After building the house and cleaning up the garbage, it's time to ennoble the plot. I remembered a long-standing dream of a lawn - a lawn with emerald grass, without beds with vegetables. Just near the house there was free space not occupied by agricultural land. It was decided to give it to the lawn. I began to read information on this topic, then - to plan in what sequence to carry out work and what seeds to plant. I want to say right away that laying a lawn is a matter of many months. Personally, I took all the stages, from the beginning of excavation to the contemplation of a decent-looking lawn, for about a year. I’ll tell you how it was with me - I will share my experience, which, I hope, will help beginner “gas guides” to avoid many mistakes.
Step 1. Seed selection and work planning
Having studied the information on the topic, I came to the conclusion that the best types of grass for the lawn (in our conditions) are meadow bluegrass and red fescue. He began to look for a suitable herbal mixture in stores. In most formulations, it is necessarily ryegrass, which in our climate is not at all ice. For warm Europe - excellent, suitable, but our ryegrass freezes in winter, in spring such a lawn wakes up noticeably thinned. As a result, I came across a suitable one-species grass mixture - from varieties of one bluegrass meadow True Blue Kentucky Bluegrass. Entirely bluegrass lawn ... Why not? Of course, the first years will have to be carefully looked after, at first the bluegrass is capricious. But such a lawn with proper care is considered one of the most decorative. It was decided - to be a bluegrass lawn!
So, I bought bluegrass seeds - 30% more than what was recommended by the manufacturer. This is important because some of the material may not germinate.
For myself, I deduced the following scheme for laying a lawn:
- In spring and summer I prepare the soil: I plan, cultivate, level, roll.
- In early August, I carry out herbicide treatment, get rid of weeds.
- At the end of August - I fertilize the soil and sow the lawn. I take care of the seedlings: watering, mowing, fighting weeds.
In this situation, that is, when sowing at the end of summer, the lawn will have time to grow and grow stronger before the onset of cold weather. In winter, he will leave already formed, with a dense turf. And in the spring it will look quite presentable.
I followed this scheme.
Step 2. Earthwork
I started preparing land for the lawn in the spring, in April. Perhaps this is the most difficult stage on which the future appearance of the lawn depends. Work is carried out in the following sequence: cultivation, leveling, rolling (tamping). Rolling and tamping, as a rule, is repeated several times. This is what I read on smart sites and I decided to follow unconditionally.
The site selected for the breakdown of the lawn
Initially, the soil on the site is heavy loam. It seems to be not bad, but for the lawn, as I understand it, we need more loose earth. Therefore, to improve and drain the structure, I drove and scattered peat and sand on the site.
It turned out the following: below I have a loam pillow, above - a mixture of sand and peat. To mix all the components and get rid of weeds, I, through a cultivator, plowed a plot.
Plowing with a cultivator allows you to loosen the soil, make it homogeneous and remove weeds
Such a cultivator was used to plow a plot under the lawn.
Now it was necessary to level the site. Than? At first I thought of going over a rake, but I have a large area - 5 acres, I won’t achieve an even lawn. I decided to go the other way. He took out an aluminum ladder 6 meters from the shed, tied a rope to its edges.
For weight, I put a load on top - a channel with stones inside. It turned out something like a modernized building rule with which I walked around the site back and forth. Where necessary leveled, in some places he poured earth. The process was controlled by a laser level.
Alignment of the microrelief of the site is an important component of preparatory work to create a lawn
After leveling walked rink. He spilled the earth well. The leveling-tamper-irrigation process was repeated many times, within two months with level control. By the middle of summer, after the rains, it was already possible to walk along the rammed site in two hours - there were practically no traces. Then I thought that on this land work can be completed.
If the soil is sufficiently compacted, there should be no deep marks on it when walking
Step 3. Herbicide treatment
Initially, I was generally against the use of herbicides. But ... It seems to be plowing the earth, and during the summer constantly tearing out malicious weeds, but they all grew and grew. The prospect of endless weeding was not pleasing, especially since the sowing time was inexorably approaching. Therefore, I spilled the rammed area, waited for the emergence of weeds and pickled them with the Roundup.
Then he removed the dried grass. Two weeks later, it was possible to start sowing. By the way, by this time, young weeds climbed again, but I quickly pulled them out - on prepared soil it is not difficult.
It will also be useful material on methods of weed control on the lawn: //diz-cafe.com/ozelenenie/borba-s-sornyakami-na-gazone.html
Step 4. Fertilizing the lawn
As I understand it, some do not fertilize their lawns at all or fertilize them once a year with something long-lasting. Probably, this approach has a place to be, but only on fertile soils, in which nutrients were originally laid. The soil on my site is not particularly nutritious, so I decided to go the traditional way and still fertilize before sowing.
At this stage, the Texas seeder was very useful to me, which can not only scatter seeds, but also loose fertilizers too. At first, I spilled the soil well, then - walked along it with a seeder, introduced ammophos (nitrogen and phosphorus content 12-52) - 2 kg per hundredth, and also potassium chloride - 0.5 kg per hundredth. In presowing fertilizer - special attention to phosphorus. It accelerates seed germination and activates the formation of the root system. Then, with basic care, other fertilizers will be needed for the lawn.
