Drought causes difficulties for lawn care in Twin Ports

DULUTH, MN. (Northern News Now) - Homeowners find themselves on the list of people battling this year’s drought, even those who have their roots in Duluth.

“In the 33 years that we’ve lived here, this has probably been the worst we’ve ever had for drought conditions,” said Graf LeSavage, a Duluth resident.

LeSavage prides himself in his lawn care and has found himself working extra hard this year to maintain it.

“We started watering way earlier in the year than we ever usually do. We were watering in June when normally, maybe this time of the year, we would actually be watering for the first time,” said LeSavage.

Even experts in the field have seen the difficulties resulting from the drought.

JR Nelson, manager of Superior-based landscaping company Core Advantage, said you do not have to burn yourself out for your grass to soak it all in.

“If you don’t have a rain gauge or anything that can help you gauge how much water your lawn is getting, take a tuna can from your house and throw it in the yard,” Nelson said. “When that’s full, you have an inch of water in your lawn.”

Nelson said another rule of thumb is to let it grow.

“Don’t let them go any lower than three [inches] because that grass is actually what shades the soil and prevents evaporation of moisture and soil surface,” said Nelson.

Any drop of rain gets a green thumbs up from LeSavage.

“Even in this short amount of time when it rained last week and then last night even a little bit, it really picks up in a hurry. So it does bounce back pretty well it just takes enough water to make it happen,” said LeSavage.

Click here to download the Northern News Now app or our Northern News Now First Alert weather app.

Copyright 2023 Northern News Now. All rights reserved.