Question
Is there a way to measure how deep underground your watering is going that is inexpensive?  I have lawn, mulched areas with trees & shrubs and gardens and I manually move the hoses and sprinklers around. While I can use a rain gauge to measure how much is going in, I don't know how much is staying. I have soil with lots of clay so I don't want to overwater and kill the roots. Is there a probe you can stick down and measure moisture or do you just have to dig a hole to check?  Thanks, Jackie

Answer
Hi Jackie;
There is a plant water meter you can get at nurseries. I have one, but seldom used it, and have no idea where to find it now.  It cost about 12 oe 15 dollars when I bought it abour 20 years ago.
I have thought of trying to find it, and use it on the lawn, but haven't.
I use a soaker hose and water till it starts to run off. Then I turn it off for a couple of hours and let that soak in. then turn it back on again.
I water till I feel it give when I walk on it.
Walk on it before you water, and see how firm it feels, then when you think you have watered it nice and deep, and it has had time to soak in. Walk on it again. You should feel it give under your feet.
You don't want your foot to sink in mud, just give, like you are on a real deep soft carpet with a thick foam pad under it.
If you can find some granulated gypsum, you can put about 1 inch of that down, and let it water in. that is great for breaking up that clay. As it disolves slow,y, it does something to the soil that breaks up that hard clay.
Or put about 1/2 inch down every 3 or 4 months. Put the last application when you have mowed for the last time.
Actually powdered gypsum would work as well, but it tends to blow around with the wind.
Be sure you get the white gypsum if possible. I got some of what they call "pelleted gypsum" it was grey, and I didn't think it worked as well as the white. The white is just mined gypsum, I don't know what they grey stuff is.
the ground won't hold more then you ewant it to, if it is clay. the problem is getting the water to soak into the clay to begin with.
If it gets too much water soaked into it, this summer heat will draw it out in a week at most.
The danger of killing it would be if water stood, like a flood, on the grass above the ground for 4 or 5 days or weeks.
Come to think about it, when it does flood around here, and what we call the flood plain has water on it for a week, it must not hurt it much. that area is nice green meadow . I think you would have to have water completely covering the blades or a week or more to hurt it much.
Chances are that would ony damage the blades, not the roots.
Grass will take a lot of water.
Charlotte