How to plant a lawn at the dacha. How to plant lawn grass correctly: step-by-step technology for sowing a lawn. What you need to know before making your own lawn

- This is a piece of land with artificial grass. For its sowing, specially selected seeds are used. In addition to their decorative function, lawns also serve a practical role - they are a pleasure to spend active recreation and play sports. You can decide which lawn to plant at your dacha and find out how to sow grass for a lawn by studying our instructions.

How to sow a lawn with your own hands - video

What types of lawns are there?

1. Artificial - since the installation of lawns from real grass requires a lot of time, the practice of creating coatings from polymer materials has emerged.

• Moorish lawn - a crop of flowering and cereal plants.
• Parterre - uniform in color, grass height and density, created in the most ceremonial places.
• Forb - allows for arbitrary plant heights.
• Meadow is a natural grass cover that is mowed no more than once a year (the so-called lawn for the lazy).

3. Sports turf is a dense, elastic turf made of cereals that is resistant to trampling. Classic example- football pitch.

4. Lawns special purpose— prevent erosion of soil on road slopes, slopes, banks of rivers and canals. For this, geotextiles and rolled turf are used.

Which lawn is best to plant? Classic version- parterre. It looks neat and does not require special care conditions. IN lately Moorish lawns and forbs are popular - they add originality to the site. Some use rolled lawn (lawn in rolls), but most still prefer to sow a lawn from scratch.

How to plant a lawn with your own hands

Layout

How to make a lawn on an unmarked area? First, draw its diagram. Consider the location of trees, flower beds, paths and other landscape objects so that they do not interfere with cutting the grass. Keep the distance from the lawn to the paths at least 1 meter - this will make it more convenient to operate the lawn mower. How to plant a lawn under trees? Use ground cover plants, for example clover, wood chips or mineral chips.

Preparing a site for a lawn, choosing herbs

• Garbage removal.
• Uprooting stumps.
• Removing weeds using herbicides.
• Digging up the area with a cultivator, adding fertilizers, creating drainage.
• Leveling and compacting the surface. How to level an area for a lawn? To do this, use special tool, such as roller and rotary hoe. You can make a lawn roller with your own hands - use a heavy log for this, metal pipe or a barrel of sand.
• Loosening the soil with a lawn rake.

After the area is prepared, it is left fallow for 1-2 months. At this time, seeds for the lawn are selected according to variety. To do this, take into account climate, soil composition, and lighting. For shaded areas, choose a shade-tolerant mixture of grasses. To park a car on the lawn, buy a variety that is resistant to physical activity or use a special lawn grate.

How to sow a lawn correctly: instructions

When to sow a lawn? There are almost no restrictions on this - you can do this from mid-April to early September. Mineral fertilizers for the lawn are applied before sowing. The surface is loosened again. When planting a lawn in the spring with your own hands, take into account the weather: it should be dry and calm, otherwise it will be difficult to achieve uniform sowing. A special seeder or seed distributor improves the quality of sowing.

How to plant a lawn if these tools are not available? Sow the area by hand, first along and then across. The approximate seed consumption is 30-40 g/m2.

How to make a lawn at the dacha if there is a peat mixture or mulch? Distribute the material evenly over the surface to achieve a thickness of 1.5 cm. After this, walk the ground with a roller - this will compact the soil and help the seeds germinate faster.

How to grow a lawn good quality? One of the secrets of success is abundant and timely watering. Water the crops with light rain and then do this every day - small drops will not erode the soil and wash away barely established sprouts.

How to sow a lawn correctly? Make sure that top layer the soil was always moist. If everything is done correctly, the grass will sprout within a week. If the grass has not emerged in some areas, they are reseeded.

How to care for your lawn

1. Watering the lawn- in hot weather it is carried out daily. It is best to organize automatic lawn watering. This is the secret to how to properly plant a lawn in dry summer conditions.

2. Haircut- carried out when the grass has grown 8-10 cm. Only the tips (1-2 cm) are cut off - thanks to this it develops root system, new shoots grow, the grass cushion becomes thicker. Further frequency and nature of mowing depends on the type of grass, weather and time of year. The lawn is mowed once a week. Its intensity is reduced in spring and autumn, since at this time the intensity of shoot growth decreases. The first spring mowing is carried out when the grass grows 10 cm. Mow such a lawn by 1/3 - this will allow it to quickly recover after winter. To avoid damaging the grass, make sure your lawnmower blades are sharp.

3. Lawn aeration- another important event. It is performed to improve access to oxygen, water and useful substances to the root system. To do this, holes are made in the turf. The event is held once a year for normal grass coverage. In temperate latitudes, the lawn is aerated in the fall, in warm latitudes - in the spring.

