KAYSVILLE, Utah — The USU Extension Botanical Centerin Kaysville has let the lawn go brown, or at least slightly brown to save water.
The center has been able to cut watering by half this year, Jerry Goodspeed, Director Utah State University Botanical Center, said.
“The first thing we did was we tried to determine what were our priorities, what did we need to keep alive,” he said.
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The focus is to keep plants alive this summer, but not to have the plants thrive, Goodspeed said.
“Where we would have watered twice a week, we are down to once every 10 days on some of our turf areas,” he said.
Everything is different about taking care of the grounds this summer, Michael Kilcrease, Landscape manager, said. People should focus on water less frequently but for longer periods of time instead of more frequently for shorter periods of time.
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“When it [the water] is deeper down there it can handle being a little bit more brown a little bit more yellow, it can bounce back because it has reserves deeper down,” he said of focusing on watering down to the roots.
Moving the mindset to just keeping the plants alive, is important during the drought, Goodspeed said.
“It will be brown and you may not like the look of it, but it is alive and as soon as it cools down, as soon as we get water, it will green right back up,” he said.
For more information on saving water, click here.
