Aibu to think people in the UK need to start accepting they can’t have green lawns all year?

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We’re in southern England, it’s been very hot and dry for the last few weeks. Unsurprisingly our lawn is now a yellowy brown colour. I expect when it rains enough later in the year it will return to being more green. But to me this is just how things are at the moment due to the changing climate.

Yet our neighbours on both sides seem to be in a panic about their yellowy brown lawns, and are spending hours each day watering their lawns with hosepipes in an effort to make them more green.

This seems like such a massive waste of water (and of time and effort). Yes I know there’s no hosepipe ban so they’re not doing anything illegal, but it feels like their behaviour is really misguided. The world is heating and the UK’s climate is changing incredibly quickly. Surely everyone is going to have to adapt their mindset, and part of that is accepting that your garden won’t look like it did 40 years ago?

Water is such a scarce resource, some countries already have wars and conflict brewing due to shortages, and these are only going to worsen. To be using so much water to artificially turn lawns in the UK green when we no longer have a climate that naturally supports this seems madness to me.

YANBU. The rain will sort it out in time. No need to hose it.

Hours each day? I live in the south, we have had a letter asking us not to use hose pipes and to use water wisely.

YANBU. And there’s no reason to force a green lawn. Lawns are fairly resilient. I save my water butt for my pots and my roses, so they don’t die, but have started thinking about a more climate-resilient planting scheme. The lawn works as a lawn whether it’s green and lush in spring or crispy and yellow in summer, it doesn’t need watering.

Yes. In fact why lawns at all? I dug up my huge front lawn and made a permeable gravel drive and beds and then planted it with drought tolerant plants (mostly griwn from seed) and they are all thriving. I never water anything except when it is newly planted. Gardening in SE esp will need to change. Watering a lawn is so irresponsible

Not all of the uk is in a drought. It's been tipping here and my grass is waterlogged.

YANBU. I thought I heard it raining on the last evening of the heatwave and it turned out to be my neighbours watering their garden with a hose. I don’t know about them but I had an email from our water company asking us not to use hosepipes - so not a ban as such, but advice as to how best conserve water for everyone. It’s selfish and all in the name of having a perfect garden.

We water ours with grey water... do you have a problem with that?

I agree. We moved house in December and the garden was an absolute dump, include the 'lawn' which was just some sort of jungle. We've worked really hard and made the garden really nice, and now my DH keeps watering the lawn (not hours every day, just a sprinkle when watering the rest of the plants), and fertilising it. We don't currently have a hosepipe ban and I know he's proud of how nice we've made the garden including the lawn, but I do feel we should just leave it, not use so much water and just accept it will go brown for the summer and then perk back up again in autumn.

YANBU. Our lawn is crispy and yellow, and will stay that way until it rains. It's not pretty, I grant you, but it would be wildly irresponsible to water it!

Yanbu. Lawns are tough and will spring back.

I have a very garden proud husband. But he accepts that lawns brown in the summer.

Also don't any of you have water butts?

Some of the people keeping their gardens a little more green will simply be using stored rainwater, is that so bad? Where we live the drains struggle with the volume of water in heavy rainfall and our garden would turn into a swamp. Is there anything wrong with storing water when there's too much and reusing it when there's not enough?

I've got a south facing lawn, but am careful about when I cut it so it tends to stay relatively green because there's more length to retain water and protect the soil. I don't cut it if a prolonged hot spell is coming, and will adjust the length according to the rain forecast; shorter if it's more likely to be very wet and grow quickly.

BiL likes a neatly cropped lawn; he's been known to kill his lawn in heatwaves.

We checked water status with the water company. We’ve spent money having the front garden sorted, so it has priority for watering. We use washing up water which we put into a large bucket outside and that’s used for plants in the back garden.

Half our lawn is in shade so the neighbours mostly annoying leylandi hedge has sheltered it and is still pretty green...the other half is crunchy brown/yellow.
We used to get the sprinkler out occassionally in summer for the kids to play under, more than watering the lawn but the water board requested no non essential water use, so we haven't done that. will just wait til later in the year and it will turn green again. It recovered pretty well after a hot summer 3 or 4 years ago so I feel sure it will be OK.

of course no one does. What an odd PA virtue signal.

We had a neighbour who had a sign he'd put out on his yellow lawn that said, "going gold for green" explaining he didn't water because of the environment. Good bloke.

YANBU! Watering the lawn trying to keep it green is batshit. I did that in summer 2018 as we had taken 2-3 years getting our 2 big lawns lush, and I was SO irked they'd gone soooo yellow and strawlike!

A passing bloke said 'you're wasting your time there duck - as well as a ton of water. You will need to water each lawn for 2 hours a night to give it the water it needs to stay green! ALSO, even though it looks 'DEAD' now, within a week or 2 of rain, it will all rejuvenate. It's not DEAD. Only the already-grown blades of grass die off. All the rootage underneath is fine! It goes into hibernation mode with no water/rain. It WON'T die.'

I don't normally like mansplaining 😬😩😆 but I did appreciate that advice, and he was 100% correct too. It grew back beautifully not long after (when that 4 month dry spell ended.) It looks like a fooking desert again now though! However, I have not been watering it. Won't bother again. As has been said, it doesn't need it. It grows back OK!

Can you tell us what plants you have?

I dunno. Is this solidarity with Menorca or California or something? Because we are not in a drought so no reason not to keep my grass and plants alive with a bit of water every other day.

I water my lawn every day if it doesn't rain. I sprinkle it for a couple of minutes so it's damp.

I don't soak it through and I don't waste gallons of water. It's green and healthy. I don't want it to be crusty and dead and yellow.

I pay for the water so I will use it if I want to.

Our reservoirs here are at normal levels, there is no hosepipe ban.

Of course if there was a drought and a hosepipe ban I wouldn't use it, but there is neither.

My neighbour keeps her lawn cut very short and cut it on Sunday, despite the forecast for this week and we are in the south east. Her lawn is now all brown with several bald patches, although she thankfully isn't using a hosepipe on it. I have left mine fairly long this year and it is looking nice and healthy, not as neat admittedly, but I am happy with my unkempt and green lawn. I've never watered a lawn in my life. The only time it would seem necessary is for a newly laid lawn and I'd never lay a new lawn in the summer anyway.

This

I've noticed that near us almost everyone has let there lawns go yellow this year. We have quite a large garden/lawn, as do many people nearby. It would be a major operation to keep it all watered.

We are watering plants though

Indeed.

Pishing doon with rain where I am and my lawn is beautiful and lush and green.