Fertilizing before sowing lawn seeds will speed up their germination
After scattering the pellets, I harnessed to a small harrow and went to loosen the soil. Harrow - this is optional, you can use a rake.
Loosening the soil before sowing bluegrass seeds
Step 5. Sowing Seeds
And then the sowing began. I mixed the seeds with sand, then divided the entire volume of the mixture into two piles. I loaded the seeder in one portion, sowed in the longitudinal direction. The second portion of seeds went to sowing in the transverse direction. At the end, I walked over a seeded rake to plant a little seed in the ground. No more than 1 cm, so as not to be washed away by the rain and carried away by the wind.
Seeds of lawn grasses can be planted a little, raking the soil with a rake
Just in case, he rolled the crops with a roller. And he began to wait for seedlings.
I would like to draw attention to the next moment. I timed the sowing on the 20th of August. At this time, as a rule, there is no more drying heat; the rainy season and cloudy weather begin. My lawn was lucky in this regard. After sowing, the weather was cloudy and cool, it often rained, so there was no need to water before germination. If you choose a different sowing period, for example, at the beginning of summer (in general, you can sow the lawn from May to September), then you will have to constantly monitor so that the seeds do not dry out. The soil should be constantly moist, only then the seeds can germinate.
In the heat, you will have to water 2-4 times a day, otherwise in the experiment with the lawn you will have to put an end to it - nothing will rise or rise in separate areas (where there was more moisture-resistant soil or in the shade). To simplify the task of watering a little, it is advisable to cover the sown area with agrofiber in the hot or dry season - Spandex, Agrospan, etc. Under the material, the seeds will be protected from loss of moisture, wind, hot sun. Therefore, under agrofiber grass grass rises faster than in open areas. However, as soon as she has ascended, it is recommended to remove the “greenhouse”. And look after the lawn in the usual, traditional mode.
You can learn more about how to plant lawn grass from the material: //diz-cafe.com/ozelenenie/kak-pravilno-posadit-gazonnuyu-travu.html
Step 6. Caring for the first seedlings
The first shoots of my bluegrass lawn appeared on the 10th day of sowing. These were small thin strings, shoots uneven. I thought I would have to sow, but no. Late in a couple of days, lagging seeds also hatch.
On a young lawn that has just ascended, it’s better not to move so as not to trample the small grass
Just at that time, there was a warming, there was no rain for some time. I set up sprayers and watered young bores every day in the morning. The shoots are very tender, if they dry out a little - everyone dies. The ground should be constantly slightly moist until the sprouts have a more or less developed root system. Judging from my own experience, this happens when the blades of grass reach 4-5 cm. After this, you can relax a bit. But just a little bit. Before the first mowing, the drying of the earth can be fatal to the lawn; it is very sensitive to drought.
I really hoped that the cold did not come ahead of time and that I would have time to mow the lawn for the first time, form a beautiful carpet and look at the work of my hands in all its glory. And so it happened. After 3 weeks, the grass stand reached a height of about 8 cm, it was possible to mow. In the morning I spilled the lawn well, pulled out a lawn mower - and go! I cut no more than the upper third of the blades of grass so as not to damage the young plants. I liked the result: an even, fairly dense rug of a pleasant color. After mowing, the rains were charged. Until winter, I did not water the lawn or mow. The experiment and observation of the lawn were continued next spring.
In October, the lawn was first cleaned.
Step 7. Young lawn care activities
In the spring, after the snow melted, the lawn sat for a long time “without movement”, probably due to the cold. As there were small shoots, they remained, the color also left much to be desired - some kind of grayish-yellow. But half-forgotten weeds appeared. At first, I tried to pull them out, and then etched them with Lintur. Weeds clumped, then there were already fewer of them - the lawn itself gradually forms a dense turf and crowds out undesirable "neighbors". And mowing on them does not work in the best way.
Also, material on possible diseases and pests of the lawn will be useful: //diz-cafe.com/ozelenenie/bolezni-i-vrediteli-gazona.html
After winter, the color of the lawn leaves much to be desired.
The visible growth of the lawn began when the earth warmed up sufficiently, to a temperature of 10-15 ° C. Now you can look at the result - the grass stand is fully formed, survived the winter well and got stronger.
The lawn has already grown and turned green - May
Bluegrass lawn fully formed - June
Subsequent lawn care, I do this:
- Watering as needed. Not every day, but only after drying the earth. Watering should be plentiful, but sparse. In autumn, before the cold, it’s better to refrain from watering at all, otherwise the lawn will not winter well.
- Fertilizer. For my lawn, I apply a three-time feeding scheme for the season, that is, only 3 times with an interval of a month. I use any fertilizer for lawn grasses with an approximate combination of the basic elements 4: 1: 2 (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium).
- Mowing. In the second year of the lawn's life, I switched to weekly mowing, each time I cut off no more than a third of the length of the grass stand.
These rules help me keep the lawn in good condition. The result suits me, I think that the experiment with the lawn was a success.
Peter K.
