It's a great time to reconsider your winter lawn for many benefits

With the changing seasons, many homeowners start thinking about preparing their winter lawns. Interestingly, many cities recommend skipping overseeding due to its numerous benefits. This simple choice to not overseed can help save water, time, effort, and even money.

Choosing to opt out of planting a winter lawn can help you save quite a bit ! Overseeding requires an enormous amount of water—around 8,000 gallons for every 1,000 square feet over the winter season. On the other hand, a dormant lawn only needs about 500 gallons, which really adds up to significant savings. You'll also cut back on grass seed, fertilizer, and maintenance costs.

Another reason to avoid planting a winter lawn is that overseeding can damage your Bermuda grass. Allowing it to rest helps ensure a more vibrant renewal in spring. Scalping the summer grass during fall before dormancy actually strengthens the root system.  Additionally, rye competes with Bermuda in spring, and customers frequently withhold water to transition between seasons, further stressing Bermuda grass.

As communities elevate water conservation amid our continued historic droughts and water shortages, skipping overseeding has become more common. Many AMWUA cities demonstrate this by not planting winter grass in certain public areas this fall. They also work with HOAs to limit or avoid overseeding non-essential grass areas. For example, a HOA in Scottsdale previously saved 1.5 million gallons of water and thousands of dollars by not overseeding. This trial proves the significant benefits of skipping overseeding.

While Bermuda grass naturally goes dormant in the cold months, there is a way you can extend the length of its growing season, and keeping a lush green appearance well into winter is possible without overseeding. The University of Arizona turf specialists recommend multiple applications of iron (2-4 oz of actual iron per 1000 square feet). Apply the first application around October 1, then follow up with another application after ten days. Do not apply nitrogen fertilizers. Remember that even dormant Bermuda needs ½ inch of water per month during the winter (from U of A Turf Tips ).

Conserving water is incredibly important and can be pretty easy, too. When we use water thoughtfully, especially outside, we help our local water providers keep their supplies steady. Skipping that winter lawn saves millions of gallons of water, benefits you, and ensures a bright future for our community.

Additionally, if you never want to worry about whether to overseed or not, many cities offer rebates for grass removal and landscape conversions. Check out what’s available in your community HERE .

A desert-adapted landscape can significantly minimize your outdoor water usage over time. Drought-tolerant plants and trees need less maintenance and water than lawns , particularly with proper irrigation. Visit our landscape web pages  to find out more about revamping your yard. You can also check out the newly updated and recently released Landscape Plants for the Arizona Desert , which is available for download  and will help you add some desert-adapted flower power to your yard.

For 55 years, the Arizona Municipal Water Users Association has helped protect our member cities' ability to provide their communities with assured, safe, and sustainable water supplies. For more information, visit www.amwua.org .