How to make a lawn in an area that is heavily trampled? Give aeration a special role - do it more than twice a year. Thanks to this, you can even organize parking on the lawn. In this case, special tiles or mesh for the lawn are used. Because some lawns are large, aeration can be difficult. Depending on the size of the area, choose a suitable lawn aerator. Sandals for lawn aeration can serve as this. A lawn verticutter will provide greater productivity.

4. Lawn feeding— periodically apply mineral fertilizers to the soil using a spreader. If you fertilize on time, you won’t have to worry about seeding your lawn.

What determines the cost of lawn seeds?

• Plant type— Moorish lawn is more expensive than classic grass lawn.
• Seed variety— seed lawn with special properties, for example, resistance to shade or trampling, is more expensive than usual.
• Mixture composition- the more complex it is, the higher the price.
• Country of origin— lawn grass from a domestic company will cost less than lawn from a foreign manufacturer.

How to make a lawn correctly: mowing frequency

Timely trimming ensures the lower part of the plants sunlight. If this is not done on time, spots will appear on the lawn. The frequency of the event depends on the time of year, weather and type of lawn. Define optimal height grass - when the length of the leaves exceeds the required value by 1-2 cm, then it is time to mow it.

How to make a beautiful lawn with your own hands? Just cut it once a week; mowing the lawn twice is allowed during the period active growth herbs. Photos of lawns at the dacha with your own hands look no worse than those taken by specialists. In fact, they are also no worse than professional ones.

To summarize: how to make a lawn at your dacha with your own hands

Follow our instructions, regularly care for your lawn after winter (in spring), use timely watering and aeration, and do not forget to cut the grass properly.

Which grass is best for a lawn? Think over this point, taking into account the conditions of the site and its purpose. By approaching the matter responsibly and applying all our advice, you will get a beautiful green lawn.

If you want to see more clearly how to properly seed your lawn, watch our video.

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Have you decided to make your dreams of a picturesque green lawn in front of your house come true and have you already cleared the area of ​​debris, dug up and leveled the ground? Now it’s time to figure out how to plant a lawn with your own hands, or lay ready-made rolled grass - it all depends on your priorities.

Types of lawns

Lawns come in several types, depending on their purpose and further use.

• Parterre usually found in the most visible places: at the entrance to the house, along paths and around flower beds and shrubs. It is a perfectly smooth green surface. Such a lawn does not require walking on it and requires constant care and careful maintenance. To obtain dense, low grass, only cereals that have narrow leaves and tender sprouts are used. They germinate together and bush well, so this type of cover has a uniform surface and high density, which suppresses the spread of weeds.
• meadow lawn looks like an elegant flowering lawn in the middle of the forest. In addition to its picturesqueness, it is very practical, since it contains perennials and does not require special care. The mixture for sowing it consists of field grass seeds with the addition of meadow plants and flowers, including bulbous ones. Haircuts are carried out approximately twice a year.
• Mauritanian- This is a flowering field, pleasing to the eye. This green cover is very elegant and looks vibrant for a long time because it includes flowering herbs selected in such a way that their flowering periods follow each other. It requires almost no mowing, is renewed once a year (the grass is cut), but requires regular watering.

It is important to note that this lawn is not suitable for the front of the yard; flower beds, rock gardens and other design elements will be invisible against its background.

• Gardening- the most common type. It is resistant to trampling because it is designed to be constantly walked on. For its composition, hard, rough-looking herbs are selected. At the same time, it is easier to maintain, has less tendency to produce weeds, and hides all the mistakes that are often made in the process of self-sowing.
• Sports-has a more complex seed mixture. In addition to traditional cereal crops It also contains special wear-resistant additives. Such herbs should grow quickly, have elastic shoots and well-developed rhizomes. Caring for such a lawn is more complex and requires constant attention. But the ability of such a coating to withstand heavy loads allows it to be sown in places of intense movement - next to a gazebo, on a children's playground, next to a swing.

Lawn grass layout

If you want the most short terms to get a beautiful dense lawn so that you can immediately set up a volleyball or children's court, buy roll type– it consists of cut strips of turf, which is pre-grown in a special field for about two years. Of course, the cost of ready-made grass in rolls is not affordable for everyone - for one roll you will have to pay at least 50 rubles, and for a lawn of 2 acres you will need about 250 rolls.

Those who prefer to be patient, while saving a significant amount, will have to learn how to properly sow lawn grass on their own. There is nothing particularly complicated about this, you just need to follow the basic rules.

Video about lawn grass, when to plant it in the country, how to do it correctly

Before planting grass, it is advisable to draw a diagram of how you imagine the future cover: are you going to leave trees on it, arrange flower beds, or grow separate groups of flowers? The placement of landscape design elements must be planned in advance so that later there are no difficulties with it.

When considering how to sow grass, taking into account flower beds and paths, take into account that the minimum distance between the sowed grass and the border should be about one meter - this will make it more convenient for you to mow the grass with a lawn mower.

