Do-it-yourself lawn in the country
Many people dream of a lawn on the site. But not everyone succeeds – often summer residents simply lack skills, because arranging a lawn is a painstaking task. Let’s find out how to properly sow the lawn so that it will be beautiful and delight for many years.

Summer residents equip the lawn primarily for beauty. And few people know that it also brings benefits. For example, in a hot summer, such a lawn creates coolness. Surprised? Meanwhile, numerous studies have shown that in the heat the air temperature above the lawn is 3-5 ° C lower than above the surface of bare soil – this is due to the intensive evaporation of moisture by the grass. In addition, 1 hectare of lawn produces from 5 to 19 tons of oxygen per year – the same amount as a hectare of forest (1).

However, growing a lawn is still a headache, it requires tireless care. Think thrice whether you are ready to spend a lot of time caring for a man-made glade, whether you have enough strength and patience. And if you’re ready, let’s get down to business.

Step-by-step instructions for planting a lawn in the country

In general, laying a lawn in a country house with your own hands is not a tricky task, it does not require deep knowledge, but it is important to follow the technology, and to the smallest detail – only in this case you will succeed.

Site Selection

“All lawn grasses love an abundance of light, so the lawn should only be planted in a sunny area,” says agronomist Svetlana Mikhailova. – In the shade of a house, buildings or under trees, the grass, of course, will grow, but it stretches out a lot, turns pale and does not give the desired effect – such a lawn looks untidy.

The second important point – the site must be flat. Or be on a hill. In no case should you lay a lawn in a lowland – water stagnates there in spring and after rains, which can lead to rotting of the roots of grasses.

Site Preparation

A good lawn requires careful site preparation. And it consists of several stages.

Removal of stones. The first step is to clear the area of ​​stones – the lawn should be flat so that you can walk on it even barefoot without fear of hurting your feet. And you need to choose even the smallest pebbles – after all, the kids will also run on it.

Weed extermination. They need to be removed completely and radically. Do not just weed with a hoe, cutting off the tops, but remove them along with the rhizomes.

“Which is very important, because otherwise they will grow right through the lawn and it will be even more difficult to get rid of harmful grass,” explains agronomist Svetlana Mikhailova. – This primarily applies to such plants as creeping couch grass, tansy, yarrow, bedstraw.

To lime them, the soil must be dug up on a spade bayonet and clods of earth must be manually sorted out, removing even the smallest pieces of roots from there.

It is much easier to treat the area with a blanket herbicide that kills all vegetation (2). But, you know, it’s chemistry.

Deoxidation of the soil. Lawn grasses prefer neutral soil with a pH of 6,5 – 7. If the soil is acidic, dolomite flour must be applied to the site according to the instructions on the package.

Application of fertilizers. Before laying the lawn, a complex of fertilizers must be applied to the soil (doses are indicated per 1 sq. M):

  • ammonium nitrate – 3 tbsp. spoons;
  • double superphosphate – 3 tbsp. spoons;
  • potassium sulfate – 1,5 tbsp. spoons (or 5 teaspoons).

Fertilizers should be evenly scattered over the surface of the soil, and then dig up the area.

On heavy clay, it is useful to add humus – lawn grasses love loose and fertile soil.

Excavation Before laying the lawn in the country with your own hands, you need to dig the area to a depth of 30 cm, that is, to the bayonet of a shovel. Clods of earth should be carefully broken, and then level the soil with a rake.

Site leveling. An ideal lawn will turn out only on a perfectly flat area. Pits and bumps are unacceptable – they must be leveled. Otherwise, water will stagnate in the recesses, and the hills will interfere with mowing the lawn.

Soil compaction. Many plants require loose soil to thrive. But not for the lawn – the ideal lawn is obtained only on very dense soil.

The easiest way is to roll it with a special manual roller weighing 50 – 100 kg. The ice rink can be rented from specialist shops. If this is not possible, you can put a sheet of plywood on the ground and stomp on it properly.

How to understand that the soil is compacted enough? Get on it. If a trace remains, it is necessary to compact more, until the shoes stop imprinting.

Markup. After the site is prepared, it is necessary to outline the contours of the lawn. The easiest way to do this is if the lawn has the correct shape, but such lawns look too artificial.

– The lawn of irregular shape, with smooth bends, looks most spectacular. And you can mark it with the help of pegs – drive them firmly into the soil and pull the rope, – recommends agronomist Svetlana Mikhailova. – The steeper the bend, the more often the stakes must be driven in.

