Big lawns have been traditional in South African gardens for a long time now, but with water becoming scarce in a drought-stricken country, we have to take steps in saving and preserving our most precious resource, as well as reduce your water bills and create a lower maintenance lawn area.
Here are some Tips to have a Water Wise Lawn
Make your lawn small and simple - Maintaining a large lawn requires a lot of water because lawn grasses are thirsty, it also takes more time and effort to mow and trim.
Is your lawn really functional? - If lawns are not functional or suited for lawn sprinklers, they are water wasters, so do away with odd shapes, long narrow pathways or curvy lawn shapes.
Watch how much you cut – when you cut grass at a higher level it encourages deeper roots and better drought tolerance.
Set lawn mowers to cut at certain heights - Kikuyu 4-6cm; fine grasses (cynodons) 3-4cm; cool season evergreen grasses 5-7cm.
Promote leaf growth – the less stress you place on your lawn the less water it will need, so don’t remove more than a third of your grass leaf at a time, and leave your grass to grow a bit taller than the recommended height.
Water wise plants - Replace areas of your lawn that are not functional, with Water Wise plants.
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PRO TIP: To find out if the lawn needs watering, step on the grass – if the blades don't spring back from your footprint after 2 minutes, it's time to water.