My water bill last July made me actually flinch. I was running the sprinklers every evening after work because that’s when I was home, and half the water was evaporating before it ever hit the roots.

Turns out when you water matters as much as how much.

Water in the early morning

The ground is coolest before sunrise, so less water evaporates and more of it soaks down to the roots. Watering in the evening sounds fine, but wet grass sitting overnight is exactly what invites fungus and disease. Midday is the worst of all, since the sun drinks most of it before the lawn does.

What cut my bill by 40%

• Set the sprinklers to run around 5 or 6 a.m. instead of 7 p.m. Same minutes, far more reach.
• Water deeply and less often. Two long soakings a week beat a daily sprinkle, because the roots grow deeper and need less over time.
• Put an empty tuna can on the lawn while the sprinkler runs. When it’s full, you’ve watered about an inch, which is plenty.
• Don’t water when it rained. Sounds obvious, but I was guilty of it more than once.

The lawn looks the same, maybe better, and the bill dropped hard. I just had to stop watering on my schedule and start watering on the lawn’s.