Lawn device. Sowing lawn: soil preparation, timing of sowing the herbal mixture, care, mowing

Specially created grassy carpet, evenly and shortly trimmed, on a certain plot of land is called a lawn. This is one of the most important elements of landscaping and garden design. Thanks to him, all the elements of the garden are successfully combined into one. Colors and shades, texture of crowns and leaves play in a completely new way. Against the background of a completely flat lawn surface, other forms of plants become more expressive.

The arrangement of the lawn in the garden carries not only a decorative and compositional character, but also helps to increase air humidity, improves the microclimate of the household territory.

Arranging a lawn is not an easy task. Often summer residents face problems:

• sow decorative grass - trampled by domestic animals;
• the grass mixture for the lawn didn’t come up — they dug it up;
• a lawn sprang up, but was overgrown with weeds - had to be smelled;
• grass sprouted, but grew in bumps - mice wound up.

Options for creating a lawn depend on the intentions of the owner. You can do this in several ways:

• cheap - budget, long and not too high quality;
• at an average price, after three summer months, but much cleaner;
• expensive, in a couple of weeks, efficiently and effectively - without the presence of weeds.

At the same time, take into account not only the desires and budget allocated for the construction of the lawn, but also the environmental friendliness of different types of coatings and grass fees.

Classification of lawns in the landscape

Sowing lawns are created mainly by sowing a mixture of seeds of perennial herbaceous plants (less often annuals). The selection of the herbal mixture used for sowing depends on the climatic and soil characteristics, as well as determining the purpose of the lawn and the lighting conditions.

Table 1. Classification of lawns by appointment

With the decorative types of lawns, everything is clear - they are used for aesthetic arrangement of the territory to give it a new attractive look. Against a green background, architectural structures and decorative elements look much more successful than on an unclarified territory.

Universal, characterized by relative resistance to damage, while remaining sufficiently decorative. Also fit perfectly into the category of aesthetic lawns for landscaping.

A functional lawn is designed to perform a specific task. For example, to equip a sports field, football field, strengthen slopes, slopes, sodding outskirts and roads, gentle shores of water bodies.

Sowing seeds for a lawn device is not the only way to create a beautiful decorative surface near the house territory. In addition to sowing a special grass mixture, you can take a specially grown roll lawn and lay it on the desired territory. The advantage of this option is the arrangement and breakdown of the lawn in an extremely short time.

Table 2. Classification of lawns relative to location

Some recommendations for arranging a lawn in the country

Use grass mixtures combined with the type of soil prevailing on the site. Each collection contains specific herbs that differ in natural requirements, but all of them are grouped according to growth, development, reaction to the environment, and stress resistance. Some of them are moisture-loving and shade-tolerant plants, suitable for sodding the garden and shady areas of the home garden, others are drought-resistant and light-loving and suitable for sowing in open areas.

For example, in areas with partial shade, sow mixtures of herbs in which the seeds of red cepal or bluegrass forest predominate.

Today, the range of herbal mixtures presents the opportunity to choose any of the suitable options. On packages with seeds the purpose is indicated: for universal, ground or park lawn.

Table 3. Classification by the method of lawn construction

A few words about the component composition - grass for the lawn

Lawns also differ from each other, even if their differences are not noticeable visually. The main difference is the species and varietal variety of cereal herbs that make up the mixture for sowing. It’s easy to sow the prepared plot, here it’s much more important to choose exactly the mixture you need. Do not take this matter lightly, otherwise you risk spoiling the entire process of arranging the lawn.

When buying an herbal mixture, do not refine yourself with bright colorful patterns on the packaging. The only thing that really deserves attention is the annotation for the bag with seeds.

Distinctive features of ground grass

This is a type of lawn of the first or highest class. They are given a central place in the architectural composition of the garden, near a fountain or a decorative pond.

A characteristic feature of the pitch-lawn is the predominance of the area over other components of the landscape. This is the main element of the stalls or flower garden, serving as a backdrop for a flower arrangement and green space, decorative bushes, trees, sculptures, fountains.

