When it comes to watering your lawn and landscape during the dry summer months in Gresham, Oregon, homeowners should work smart. Working smart means maximizing every drop of water through the right timing coupled with consistent lawn care and maintenance practices like aeration and mulch installation. If you want to save water during the summer season, preparing your lawn before the start of the season will prove extremely helpful. Check out these helpful tips (such as installing native plants!) that will help you save on water bills while ensuring your plants survive the drought.

Water Your Plants With the Right Amount at the Right Time

When you water your plants with the right amount at the correct time of the day, you'll get plants that have deep roots, which will better equip them for drought conditions. Lawns should receive an inch of water per week to keep them sufficiently hydrated. A rain gauge or a small weather station will help you keep track of how much water your lawn has received so you can avoid watering again if it has received enough water already.

Watering your lawn at the correct time of day is also another helpful tip. Watering early in the morning is the best time to do so. This way, the water will sink in the soil and won't evaporate from the sun's heat. We recommend watering before 10 AM, but if you can't, water your lawn in the early evening. You'll have less intense heat by then, and you'll also allow enough time for the grass to dry before the cool night weather sets in.

Allowing your grass to dry before nighttime prevents fungi and diseases that thrive in cold, wet conditions.

Aeration Gives Your Roots the Best Chance to Soak up Water

Are you noticing puddles of water or runoff after you water your lawn? If you are, it might mean you have compacted soil that is restricting water from entering the ground and getting absorbed by the roots. Aeration loosens your soil, allowing it to absorb water and nutrients much easier. Loose soil will help you reach the 1-inch mark faster with less water than you would use on compacted soil.

You can water less frequently when your soil stays moist.

Save on your water bills and water your plants less often by ensuring there is enough soil moisture. Installing mulch or rocks as a ground cover over your landscape beds will shield your soil from the sun and decrease evaporation, thus keeping your soil moist for a longer period of time. Mulch and rock also help prevent weed growth by ridding the seeds of essential elements that they need to survive, such as blocking the sunlight.

Install Low-Maintenance Native Plants

Oregon Sunshine flowers blooming near Sunnyside, OR.

One of the wisest ways to save water during the summer season is to install plants that won't require you to turn on your sprinklers often. Native plants provide low-maintenance beauty on your lawn. This is because they are already well adapted to the environment, meaning they won't need as much care and attention to survive. You will be able to keep your sprinkler off for longer than you would if you had plants that struggled to survive in the summer heat.

Examples of native plants in Oregon include:

  • Oregon sunshine
  • Western azalea
  • Cluster lily
  • Blue blossom
  • Yellow monkeyflower

Call us today to get high-quality lawn care and landscape maintenance services!

Saving water while ensuring your grass and plants receive enough water during the dog days of summer requires several essential steps. Before the summer season sets in, you can prepare your lawn and landscape and give it the best chance to survive drought by installing mulch, scheduling aeration, and installing native plants. Fortunately, we have these services and more at J&C Lawn Care!

Our pros can provide these services to properties in Gresham, Happy Valley, Troutdale, OR and surrounding communities. Call us at (971) 284-2035 to schedule any of our lawn care and landscape maintenance services.