Turn of the Water, People!

I cannot remain silent any longer. Whether I am driving through Pleasant Grove or taking the dogs for a walk around the neighborhood, I see excessive lawn-watering going on. I think that perhaps if it were in the "Word of Wisdom" to not water your lawn excessively, maybe we would all catch on. Maybe even the sprinklers that go on EVERY NIGHT at EVERY church building would take it easy. Maybe the school sprinklers that water EVERY NIGHT would stop. Maybe if we could all catch on to this, we wouldn't be using more water than we have in the past 9 years!!!

Listen, people, your grass is not brown because it's dry. It's brown because it's too wet. People can die from drinking too much water, and so can other living things, in particular, grass. If your grass has a light green, yellowish-brownish tint, and feels damp, it is too wet! If your grass has a dark green, bluish-brownish tint, and feels dry, that's when your grass is dry. And that is when it needs water. If you have a dry spot, water the dry spot, not the whole thing!

Even during the hottest times of the year, you should only be watering your grass ONCE EVERY 3 DAYS FOR 21 MINUTES! You can up the time to 30 minutes if you feel nervous, but PLEASE don't increase the number of times that you water. If you water less frequently, for longer periods of time, your grass roots will be forced to go down, searching for water. THIS IS GOOD! You want deep roots. This helps fight drought, and helps to require less water. If you water often, like every day, the roots do nothing but sit on the surface and become "lazy." Then, when the real hot weather comes, they burn up. So watering frequently is BAD.

I seriously get so worked up when I see sprinklers on while it's raining, or right after it has rained. HELLO!!! Turn them off, people! The rain is nature's way of watering our grass for us. A simple turn of a switch will prevent your sprinklers from doing what Mother Nature has already just done.

It's cooling off. The water is not evaporating like it was during the hottest part of the summer. Adjust accordingly.

Just like people need more than water, grass needs more than water, too. Fertilize!!! Give it food. This helps the health of your roots and blades, and reduces the amount of water that you need!

Aerate! Especially with how much clay we have in our soil, we really need to aerate, in order to allow air to mix in with the soil and for better root health. This should be done in the fall and in the spring. But at least once a year.

If you don't believe me on all of this, I give you two pieces of evidence:

1. Take a look at my grass. I haven't watered for at least a week, because of all the rain. I don't remember the last time I watered before that. During the hottest part of the summer I was watering once every 3-4 days for 30-40 minutes.

2. Go to KSL. I know that it is a trusted source of news and information. There is a lawn-watering guide that will give you this information as well. Only, their information is given in a much kinder tone.


Finally, thanks for reading. It was nice having you read my blog as long as you did. I can't believe I made it this long without posting something that was as offensive and controversial as this post is. Hope you come back after you cool off...