Characteristics of a conventional (classic) lawn

Landscape gardening green lawn is classified as a second-class coating. They should be:

• decorative;
• long-term;
• be resistant to drought and mechanical damage.

When choosing a mixture for sowing the lawn, do not forget that it should be selected with a strong turf and various types of tillering herbs, which will contribute to better germination and penetration of the soil by the roots of plants.

For a classic lawn, the choice of mixtures is wider, therefore it is worthwhile to study the description of the seeds more carefully. Having found pasture ragris in the composition, be guided by the fact that the cover of the future lawn forms a strong crust of grass, but it turns out to be not quite uniform in color.

The subtleties of caring for the "wild" lawn

By this name is meant the use for forming a grass cover for a lawn from a genus of weed plants. In this case, it will not be superfluous to purchase a lawn mower or just a household mower to systematically mow the lawn - twice a month. Also, a mini tractor for mowing the lawn is useful on the farm.

Watch for the growth of especially harmful weeds:

• horse sorrel;
• burdock;
• ragweed;
• hogweed.

Get rid of them whenever possible so as not to attract small pests and insects to the house. If you are a particularly evil esthete, then do not disdain sow thistle, bodyparts, dandelions.

Start by removing extra large weed species. Level the lawn structure. In this case, do not forget about the removal of bumps and places of stagnation of water.

Distinctive features of the Moorish lawn

Meadow lawn is created by improving the already taken grass stand. Moorish lawns can be created from lush forbs, which in reality looks like a picture from a movie with beautiful flowering glades and lawns.

In the composition of meadow (Moorish mixtures) perennial cereals (80-95%), and not always lawn selection, and seeds of wild wildflowers (5-20%). Plants for grass on the lawn are selected with different flowering periods, which allows for an attractive decorative appearance of the site throughout the season. For example, blue cornflowers bloom from late May to July, and from the beginning of summer large-flowered flax comes into bloom, which pleases with bright red “lights” until the end of August. Organically complements the composition of the damask nigella as a white and pink background.

Features of sports lawns

The name of this kind of lawn speaks for itself. The coating is used for covering golf courses and football stadiums, sports fields for various purposes.

For the formation of a dense coating of a sports lawn, cereal seeds are used. The highest indices of resistance to moisture absorption are shown by pasture ryegrass, sheep fescue and red, meadow bluegrass, which makes up to 50% of this cocktail. In shady areas, lawn grasses are sown in special proportions.

Roll coating

The technology of laying the lawn with rolled canvases is fast. The roll turf flooring is grown specifically for these purposes in nurseries. The main advantage of the coating over the seeded lawn is the ability to break the lawn in just a couple of days.

Ask: how to make a lawn? In this case, everything is simple. 75% of homeowners do without outside help in this matter. The only condition is the immediate installation of the rolls delivered to the place of laying. Even a slight delay causes the grass to be rolled up into self-heating and the green "carpet" to dry out.

How to prepare the soil for flooring or sowing grass

Arranging a lawn at this stage is considered the most difficult and time-consuming. Therefore, it requires special attention in carrying out work. It is important to achieve a completely flat surface area with a fertile soil layer of up to 15 cm, after cleaning it from the roots and debris.

On clay soils, it is worth taking care of eliminating the possibility of the formation of puddles. Before starting further soil preparation, in the last 2-3 weeks, focus on the destruction of weed residues with herbicides.

Lawn drainage system

To achieve good sanitation, proceed as follows:

1. Remove the top fertile soil layer to 15 cm and set it aside.
2. Think about how and where, water flows after watering the lawn. Provide the necessary slopes.
3. Pour a layer of gravel, stones or broken brick with a layer up to 15 cm thick on the lower layer of the earth and ram it.
4. Lay a sand pillow up to 10 cm thick on top and compact it.
5. Lay the fertile soil layer in place, level and walk on top of the roller. This device is easy to replace by taking, for example, a barrel filled with water. Do not forget to close the drain hole in the container before proceeding with the compaction of the pad under the rolled lawn.
   

Soil selection and why it is so important

Many say that lawn grass is not whimsical and grows well on any soil. But this option only works when you need an aesthetic concealment of some areas of the site or garden.

