**Q.** What type of lawn do you have, warm-season or cool-season?

I would guess you have a warm-season lawn, seeing as you're in Texas, but if you could please confirm one-way or the other, and also the type of grass that makes up your lawn, that would be useful to know.

**Q.** How high do you mow your lawn ie How tall is the grass after you've finished mowing?

Depending on your grass type and the answer given to the above question, you "might" be better served mowing at a higher height.

**Q.** How much water do you give your lawn during each watering?

If you're not sure, do something like the following to measure the amount of water:

* Put a empty, shallow (tuna) can in the middle on the watering zone and measure the depth of the contents after your sprinkling system has turned itself off after 20 minutes.

For a lawn to remain alive (instead of allowing it to go into dormancy) during extreme heat and drought, it needs at least 1inch (25mm) of water per week. The 1inch (25mm) of water is best delivered via either:

* One deep watering a week that delivers a minimum of 1inch (25mm).

* Or two waterings a week, each one delivering a minimum of ½inch (12.5mm).

Watering a lawn more than twice a week (even during extreme heat & drought) has a negative effect on the lawn ie

* It encourages the grass to develop a shallow root system, where as what you really want to do, especially in a situation like yours, is encourage the grass to develop a deep root system, make it go deeper to look for water below the surface.

* Frequent watering also increases the possibility of diseases developing in your lawn.

I would seriously look into improving your soil below your lawn. **How?**

Below are a couple of things I've done (and continue to do for the most part):

* Spread 1inch (25mm) of compost all over the surface of the lawn twice a year.

 * Once in the Spring - did that for 3 years, stopped doing it this year.

 * And once in the Autumn (Fall) - have done that the past 3 years and will continue to do it, as part of my Autumn (Fall) lawn care maintenance programme.

* Make 5 gallons of compost tea each week (from late Spring to earlier Autumn "Fall") and apply the 5 gallon batch to the front garden one week, then the following week apply a new fresh 5 gallon batch to the back garden. I repeat that cycle for the period given previously. I have been doing this for 2 years now, and without question I have noticed a massive increase in worm activity eg lots of worm castings on the surface of the soil.

The transformation from what I started with, to what I have now, is (almost) unbelievable...

You can read more about my lawn care practices [here on SE Gardening][1].


  [1]: http://gardening.stackexchange.com/questions/1390/whats-an-organic-way-to-discourage-crabgrass-from-a-large-lawn/1391#1391