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Hot weather has graced much of the UK in early summer, and another week of heat and sunshine is expected. For a heatwave to be officially declared by the Met Office, a threshold temperature varying from 25C across the north and west of the UK to 28C in parts of eastern England must be met for at least three consecutive days. Though it is tempting to get stuck into gardening in the nice weather, lawn owners have been urged to rethink some common tasks.

Anchor Pumps' lawn experts suggest examining how often you water your lawn during hot weather. They suggest stepping in to manually water the grass in periods where there is no rainfall, but urged "do not water your garden daily".

1. Avoid overwatering

The average UK lawn requires watering two to three times a week, the experts note, and that's exactly what gardeners should aim for in the summer.

When there's no rain, avoid drenching the grass with a hose and instead, quench a thirsty lawn by watering it approximately every other day of the week.

This may be on Monday, Wednesday, or Saturday. The Anchor Pumps team warned: "Watering daily will lead to a shallow root system, which will lead to extensive lawn damage in the future as the grass becomes less resistant to heat."

2. Don't ignore discolouration

Ignoring discoloured patches on your lawn can lead to worse outcomes for the grass than facing the problem head-on. The water pump experts note that this applies to more than just dry or yellow-brown patches.

Grass that fades into a blueish, grey colour spells bad news: "If this starts to happen, then your grass is dehydrated and will need to be watered immediately," said the gardening experts.

You can tell if your lawn has received enough water by looking for telltale signs of healthy grass. If it's "green, healthy and vibrant" there's a good chance that you've not been underwatering it.

3. Check the soil

It's easy to get carried away with how the top layer of grass looks in the garden, but there's something to be said for how healthy the soil is below.

The Anchor Pumps team notes that a screwdriver is a useful tool for gauging how well-kept a lawn is. They suggest taking an average 6-inch screwdriver and trying to push it into the ground.

Healthy soil is easy to penetrate, but dry soil will be tough to crack, suggesting you need to water the grass more.

4. Don't overwater

Soaking dry grass in water will not instantly reverse the effects of an underwater lawn, and it could worsen the problem in some cases.

A saturated lawn will sprout unwanted growth, like mushrooms, which thrive in damp, dark environments. Take these as a telltale sign of an overwatered lawn.

The best course of action is to hold off watering for a few days if the grass is still wet and reinstate a proper watering schedule once it has dried out.

5. Don't water too late

Hot weather can help some plants grow in the garden, but most will struggle if they are watered too early or too late in the day.

According to the pump experts, the best time to water your lawn is between 6am and 10am: "Anything just before or after midday will evaporate due to higher temperatures," they said.

Similarly, you should also avoid watering your lawn in the evening and at night when the temperature is too cold for the water to be absorbed by the grass.

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