Gardener Transforms A Simple Tuna Can Into A Clever Gardening Tool

Is your grass still not lush and green after planting seeds, fertilizing, and weeding? For folks with sprinkler irrigation systems, you may not even think about watering your lawn anymore. However, knowing how much water your lawn receives is vital to its health. To measure the amount of water coming from your sprinklers, Nic Gates Show posted an easy tuna can trick on YouTube. With just a  can, a waterproof marker, and a tape measure or ruler, you'll have a simple and eco-friendly water measuring tool for your yard and garden.

If your grass is under or overwatered, it may not grow well, even if you've been fertilizing and getting rid of weeds. Additionally, fertilizers and other lawn treatments often require watering after application in order to work properly. Typically, most lawns should be given about an inch to an inch and a half of water every week, and not following this rule could explain why your lawn keeps turning brown. 

After struggling to grow grass seed, Gates tried this nifty trick to see if he was watering his lawn enough. Besides checking sprinkler output, tuna cans can measure how much rainwater you're getting too. This trick works in both lawn and garden areas, so you can use it to make sure your flowers and vegetables are receiving plenty of water. And, if you don't have tuna cans, cat food, soup, or other food cans will work equally as well as a tuna can.

Gates' hack is very easy. The DIYer simply measured the inside of the tuna can and, using a waterproof marker, drew a small line a half inch up from the bottom of the container. This allowed him to track how long it took his sprinklers to spread half an inch of water. This trick makes it easy to figure out how long it takes your sprinklers to provide the required amount of water. 

Gates set one can on top of his grass in the middle of the yard. However, different areas of your yard may get hit more or less with the sprinkler. Placing multiple tuna cans throughout your lawn gives a more accurate depiction of exactly how much water each section of your lawn is receiving. Try placing one tuna can near the sprinkler head and another by the spray's furthest reach since water levels may vary with distance from the sprinkler. Multiple cans spread throughout the area being watered will provide a more accurate reading. 

While Gates inspected the cans after half-hour intervals, you may want to check on them every 15 minutes. Add up the amount of water captured in all the cans, divide it by the number of cans you're using, then multiply the water output after 15 minutes by 4 to figure out how much would accumulate in an hour. If you want to use this hack to measure rainwater instead of sprinkler output, simply keep an eye on the weather, and arrange your tuna cans when you know rain is coming to measure rainfall amounts. This hack is commonly suggested by university extensions to ensure each section of a lawn is getting the proper amount of water, and to know how to adjust your irrigation system. Whether you're doing this to figure out how often to water new grass seeds or an established lawn, the tuna-can method is simple to make and use.