Happy summer! Happy, healthy lawns!

Posted June 20th, 2012 in Climate Ready Communities, Healthy Waters, Water Resource Economics

Today is the first day of summer! Perhaps this leads you outside to attend to your lawn and garden. And, with the weather being pretty dry lately, lawns and gardens may indeed take extra care.

While the obvious answer to this year’s drought advisory may be to water the lawn, this may not be the best solution. Brown grass is a sign that the lawn is entering a period of dormancy, a normal state for the cool-season perennial grasses that comprise the majority of Illinois and Indiana lawns. So, you may need to decide whether to let your lawn go dormant in the summer or continue watering.

 
IISG’s Margaret Schneemann is the coordinator for Lawn to Lake, a project to encourage natural lawn care, thereby helping to reduce the amount of pesticides and fertilizers that end up in our waters. But, conserving water use is key as well. Here are her tips:
 

My neighbors are asking me why my lawn is looking greener than theirs even though I am not irrigating the lawn. The trick is following a natural lawn care program that increases the drought-tolerance of the lawn, extending the greening of the lawn longer into the summer season. For established lawns, a few simple natural lawn care steps include:

          *·     Mow lawn high throughout the summer (3-3.5 inches).
          *.      Water deeply once per week in the morning.
          *.      Avoid pesticide use on drought stressed lawns. 
    *.   Do not apply excess nitrogen fertilizer in the summer; wait until the fall. 
    *.   Aerate and overseed to prevent thatch and increase turf density.

 

If you decide to let the lawn go dormant, the question to ask is: How much water does it take to keep the lawn alive? For a lawn that is drying out, applying 1/3 inch of water every three weeks will keep your lawn dormant, but ready to green up again when conditions improve.
 
If you aren’t considering letting your lawn go dormant, keep these point in mind:
*·     Maintaining a green lawn in hot summer conditions can double the  amount of watering necessary to maintain the lawn (two inches per week).
*       Watering needs to be done before the lawn becomes dormant, when the very first signs of drought stress appear. DO NOT start watering a lawn that has already browned and entered a state of dormancy, as it will stress the grass plants, promote weeds, and encourage undesirable insects, such as grubs, to take up residence in the lawn.
·*      Many municipalities have lawn watering restrictions during these hotter summer months when increasing water demand for lawn irrigation is at its peak. Familiarize yourself with any lawn watering restrictions and adjust your watering schedule accordingly.
For more information, visit lawntolakemidwest.org.

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Explore the history, impact, and educational power of Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences (MWEEs).

eeLEARN: MWEE 101 is a free, self-paced online course that walks you through the MWEE framework with examples, planning tools, and downloadable resources that you can use immediately.

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Explore the history, impact, and educational power of Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences (MWEEs).eeLEARN: MWEE 101 is a free, self-paced online course that walks you through the MWEE framework with examples, planning tools, and downloadable resources that you can use immediately.Start learning today at the link in bio.

Some partnerships just make sense. Happy Valentine’s Day from IISG! 💕

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Some partnerships just make sense. Happy Valentine’s Day from IISG! 💕

This February marks a major milestone: 30 years of aquatic invasive species outreach by our team! To celebrate, IISG Director, Stuart Carlton, and Strategic Communication Coordinator, Renie Miles, sat down for a Sea Grant Chat with two key figures in IISG’s AIS history: Pat Charlebois, our assistant director and program leader, who spent over two decades leading our prevention efforts, and Katie O’Reilly, who took over that role in 2022. We discussed the evolution of the invasive species issue in the Great Lakes, the shift toward understanding human behavior, and the creative strategies that make this team so effective.

Dive into the full interview at the link in bio.

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This February marks a major milestone: 30 years of aquatic invasive species outreach by our team! To celebrate, IISG Director, Stuart Carlton, and Strategic Communication Coordinator, Renie Miles, sat down for a Sea Grant Chat with two key figures in IISG’s AIS history: Pat Charlebois, our assistant director and program leader, who spent over two decades leading our prevention efforts, and Katie O’Reilly, who took over that role in 2022. We discussed the evolution of the invasive species issue in the Great Lakes, the shift toward understanding human behavior, and the creative strategies that make this team so effective. Dive into the full interview at the link in bio.