How to Prepare Your Lawn Now to Save Water Next Year

Fall might be the season for raking leaves, but it's also a great time to prepare your lawn for less watering next year. You can do this as part of fortifying your lawn for the winter. You'll need a plug aerator, some water absorbing polymers, a top dressing, and a leaf rake.

This method helps you achieve a healthy, vibrant lawn next year and will reduce the amount of precious water called for in next summer's heat. A little effort now will reduce watering requirements by as much as 40 per cent come next summer—enough to make a serious impact on any homeowner's pocket book.

Follow these five steps:

1. Aerate thoroughly, Make as many as three passes over your turf instead of one. Use an only an aerator that removes plugs from the soil. Aeration tools that only pierce the soil defeat the purpose of aeration. For, while it will create a hole in the ground, that penetration compresses and compacts the soil area the hole it makes, defeating your purpose.
   
   
2. Next, broadcast or wind-spread water absorbing polymer crystals on your lawn at a rate 1-2 lbs per 1,000 sq. ft. Then, with a garden or leaf rake, move as many of the dry polymer crystals into the plug holes as possible. These granules will absorb up water to 400 times their dry weight. A granule the size of a freckle will hydrate up to the size of a small marble. That little granule becomes one of thousands of small reservoirs of water for the roots of your grass. When hydrated, the water crystals keep the soil moist and cool. You'll want to work as many of the crystals into the aerated plug holes as possible for them to reside close to the turf's root zone.
   
   
3. This is a good time to apply new seed in your lawn if needed. If your turf looks too thin, wind spread Kentucky Blue Grass seed at a rate up to 1 pound per thousand square feet. Apply other seeds at a rate up no more than 2-3 pounds per thousand square feet.
   
   
4. Next, apply a top dressing to your lawn, and if you must, a commercial fertilizer. A top dressing usually consists of an enriched soil, compost or humus. An economical alternative to a full dressing is a granular organic soil conditioner. These usually come in bags up to 50 lbs, and increase water penetration and root activity in your soil. Any of these should be enough nutrition for your lawn without resorting to chemicals. Apply your top dressing at a rate of one cubic yard per thousand square feet. Or, apply a granular organic soil conditioner at a rate of up to 15 lbs per thousand square feet.
   
   
5. Do not water for at least 24 hours. This time will allow as many polymers on the surface to find their way into your turf. Then, when you do irrigate, be sure to saturate thoroughly on your first couple waterings. If you applied new seed, keep the soil moist until it germinates and becomes strong.

Do not be concerned about the hydrated crystals remaining on the surface. They will look like small water gel nuggets as the polymer hydrates. They will harmlessly decompose as they are exposed to direct sunlight. Many of them will find their way to the base of the grass blades. Until they decompose and disappear, they will actually serve to cool your turf from the heat of the sun.

This procedure can be done any time of growing season, and should be part of an annual lawn care program. Apply water crystals in the following year at a rate up to 15-30 percent of the first year's application, depending on the performance and results of their first season in your lawn. Organic soil conditioners and top dressing should be reapplied as needed.