How to Water Your Lawn the Right Way: How Much, How Often and When

Watering sounds like the simplest job in lawn care. You point the hose, turn it on and you're done. But how you water your lawn has a huge say in how healthy, green and drought-tough it becomes. Water your lawn the wrong way and you'll end up with shallow roots, dry patches and grass that wilts the moment the weather heats up.

In this guide we'll break down how much water your lawn actually needs, how often to water your lawn, the best time of day to water your lawn, and a few simple tricks to get every drop soaking in when you water your lawn.

Most established lawns want somewhere between 25 and 40mm of water a week, so when you water your lawn, aim to deliver that much across rainfall and irrigation combined. That is usually enough to wet the soil down to where the roots live, which is exactly where you want the moisture to sit each time you water your lawn.

How much you need to water your lawn comes down to a few things:

• Couch and kikuyu are more drought tolerant and cope on less, while thirstier lawns need you to water your lawn a little more often.

• Soil. Sandy soils drain fast, so you water your lawn more often, while clay holds moisture for longer.

• Season. Lawns drink far more through the heat of summer, so water your lawn more in the warmer months.

• Weather. Hot, dry, windy spells pull moisture out of the soil much faster than mild, still days.

The easiest way to check is to water your lawn, wait a day, then push a screwdriver into the soil. If it slides in easily to around 100mm, you have watered enough. If it stops short, water your lawn for longer next time.

This is the single most important watering habit to get right. A quick daily sprinkle only wets the top layer of soil, so the roots stay shallow and lazy near the surface. Water your lawn deeply a couple of times a week and you push moisture further down, which encourages roots to chase it and builds a stronger, more drought-tolerant lawn. In short, water your lawn less often but for longer.

• Deeper roots ride out hot, dry spells far better

• Fewer, longer waterings reduce disease and shallow surface roots

• The lawn stays greener for longer between waters

TIP: Let the lawn tell you when to water your lawn. If footprints stay visible after you walk across it, or the colour dulls to a blue-grey, it's ready for a drink.

Early morning, ideally before 9am, is the sweet spot to water your lawn. The lawn has all day to dry off, you lose far less water to evaporation, and the roots are hydrated ready for the heat of the day. Here's how the timing stacks up when you water your lawn:

• Early morning: Best. Low evaporation and the lawn dries through the day.

• Midday: Wasteful. A lot is lost to evaporation in the heat.

• Evening or night: Risky. The lawn stays wet overnight, which invites fungal disease.

Ever noticed water beading up and running off, or dry patches that never green up no matter how much you water your lawn? That's hydrophobic (water-repellent) soil, and it's incredibly common in Aussie lawns, especially sandy soils that have dried out over summer.

The fix is a wetting agent like Pure Wetter, which breaks the surface tension so water actually soaks in and spreads evenly through the soil instead of running off. Applied every few months, it makes every time you water your lawn, and every rainfall, work harder and keeps moisture down where the roots can reach it. Get this right and every time you water your lawn counts for a whole lot more.

Your lawn's thirst changes with the weather, so how you water your lawn should change too. Ramp it up through the hot, dry months of summer, and ease right back in the cooler seasons when growth slows and rainfall does more of the work. Many lawns need little to no extra watering through winter, so always let the season guide how you water your lawn.

Pairing a smart watering routine with a liquid feed such as Pure Balance or a stress-busting Pure Seaweed+ tonic helps your lawn build resilience and hold colour through the toughest stretches of the year.

Watering your lawn the right way is not complicated once you have the basics down. Water your lawn deeply and less often so the roots chase moisture down, water your lawn early in the morning to cut evaporation and disease, and aim to water your lawn with around 25 to 40mm a week. Keep an eye on the grass for early signs of stress and reach for a wetting agent on sandy or water repellent soils. Do that and every time you water your lawn your grass will stay green and resilient right through the warmer months.

Want a simple plan that tells you when to water your lawn, feed and mow through the year? Download our Free Lawn Calendar. It lays out exactly what to do and when, with the right products matched to each season.