Rainfall Monitoring For Your Home

Whether you're selling your home or not, in most places, if you don't have a built-in sprinkler system, it's best to keep tabs on whether or not your yard needs watering.

Top Reasons Why Grass Isn't Green

Not enough water seems to be the top reason (1, 2, 3) why grass isn’t green. 1-1.5 inches per week (1, 2, 3, 4), is common for many lawns, but it does depend on the conditions and the grass type. It’s best for this water to come from 1-2 waterings per week (1, 2), ideally only 1 (Consumer Reports) unless you’re experiencing excessive runoff (RiverbendVA.com). Time of watering should finish right before/at sunrise (1, 2). By maintaining proper watering techniques, you’re off to a great start, but there’s more to it than that.

Here are some other potential issues:

1. Nutrient-depleted soil (or over-fertilized soil)

“The right time to apply fertilizer is when the grass is growing more roots than blades. In the Northeast and Northwest, that’s usually in the fall. In the South and Southwest, it’s in the late spring (Consumer Reports).” Fertilizers are geared toward Spring or Fall, so make sure your fertilizer matches your usage timing (CR). There’s debate over the frequency of fertilizing. Consumer Reports states that you should only fertilize once per year. SF Gate recommends once or twice a year. Many others state a minimum of 2 times per year (i.e. Tom’s Guide, Gardeningetc). Scotts Lawn Care suggests 4 times per year, as do some others including Lawn Chick. This Old House points out that “While one application may be enough, follow the instructions listed on your specific fertilizer for more detailed information. Some fertilizers recommend an application every eight weeks, while others recommend just a few times per season.”

2. Disease

3. Multiple grass types

4. Aeration needed

5. Pet damage (i.e. urination)

6. Compost needs (i.e. leaf/grass shredding rather than removal)

7. Pest Problems on the roots

8. Grass species that are naturally pale

9. Mowing issues - i.e. not mowing frequently enough, dull blades, cutting the grass too short (should only chop off ⅓ of grass blade per cut ideally. “You should let grass grow to 4½ inches and then cut it to 3 or 3½ (Consumer Reports).” & ideal 3.5” blades, meaning 2x/wk cuts for that perfect lawn potentially)

Sources:

https://www.jclandscapingllc.com/lawn/8-reasons-your-grass-isnt-as-green-as-your-neighbors/

https://www.joshuatreeexperts.com/blog/ugh-why-is-my-lawn-not-dark-green-7-reasons-7-tips

Email Alerts for Drought

I recommend getting email alerts here based on your location when there’s drought present. That alert also has 1 day and 7 day quantitative precipitation forecasts.

Past & Projected Rainfall on 1 Calendar

More than separate past & projection resources, my favorite that combines both is on Weather Underground here. Be sure to use whatever weather station is closest to you that has the calendar view.

Here's an example:

Image courtesy Weather Underground.

Smaller weather stations may not have the calendar view, so you might find the information from those in other forms helpful.

Past Rainfall

Check/track the past rain in your city/county here by looking up your city/county and then clicking the “Past” tab.

Here’s another option: https://www.drought.gov/current-conditions

Precipitation Forecasts

For precipitation forecasts outside of that email, look up a city, then go to the city page tab here: https://www.drought.gov/