Things You'll Need:
- Lawn
- Drought
- A little water
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Step 1
Do not use herbicides. Weeds may seem to overtake your yard during a drought, but herbicides are ineffective on dehydrated weeds and they also put added stress on your lawn.
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Step 2
watering the lawnBe smart when watering. Especially when under a water usage restriction, you cannot afford for any water to be lost. Instead of watering often in smaller amounts, wait longer periods of time and give your lawn a good soak. If you water in small amounts every day, much of that water is lost to evaporation and little is actually soaked into your lawn.
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Step 3
Watering early in the morning also helps to reduce water lost to evaporation. Ideally, you should give your lawn 1/2 inch of water, wait about an hour, and water another 1/2 inch. You can put a cup in the sprinkler zone while watering to measure how much your lawn is getting.
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Step 4
Make sure the blades on your lawn mover are sharp. If they are dull, they tear the grass instead of cutting. Tears require more resources to heal meaning more water is used. An entire lawn of torn grass requiring more water really adds up.
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Step 5
mowing the lawnWhen mowing, make sure not to cut the grass too short. Extra short grass exposes the surface roots and their growth is slowed. Grass needs a good root system to survive during a drought, so only cut your grass between 2.5 and 3.5 inches tall.
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Step 6
Do not bag or remove grass clippings after mowing. When they are spread over your lawn, they act as a mulch that helps keep the grass moist and protected. This also reduces your work load of having to empty that bag!
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Step 7
For more information, see "How to Keep Your Lawn Alive During a Drought" in the resources section below.
