Chapter 04 · Lawns
Water the lawn that fails the foot test — not the one next door is sprinkling.
A lawn is not a bed with shorter plants. New seed and new turf need the surface kept moist. An established sward usually needs leaving alone, even when it turns brown. A dry patch that sheds water is a third problem, and a sprinkler will not fix it.
Part of the watering guide. Also: pots · beds · lawns.
New seed and new turf
Thirsty for the first month
Keep the top moist, not flooded. On seed, the surface should darken and stay damp; puddles wash the seed into stripes. On turf, lift a corner. The soil underneath has to be damp, not just the grass on top. Water in the morning, gently, and often enough that it does not dry out between visits.
After three or four weeks, wean it. Deeper, less often. A lawn that is still on a daily sprinkle at two months grows shallow roots and then collapses the first week you go away.
Established lawns
Brown is usually dormant
Walk across it. If the blades stand back up, leave the hose alone. If they stay flat and the soil underneath is dry, it is asking. That is the foot test, and it is a better rule than watering every evening because next door is running a sprinkler.
Morning is the time to water grass. Midday throws water into the air. A late evening that leaves the sward wet all night invites disease. If you do water, water deeply and rarely, not a light pass every night. Brown in a dry spell is usually dormancy, not death. It greens up with rain. A sprinkler on an established lawn is one of the least efficient uses of mains water, and the first thing restricted in a hosepipe ban.
Dry patch
Water that beads on a lawn is not the same as a lawn that is simply dry
Pour a cupful on the brown patch. If it darkens and soaks in, the ground is dry: water slowly. If it beads or runs off, the thatch or the sandy soil underneath is repellent. Spike the patch, water in stages, and only then use a wetting agent if the water still will not stay. The rate is 2.5–5 ml per litre, as a separate pass of about 1 litre of made-up solution per square metre — not washing-up liquid, and not a soaking of the whole lawn just in case.
Keep reading
Back to the hub, or across to the other chapters
Finger tests, the month-by-month UK notes, and the problem table stay on the main watering guide. These three chapters are the deep dives.