Lawn sowing

The vast majority of lawns are based on cereal crops. The most commonly used are meadow bluegrass, perennial ryegrass, red fescue, common bent grass, common bluegrass, sheep fescue, and multiflorous ryegrass (3).

You can sow any one type of grass, but mixtures of lawn grasses are more often used. Classic grass mixtures have the following composition:

  • 70% red or sheep fescue, 20% meadow bluegrass, 10% common bentgrass;
  • 45% red fescue, 30% perennial ryegrass, 20% meadow grass and 5% bent grass.

However, you can not bother with making combinations, but buy a ready-made lawn mixture in the garden center – but it will come out more expensive.

When to sow the lawn. The lawn can be planted during the entire warm season, from the end of April to the end of September, but sowing in spring and summer still gives the best results – during these periods, the decorativeness of the lawn is 4 – 4,2 points. And when sowing in autumn or before winter – 2 – 3 points (4).

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How to sow a lawn. The most important thing when sowing a lawn is to evenly distribute the seeds over the area so that it doesn’t turn out “it’s thick here, it’s empty there.” And it is better, of course, to use special seeders for the lawn, which, again, can be rented.

If using a seeder, the seeds intended for sowing must be divided in half. One part is sown in one direction, and the second – across.

If the lawn is supposed to be sown by hand, the seeds must be mixed with sand in a ratio of 1: 1 – this makes it easier to scatter them around the site.

The seeding rate of lawn seeds is 30-60 g per 1 sq. m. Saving here is not worth it – if you sow less than it should, the lawn will be bald. But wastefulness is also not appropriate here – experiments have shown that an increase in the seeding rate does not affect the decorativeness of the lawn in any way (5).

When sowing by hand, the seeds must be evenly scattered over the surface of the soil and carefully sealed with a rake. And then the crops need to be well watered.

Until the moment of germination, it is necessary to water the lawn daily, and in the heat – 2 times a day: in the morning and in the evening. Then watering can be reduced to 1 time per week.

Popular questions and answers

We asked the agronomist-breeder Svetlana Mikhailova to answer the typical questions of summer residents about the lawn.

What lawn is better for giving?

Any lawn of cereals is suitable for giving, but it is still better to use not one type, but a mixture of herbs. The fact is that in different years they behave differently. For example, with heavy rainfall in the summer, some culture can slow down in growth, while another, on the contrary, will begin to develop actively. And in a drought, the opposite can happen. But in the end, the lawn will always be decorative.

Is it difficult to take care of the lawn in the country?

Yes. The lawn needs a lot of attention. He needs timely watering, feeding and cutting, and he needs to be cut more than once a month, as many do, but once a week. Plus, there is a constant fight against weeds, moss, overseeding grass in places where bald spots have formed and the fight against moles. To have the perfect lawn, you have to work hard.

What can replace the lawn?

An excellent option is meadow turf, forbs. Such a clearing can be mowed much less often – at the beginning of summer once every 2 – 3 weeks, and in the second half – once a month. In addition, such lawns are made up of local allium grasses that are adapted to the climate of your site.

Sources of

  1. Smirnova S.K. Accelerated creation of lawn agrophytocenoses in the conditions of the North of the Non-Chernozem Zone of Our Country // dissertation, 2015, p. rossi
  2. Herbicide of continuous action // Directory of pesticides, https://www.pesticidy.ru/dictionary/nonselective_herbicide
  3. Smirnova S.K. Creation of ordinary lawns, taking into account the biological characteristics of grassroots cereals // Dairy Bulletin, 2012, https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/sozdanie-obyknovennyh-gazonov-s-uchetom-biologicheskih-osobennostey-nizovyh-zlakov
  4. Seregin M.V. The quality of lawn grass stand depending on the sowing period // Tauride scientific observer, No. 5, 2017, https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/kachestvo-gazonnogo-travostoya-v-zavisimosti-ot-sroka-poseva
  5. Lazarev N.N., Urazbakhtin Z.M., Sokolova V.V. Influence of seeding rates on the formation of ornamental lawns from single-species crops of cereal grasses and grass mixtures // Izvestiya TSHA, issue 5, 2011, https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/vliyanie-norm-vyseva-na-formirovanie-dekorativnyh-gazonov- iz-odnovidovyh-posevov-zlakovyh-trav-i-travosmesey/viewer

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