Along with sun exposure, ensuring your lawn gets enough water is a key factor to keeping it alive and thriving especially through the hottest parts of summer. There are some common misconceptions with how to water your lawn so let’s go through some key concepts:
When to water–
The best time of day to water is first thing in the morning when the temperature is lowest. This minimises evaporation and the lawn will dry out in an acceptable time frame. Watering at night means the lawn will sit damp overnight and can promote fungal disease developing.
How often to water– you should aim to water your lawn deeply 1–2 times per week during times there is no rainfall to encourage strong root growth. For new seed, freshly laid turf, or after a lawn renovation though it’s a totally different story where short frequent watering is best. In these scenarios you can start off watering lightly 2-4 times per DAY depending on weather conditions, backing it off until you end up at that 1-2 times per WEEK figure once fully recovered/established.
Type of sprinklers– now let me tell you from experience, if you can afford to get an in-ground irrigation system you can control from your phone then 100% do it. I totally get that’s not attainable for everyone though, so a portable sprinkler on the hose may be more reasonable and perfectly effective. The best sprinkler for you will depend on the size and shape of your lawn but just to look at 2 main options:
- Square/rectangle lawn: oscillating sprinklers
- Odd shapes/circular lawn: impact sprinklers
There are SO MANY options on the market (like the Hoselink 9 pattern sprinkler you see above) so it might be worth making a little diagram of your yard and looking at different setups. Sometimes you can even daisy chain sprinklers together to cover larger or awkward spaces.
How much – how much to water your lawn is a bit like asking how long a piece of string is, but let’s have a go. Generally advice is that lawns need around 25mm of irrigation or rainfall per week. This can be measured with catch cups or the tuna can test, but anecdotally I've found them to not be super accurate and to be honest the figure of 25mm is not super helpful anyway BECAUSE 25mm on a heavy soil in Melbourne when it’s been cool and cloudy vs 25mm on a sandy base in Perth when it’s been 35° all week is VERY different. That’s where I preach that the key with watering is to be ADAPTABLE. Let’s be practical and say you water every Sunday because it’s your day off work and you’ve got an oscillating sprinkler. You might set your baseline at an hour run time. If your lawn is looking dry and going brown, there’s been a heatwave, and no rain for a while — bump it up to an hour and 20 mins. If your lawn’s looking quite green and temperatures have been under 25°, knock it down to 40 mins. If there was a little bit of rain a few days ago and more forecast this week, skip watering and re-adjust next Sunday.
Soil type and infiltration – your soil has a huge say in how watering impacts the lawn. Sandy soils drain super quickly while clay and heavy soils hold water well but don’t let it in quickly, so watering too much at once just causes runoff. The key here is to avoid puddling on your lawn and watch for runoff occurring. In these cases it may be more effective to water for 20 mins, turn it off for 20 mins, then do the next 20 mins to make up your 40 minute water.
Signs your lawn needs water – rather than guessing, look for the signs: the lawn taking on a dull blue/grey tinge, leaf blades folding in on themselves, or your footprints sticking around when you walk on it. Those are all classic indicators it’s thirsty. You may also get isolated brown dry spots where it would be necessary to hand water once a day for a week or so to get it back on track, mixing a watering can with wetting agent would also be super helpful.
Restrictions and efficiency/products – a quick but important one: lots of councils have watering restrictions, so always check what’s allowed in your area as this may effect your watering schedule as well as when you choose to do a lawn renovation. To get the most out of whatever water you can use, think about efficiency too — wetting agents help your soil to absorb water more efficiently and reduce watering needs. Great to use every 4-6 weeks during peak growing conditions or every 2-3 weeks initially on ultra dry and hydrophobic soils.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Watering lightly every day (leads to shallow, weak roots).
- Watering at night (fungus risk).
- Watering in the middle of a hot day (most of it just evaporates).
- Blasting water faster than the soil can take in (causes runoff and waste).
At the end of the day, there’s no perfect “set and forget” formula for watering. The best results come from paying attention to your own conditions — soil, climate, rainfall, and how your lawn looks. It takes a little trial and error, but once you learn to read the signs you’ll be amazed at how much healthier and tougher your lawn becomes.