Irrigating your lawn during spring in the mountains of Western North Carolina can be daunting. In the course of just a few hours, our spring weather can go from hot to chilly, windy to calm, a torrential downpour to bright and sunny. With so much variation in spring weather conditions, it can be difficult to determine just when and how much you should water your lawn. We’re here to help with some irrigation tips.

1. Know how spring weather affects your turf. As we’ve noted, spring in the WNC mountains can be fickle. You probably know that the higher the temperature and the more wind we have, the quicker the soil will dry out on your lawn. But did you know that you might actually need to water your lawn after a heavy rain? Downpours normally produce a lot of water runoff that doesn’t get down into the root system of your grass. A half-day or so of a light, steady rain will often be what gives your lawn the drink it needs, and you probably won’t have to water it again for a few days.

2. Know your type of grass. Cool season grasses such as tall fescue, Kentucky bluegrass, perennial ryegrass, and fine fescues like creeping red, chewings, and hard do exceptionally well in our mountains. They perform best in spring and fall and stay green even throughout most of winter. But cool season grasses need more water than warm season grasses and can show signs of distress in the warmer months of summer. You’ll need to keep an eye on them to be sure they’re not getting too much water in spring and fall and are being well-watered during the hotter months of summer.

3. Know your soil. Soil is made up of large and small particles; here in WNC, we tend to have smaller soil particles, which gives us a denser, more clay-based soil system that holds more water and air than the sandy soil closer to the coast. But different sections of our lawns can have varying types of soil, so it’s a good idea to perform soil tests around your lawn to see which sections might need more water and which might need a little less.

4. Know when to water. If your lawn is established, it’s best to water it before 10am — watering in the afternoon or at night can encourage turf disease that thrives on warm, dark, and wet conditions. Water until the top six to eight inches of soil is wet; that’s where most turfgrass roots grow. Your lawn will probably need about 1 to 1.5 inches of water per week, which can be applied once or divided into two waterings.

Let us take care of making sure your turf is properly irrigated! Get one year FREE irrigation maintenance for newly installed systems now through May 30, 2002. (Offer is for new customers only. Offer is based on the number of zoens; base price is approximately $300.)