If you live in your own house that has a garden and a lawn, you definitely know that making that lawn look nice and green takes tons of time! Whenever you sow the grass seeds, it becomes crucially important to water them correctly since if you do even the single move wrong, there will be no nice and green lawn.
Even wondered about proper watering new grass seed? Then you are at the right place now since today we will share some handy tips with you regarding the watering schedule for new grass seeds.
How Long Should You Water New Grass Seed?
If you have ever grown anything yourself, you are already familiar with the watering issue. How long to water new grass seed, you may wonder? Well, for the optimal result, we would recommend doing it for ten minutes per one session in the morning and in the evening. Like that, you will manage to keep the upper couple of inches of soil moist enough, and that will be more than enough for the seeds of the grass since they do not have to be planted deep normally.
Later, when the grass keeps on growing and getting stronger (the germination takes place up to thirty days after the seeds were sown), you can take it easier and water less frequently going deeper instead. This is a well-known trick of the gardeners that makes the already established seeds’ roots grow deeper into the soil.
Also, it is often recommended to slowly make the morning watering sessions longer and cutting the evening ones shorter instead. Finally, you will eventually come to a schedule of doing this between six and ten in the morning when the air is the coolest.
In general, when it comes to watering grass seed, it is literally vitally important to both not pour too much and not pour too little water on your freshly planted seeds. In the first case, you will simply flood the future lawn and the seeds will die because of overwatering, and in the second case, they will not receive all the moisture they need for proper growing. In both cases, the result is not the one we need, right?
Also, the type of soil you have and the sprinkler setup matter quite a lot.
Things to Avoid When Watering the Lawn
When we want to achieve something badly, we tend to hurry up too much which leads to grave mistakes that under other conditions could be easily skipped. With growing the lawn, everything is completely the same.
No matter how much you want to have this green beauty in front of your windows, remember to stick to the basic rules and avoid the most common mistakes that will definitely destroy your lawn without even letting it flourish:
- Do not water too much. The excessive amount of liquid will lead to puddling on the surface. In its turn, puddles will make the seeds float around preventing the grass from being evenly distributed. Later, this will lead to the new grass being choked if its roots have no proper access to oxygen.
- Avoid seed movements on sloped soil. To do everything right, you may need to reconsider the watering schedule and amount of liquid needed. For instance, it may help to water less but do it more frequently.
- Avoid leaving the soil spongy and soggy. Some types of soil dry slower than others. If you are not sure which one you have, better ask a professional for advice.
- Try to prevent the uneven watering. This is the widespread problem that comes with the automatic watering systems that tend to over-water certain areas and not give enough moisture to others. The only solution is to water the latter ones manually to keep the balance.
- Keep sunny areas of the lawn watered better than the shaded ones. We all know that shaded zones stay moist longer whereas those exposed to sunshine tend to dry out way quicker.
How Often to Water New Grass Seed
The basic frequency schedule when we water new grass seed may look like this: do it once a day deeply enough every day for the first few weeks. And yes, avoid watering on the rainy days! If you live in the area with the dryer weather conditions, the watering frequency can be raised to two times a day or even more.
To grow an ideal lawn, we not only need to give the seeds the proper amount of water, but we also have to do it often enough. If the seeds dry out before poking, what will be the use of spending time and effort on sowing them?
The Best Time to Water New Grass Seed
When it comes to grass seed watering, the garden newbies often get stumbled not knowing exactly when it is the optimal time for doing the watering stuff to grow the lawn. Well, the best times to water grass seed are in the morning between six and ten when the air is still cool enough and the sun is not shining too brightly, and also in the evening when the air is already cooled down.
Why these two periods of time, and why does the level of air heat matter? See, when we water our grass seeds while the air around is still fresh and cool, it helps water to get absorbed into the soil instead of being evaporated immediately under the burning midday sun!
How to achieve that punctuality and manage to water the lawn in time? Well, if you are not sure that you will remember doing that when needed strictly, we would recommend using a watering timer. Like that, the process of lawn watering will go smoothly with no hassle and stress!
How Much to Water New Grass Seed
The amount of moisture for watering new grass is another point of concern for the beginning gardeners. The common rule here is the following:
- two or three days before sowing the seeds, water the soil one time per day to make it moisturized six to eight inches deep
- right after sowing the new grass, water the lawn for five to ten minutes daily keeping the soil moist three to four inches deep
- while waiting for the seeds to sprout, shift for watering the lawn twice a day. Remember that on this stage, the lawn must be moisturized one to two inches deep!
- Finally, after the grass sprouts, keep the soil watered one inch deep. You will need to decrease the evening watering sessions on this stage of lawn growing until you only have to water it in the morning
Yep, watering newly seeded lawn may seem to be tricky and bothersome, but once you set the schedule and get used to it, the whole process will become much simpler.
How Much Time Will It Take My Grass to Grow?
The most boring thing is to wait until your lawn starts growing! This is why one of the most frequent questions is “how long does it take freshly sown grass to germinate and poke?”.
Well, there is no single answer that works for anyone. See, growing things (even such simple as grass) takes time, and also, several other factors play a big role in the process:
- the area you live in
- its climate
- the amount of sun available there
- the type of grass you plant
- and of course, the type of soil
In general, to give you at least the approximate terms, you can expect your lawn to start growing anywhere between three and twenty-eight days after you sow the seeds.
Some Handy Tips to Consider For Better Results
You may not be a super experienced gardener, but it doesn’t matter you can’t have a nice and green lawn! To help you out with that task, we prepared a list of simple yet helpful recommendations that will allow you reaching your goal more effectively:
- Before watering new grass seeds even once, remember to cover it with a mulch.
- When sowing, try to avoid the hottest season. Planting and watering new grass is already a bothersome and tricky thing to do, don’t make things even more complicated by struggling with the sun and heat! If it can’t be avoided by any means, try at least to water the lawn more frequently to not let the soil dry out and the seeds to die.
- In case you spot moss or something that looks like algae on your lawn (especially in the shaded areas), it is the sign of too much watering there. Reduce the amount of water and the frequency of the sessions.
- Some seed brands use a special coating to keep moisture trapped better. In the small areas, it may work well, but such an approach will be too pricey for the large lawns!
- Never buy cheap lawn sprinklers! They are highly predisposed to leakage that creates puddles, and besides, they never distribute water evenly. You will spend way more time on fixing the mistakes rather than on focusing on taking care of the grass.
Now that you are aware of how long to water new grass, what things to avoid, and what to do to make the whole process happen more effectively, we hope you will easily sow and grow your dream lawn, green and refreshing, that will become an ideal relaxation place for you and your family!
Make a proper watering schedule, be patient, and you will soon enjoy the piece of grassy happiness right in front of your windows!
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