To keep the lawn happy for more than one year, take care of preparing the soil-soil mixture, as well as for any other living plant that you are going to plant on the site.

In modern conditions, in a suburban area or cottage, especially after construction work, the natural fertile soil layer is severely damaged or completely absent. Therefore, in order to create a beautiful sowing lawn, bring special fertile soil to the site.

The soil must meet the following characteristics:

• have a density of average value;
• bulk density should be 0.8-1.2;
• be air and water permeable;
• characterized by a neutral pH reaction;
• contain the necessary supply of nutrients in sufficient quantities.

A specially prepared peat-sand mixture consisting of:

• 1 part peat;
• 1 parts of sand;
• 1 part of turf land ;
• lime;
• a set of mineral fertilizers.

If nutrients are insufficient, you will have to make special fertilizers for the lawn.

How to deal with weeds

Lawn care in the summer requires special attention, starting from the moment the site is prepared for sowing grass.

At each stage, including when digging or moving soil, try to completely choose the roots of perennial weeds. Being unsure of the cleanliness of the flooring under the lawn, carry out a special digging. After digging the soil, water for several days. This stimulates the growth of the remaining weeds, after which you can easily remove the remaining parasitic plants.

Then get down to chemical treatment. After dry, calm weather, spray the soil with herbicide-containing solutions. You can use “Round” or “Tornado”. The duration of the reaction is up to 7 days. During this period, up to 90% of weeds die. It takes up to 28 days to remove the remaining persistent perennial species. In this case, the treatment is carried out every seven days.

Remember that warm, rainy weather contributes to the germination of weed seeds, which leads to the need for re-treatment with herbicides. Having finished with the fight against harmful plants, dig the soil. Starting the procedure, heavy clay soils are diluted with sand, adding from 10 to 15 kg of sand per 1 m ² , and light sand peat, adding 4-5 kg ​​per 1 m ² . At the next stage, the earth is dug up to a depth of 27 cm. Therefore, with a fertile layer less than 15 cm, have the soil in reserve. For example, to add 1 hundred square meters of land with a layer of soil up to 10 cm thick, you will have to spend at least 10 m ^{3 of} fertile soil.

After that, start sowing or leave the site until spring. So you don’t have to take separate care of the lawn in winter.

The subtleties of sowing

Spring or the end of summer is the best time to sow seeds. Although this can be done in mid-summer, in this case, regular watering of seedlings (especially in drought) is required. The period of grass germination increases with the approach of autumn, so calculate the time so that the green mass has time to rise to 10 cm. Note that landscape designers highly recommend that winter planting is not possible. Due to a decrease in temperature, which sometimes reaches extremes, up to 60% of seeds die, and the rest germinate unevenly.

Grass sowing technology looks like this:

1. Fertilizers for the lawn are applied before sowing the seeds in a ratio of 1: 4: 4 (nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium).
2. 1-2 days before sowing, the upper fertile soil layer is well moistened and watered abundantly.
3. Smell the seeds by doing this manually or use a seeder. Do this after waiting for dry, calm weather.
4. Having finished the seeds, pack the platform with an ice rink. This procedure helps to accelerate the emergence of seedlings and stimulates their further growth.
5. At the last stage, mulch the crops with a thin layer (up to 0.5 cm) of peat or humus.

Do not forget to water the lawn daily until the first shoots appear - in the morning and in the evening with the calculation of 10 liters of water per 1 m ^{2 of} lawn. Having done everything correctly, focus on 7-21 days to see the sprouting green grass. Although it depends on the type of cereals and the microclimate of the region.

As a result, you will get a beautiful and uniform green area that adorns a personal garden or cottage. On such a platform you can relax, sunbathe, have picnics, play outdoor games, it is interesting to spend leisure time or to set up a colorful flowerbed with flowers or green plants 1-3 tiers higher surrounded by a lawn.

We hope this article will help to understand the main aspects of growing a lawn in a country house or in a personal territory without resorting to the services of landscape designers, whose work is not cheap.

Make the lawn easier by following the tips and tricks given in the article.