Here at home it's been really dry lately, and my lawn is starting to turn yellow. I don't want to spend money on automatic irrigation right now, but I can't water every day in this heat either. What's the secret that gardeners use?
Are you watering at night or during the day? Because that could be the difference between spending a little and losing everything.
The real secret is watering less often, but going deep. Lots of people water a bit every day and the water doesn't penetrate properly, it just wets the surface. What you need to do is water 2 to 3 times a week, but let the water go deep into the soil, like 10-15cm. That way the root system grows down further and the grass becomes more heat resistant. And always do it late in the afternoon or at dawn, never at midday. During the day you lose everything to evaporation and you'll even burn the lawn.
The other thing that works is increasing the cutting height of the grass. If you cut it too short, you expose the soil and everything dries out. Keep the grass around 5-7cm high, that creates shade and keeps the moisture better. Oh, and if you have dead leaves or moss, take the opportunity to rake it to clean that up, because then the water penetrates better. Since I sometimes work with irrigation pipes, I'm telling you that most people waste money on automatic systems when it was just a matter of watering properly.
Don't fall into the temptation of watering little and often - that creates weak roots that can't handle the heat! What actually works is increasing the cutting depth on your lawn mower, leave the grass at around 5-7 cm, because the shade it casts protects the soil and drastically reduces evaporation, and then water consumption drops like you wouldn't believe!
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