taken into account. Where the site is dry and water-use restrictions are in force, a lawn's need for cool temperatures and consistent moisture are secondary. Some gardeners might choose to water less often-just enough to keep the lawn alive-but I might choose to eliminate the lawn in favor of plants better suited to the site and environmental conditions.
I realize that watering a lawn in the middle of the day every day is a departure from convention, but it's a departure that field tests at Michigan State University have proven beneficial. The convention-to water a lawn deeply and regularly to encourage roots to grow deeper-did not become the standard because it had been scientifically proven to be the best way to water lawn grass. It was proposed back in the early 1900's because it sounded logical.
Recently, Dr. Joe Vargas at MSU put this theory to the test, partly in response to water conservation concerns. What the tests showed that lawn roots do not grow deeper because water is available deeper. In fact, during summer, when air temperatures rise so high that grass cannot photosynthesize, grass must burn starches to live, and roots may actually shrink. Applying 1/8 inch of water every day during the hottest part of the day yielded a healthy lawn because water is applied only to the root zone and because the water cools the air enough for the grass to photosynthesize. And applying 1/8 inch of water every day exactly where it's needed actually conserves water when compared to the standard application measure of 1 inch per week all at once.
