Lawn Care: Practical Tips

On hot days, the turf evaporates a significant amount of moisture, which increases the humidity of the air and lowers the temperature. Thanks to the phytoncides secreted by grasses, the lawn improves the composition of the subsoil layer of atmospheric air, preventing the reproduction of harmful microorganisms. The roots of the lawn grasses hold the surface of the soil together, preventing dusting. In addition, lawns are the most environmentally friendly natural playgrounds for children.

They begin to create a lawn after leveling the surface of the site, building a residential building and utility rooms, laying paths, planting trees and shrubs.

For the creation of long-term lawns, grasses are suitable that can grow in one place without losing their decorative qualities for at least ten to twelve years. Before sowing seeds, the soil must be slightly loosened, but there should not be lumps larger than a pea on the surface, otherwise this will cause uneven distribution of seeds over the area of ​​the site.

What is lawn scarification?

In the process of development and dying off of plant parts, a layer of straw from dead grasses accumulates between the roots and foliage. It is especially great in spring. As long as the thickness of this layer remains moderate, it plays a positive role as a mulch coating. With an increase in the thickness of the straw layer, there is a delay in the flow of air, water, fertilizers to the roots of plants, which adversely affects their development. In this case, it is necessary to “comb out” the straw from the lawn grass. This operation is usually carried out in early spring using a long-toothed iron rake.

Grass mixtures for the lawn

The choice of grass mixture affects the quality of the lawn in the future. Not all mixtures are suitable for our soil and climatic conditions. Thus, many experts believe that grass mixtures with a predominance of perennial ryegrass or white bent grass seeds are unsuitable for creating full-fledged long-term lawns. It is recommended to use the following mixtures:

• bluegrass (30%), perennial ryegrass (30%), red fescue (30%), bent grass (10%);
• bluegrass (30%), red fescue (30%), perennial ryegrass (40%).

Seeding rates for lawn grass seeds

• Meadow bluegrass – 20 g / m²
• Red fescue – 20-25 g / m²
• Meadow fescue – 30-40 g / m²
• Pasture ryegrass – 20-40 g / mXNUMX
• White bentgrass – 15-20 g / m²

If you decide to arrange a path with seams of lawn grass on your site, then you will have to reseed it between the tiles every few years. Otherwise, the grass may begin to grow into dense bushes and form bumps.

• When preparing the site for the lawn, the soil must be carefully dug to the depth of the shovel bayonet.
• The dug surface is leveled with a rake, breaking large clods of earth.
• Choose rhizomes of perennial weeds.
• Immediately before sowing the seeds, the surface of the area under the lawn is loosened with a rake. After processing the soil, it is better to lightly compact it with a roller. This procedure allows you to immediately identify all surface irregularities that should be immediately corrected. After that, you need to let the soil settle. Before sowing, it is necessary to gently loosen the surface again with a rake.
• The seeds are sown by hand, randomly.
• After sowing, the seeds are slightly deepened into the soil with short, light movements with a rake.
• The sown soil of the lawn is compacted using planks attached to the shoes. The surface can also be compacted with a hand roller.
• Crops are protected with dense white covering material.
• For the timely emergence of seedlings, crops should be watered from above, over the covering material, within a week. The covering material is not removed until the grass rises to a height of 5 cm.
• The first mowing of the lawn is carried out at a grass stand height of 10-15 cm.

The editors would like to thank the Russian Lawns group of companies for their help in preparing the materials.