Ciscoe Morris: There’s a right way to water your lawn
Jul 13, 2012, 10:01 AM | Updated: 1:37 pm
Is there anything more enjoyable than sitting out on your
porch on summer evenings while the sprinkler is reviving
your lawn?
Master gardener Ciscoe Morris says you’re probably doing
more harm than good, to the lawn that is, if you’re
watering every night.
Why? Because a little bit of water at a time won’t soak
deep enough
and force your lawn’s roots to go down. Watering
frequently lets the roots sit close to the surface where
the soil easily dries out.
Most lawns need one inch of water per week in hot weather.
Ciscoe says an inch of water should soak in about eight
inches deeper.
To figure out what that looks like, Ciscoe recommends
taking something like a cottage cheese
container and marking one inch up from the bottom. Time
how long it
takes your sprinkler to reach that mark.
“That’s how long you should run your sprinkler once a week
in hot weather.”
Ciscoe says it usually takes his sprinkler about an hour
and half to get the job done. He shakes his head when his
neighbor walks out and sprays the lawn with a hose. It’s
not doing any good at all.
It’s not too late to change your watering habits. Ciscoe
says now is the time to “water like crazy.”
If you have a handle on watering, but are experiencing a
powdery mildew on your rhododendrons, Ciscoe says there’s
a simple solution.
Take two teaspoons of baking soda, mix in a quart of
water,
and add about four drops of dish detergent. Spray it on
the
new leaves on both the tops and bottoms when they’re
halfway out. Spray one more time when they’re all the way
out.
“That’s it, you’ll get no powdery mildew for the rest of
the year.”
Ciscoe says that powdery look is not good at all, so you
have to be pro-active about it. Otherwise, your rhodie
leaves might all fall off and then it’s too late. You
also have the option of just giving up and finding a
hardier type of plant.
Gardening with Ciscoe can be heard on 97.3 KIRO FM
Weekends Saturdays at 10:00 a.m. and anytime at KIRO
Radio. Get more
tips from Ciscoe and learn about his plant of the week at
MyNorthwest.com/Ciscoe
