Proper Watering During Hot, Dry Weather Crucial to Healthy, Weed-Free Properties

Proper watering will keep your lawn healthy during the hot summer months while staying eco-friendly way PROPER WATERING WILL KEEP YOUR LAWN HEALTHY DURING THE HOT SUMMER MONTHS WHILE MINIMIZING WATER USE. Watering is a tricky balance for eco-conscious homeowners. We want to keep our lawns and plants alive, but we don’t want to waste water while doing so. You can keep your lawn healthy and undamaged without keeping it golf-course green. Cared for properly, healthy turf goes dormant and appears browner than normal in the heat of summer and bounces back beautifully in the early fall when temperatures cool down. Passing thunderstorms that hit Chicago in the summer months may still not provide enough water to keep lawns and gardens healthy. But you STILL need to water a dormant lawn regularly. A passing summer thunderstorm dumps water on our service area, but it may not provide the right amount of water. Our field technicians report an increase in browned-out lawns with higher-than-normal weed pressure in our service area lately. This usually indicates that the plants are not receiving the proper amount of watering. The current hot weather conditions in the Chicago area will quickly damage unwatered and underwatered lawns and gardens. Due to increased temperatures common to urban settings, lawns and gardens of homes in Chicago need extra water in the summer. Please remember that during times of prolonged summer heat and dry weather we need to provide plants, trees, flowers, lawn sod and seed with extra watering. Weeds are very opportunistic and will take advantage of dry, thin turf to quickly spread. Keep your lawn healthy to serve as natural weed prevention. So what’s the sweet spot? _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Save these Greenwise watering guidelines as a handy reference during the hot, dry days of summer: For best results, water your lawn thoroughly three times a week if we do not get significant rainfall.  In hot, dry weather, water shrubs and flowers daily. Morning, around 6 to 8 a.m., is the best time to water. Watering at any time of day is better than not watering at all. The rule of thumb for lawns is to water one-inch deep each time you water. It’s better for the lawn to water heavily and less frequently, than to lightly mist it every day. Use a rain gauge to make measuring an inch of water easy. If you don’t have a rain gauge, place a tuna can (or similarly sized vessel) in your yard as you water. When the can is full, you’ve watered enough! Pay special attention to high-sun areas of the lawn. Don’t forget that even mature trees need water, too. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Follow the watering guidelines above to ensure a healthy, dense turf throughout the summer. USE A TUNA CAN, OR SIMILARLY SIZED VESSEL, TO MEASURE 1″ WHEN WATERING: WHEN THE CAN IS FULL, YOU’VE WATERED ENOUGH! Please read these tips for maintaining a healthy, organic property: Organic Lawn Care