How to make a beautiful lawn: simple tips

Maria Kosheleva, landscape designer of the “Paradise Corner” center, reports.

Choose a site

Lawns love regular watering, but cannot stand the proximity of groundwater and prolonged flooding. Therefore, you should not plan your lawn in the lowlands. The second important point is lighting. Of course, mixes are sold for shady places, but they are suitable, to be honest, only for partial shade conditions. In places where there is only occasional sun, the lawn will grow weak and thin, no matter how hard you make it. It is useless to break the lawn under the trees – it will not grow, do not even try.

Also evaluate the soil on the site. Lawn grasses prefer fertile, not too acidic soils. You may have to add a layer of peat-humus mixture (you will need a mixture machine on a one-hundred-square-meter lawn).

Preparing the soil

Before you start sowing, you need to clear the area of ​​all stones and other debris. After that, it is necessary to get rid of weeds, treat the area with Roundup herbicide (the norm is indicated on the package). A couple of weeks after that, you need to dig up the territory and literally break all the lumps of earth with a rake.

Level the area and compact the soil. It’s good if you can rent a water roller for your lawn. It didn’t work out – it’s not scary, take a large sheet of hardboard, put it on the ground and walk on it. Move to another place and walk again until the entire area is compacted. The top layer should not be too dense, keep this in mind.

It is desirable that the site be smooth and at the same time have a slight slope for water to drain off.

Which herb to buy?

It is better for a beginner to start with unpretentious, resistant to trampling mixtures. Usually they come in different brands with the mark “sport”. Of course, your lawn will not look emerald-velvet, but on the other hand, children and pets can easily run on it, and adults can walk on it.

The most resistant grasses are high – they form large coarse stems and leaves, little tillering. This group includes the hedgehog team, wheatgrass, fire, foxtail, creeping wheatgrass.

Grassland grass has thin shoots with narrow leaves, they are very whimsical and strongly bush. Grain grass includes meadow bluegrass, red fescue, bent grass, comb.

The mixture usually includes several species, differing in the rate of growth and development, so that the lawn continues to grow and develop under all weather conditions and loads. The most stable mixture will be dominated by horse grains.

Let’s start to sow

We must say right away that you can sow the lawn at any time – from April to September, until the frost begins. It is better to choose quiet, calm and preferably clear weather for sowing. The ground should not be too wet. If it’s hot outside, you must first moisten the soil.

The usual rate is 40-50 g of seeds per 1 sq. m or 4-5 kg ​​per hundred square meters. At buying seeds keep in mind that for overseeding and subsequent “repair” of the lawn, an additional kilogram of seeds will be required for each hundred square meters of the lawn.

Sowing is easy. Divide the seeds into 2 equal parts and sow (fan) the area as evenly as possible, first along and then across. It is convenient to sow at the same time as fertilizing – just mix the lawn fertilizer granules evenly with the seeds.

It remains to sprinkle the seeds with a small layer of loose peat (0,5-1 cm) and roll them lightly. After that, it is advisable to water the lawn very carefully – with the help of a sprinkler. Never use a hose to water the lawn! It is highly undesirable to step on the sown area, therefore, if necessary, put boards on the lawn and walk on them.

The first shoots should appear within a week. As soon as the grass grows 7-10 cm, you need it for the first time cut neatly 1 cm.

When to feed?

What to do if there are bald patches on the lawn?

Waiting for the grass to grow back miraculously is silly. On damaged areas, overseeding with the same mixture of grass that makes up the main lawn should be carried out. This is done like this:

• mow the affected areas of the lawn low, free them from mowed grass and weeds;
• loosen the topsoil with a foot or cultivator, level the surface;
• thickly sow the seeds of lawn grasses (about twice as thick as the norm) and sprinkle them with peat in a layer of 1 cm;
• roll in the overseeding areas of the lawn, cover these areas with pieces of spunbond, pinning it to the ground with sticks (protection from birds);
• Water the entire lawn properly (watering only the overseeding areas is wrong, as water can wash out peat and seeds).