It is better not to plant under single trees or shrubs. lawn grass mixture, and unpretentious ground cover plants, clover will look good. Another option is to sleep tree trunk circles wood chips or decorative chips, it will turn out neat and attractive.

The minimum distance between the sown grass and the border should be about one meter

When is the best time to sow in the country?

You can sow the grass any time from early April to mid-October, provided that during periods of dry weather the seed is kept constantly moist until the grass is 6cm tall. Always water with a fine spray. A strong stream of water will wash away the soil and wash away the seeds. It is also worth noting that the soil must be warm enough. Germination requires a temperature of at least 8-10 degrees. Experts consider September to be the best time to sow a lawn. There are several arguments in favor of September sowing.

• Firstly, any weed seeds present in the seed will have the opportunity to germinate and can be removed,
• Secondly, our summers can have hot and dry spells, and if your new lawn is seeded in the spring, constant watering will be necessary to kick-start seed growth and prevent young shoots from drying out or burning.
• Thirdly, after summer the soil is warm, and autumn rains moisten it well. This will allow the shoots to gain strength before the start of winter, and the number of weeds will be minimal. Then, in late fall, a good root system will develop, rather than top growth, and your lawn will be in tip-top condition next spring and in summer, ready to withstand hot, dry weather.

Preparing the area for a lawn and choosing grasses

To get a perfectly smooth green lawn, like in the pictures, you need to thoroughly understand how to plant a lawn correctly and try not to miss a single step.

Some gardeners are sure that best way sowing means mixing seeds with sand. However, due to inexperience, you can take more sand than required, so using such a trick at first is not recommended. You can achieve uniform sowing with the help of a special seeder, or you can do without it by sowing the lawn with your own hands, first along and then across. Approximate seed consumption: about 30-40 g per one square meter

How do you sow lawn grass seeds?

1. Scatter the measured seeds. Half the seeds should be scattered in one direction and the other half perpendicular to that. Make sure the seeds are distributed as evenly as possible for best results.
2. Gently mix the soil and seeds with a rake. Ideally, the seeds should be covered with a 2-3 mm layer of soil, although some of them may be on the surface. Water using a watering can with a nozzle or a hose with a water sprayer. The grass will appear in 1-2 weeks. If you have large area soil for lawn bedding, consider using a seed spreader.

Video about sowing a lawn

Carefully place the sown seeds into the soil with a rake (you can sprinkle a 1.5 cm mulch layer of peat mixture on top) and walk across the lawn with a roller, pressing the seeds into the ground. Water the crops with a sprinkler system and then carry out daily watering with fine-drip irrigation for a week so that the water does not wash away unsettled shoots and erode the soil.
The video in the tab will give you a visual representation of how to prepare the soil properly and how to sow lawn grass. With proper soil preparation and proper sowing, the grass will sprout in about a week. Where seedlings have not appeared, it will be possible to carry out reseeding.

How to properly care for your lawn

Article updated 01/30/2018

Like many who like to tinker in the ground, I have a dacha. Everything seems to be fine: the house, greenhouses, beds, flowers, fruit plants... But still, something is missing. For some time I wondered what exactly.

And here in once again While planning planting, I finally realized - I want a lawn! Neat, well-groomed, emerald. No sooner said than done, and now I’m already studying the literature, studying ways to fulfill my own dreams.

Several years have passed since then and my site can already boast of a neat lawn, and I have knowledge and experience in growing and caring for lawn grass.

Oddly enough, they begin to create a lawn by choosing a grass mixture. They select it depending on the type of lawn; when purchasing, carefully study the information on the packaging. Manufacturers of the mixture always indicate the type of lawn for which the grass is intended, the requirements for the soil and site.

Most of these mixtures are brought to us from countries Western Europe and, unfortunately, not all plants grow safely in our climate, so pay attention to its composition.

So, a mixture of fescue and bluegrass is excellent for the middle zone. By planting it, you will get an even, dense emerald carpet on your lawn that lends itself well to short haircuts.

Do not be tempted to buy a grass mixture containing more than 50% ryegrass; this plant looks very attractive - the lawn made from it is dense and lush, but has significant drawbacks.

Firstly, this is not such a cold-resistant plant for the middle zone climate; it often freezes out. And secondly, after 3-5 years, your recently beautiful emerald carpet completely falls out.

So, we have decided on the appearance of the lawn, selected high-quality planting material, now we are proceeding to an equally important event - competent preparation sites.

How to properly prepare a site

The area intended for the lawn must be clear of any debris. Be sure to remove all stumps and rhizomes of shrubs and trees; their remains are the root cause of the appearance of completely unnecessary toadstools on the grass carpet.

Remove all turf from the site. The easiest way is to use a special machine for this; in the absence of one, you can use a regular shovel.

Some types of plants (dandelion and creeping clover) constantly produce new shoots when manually removed, this is due to the fact that their long rhizomes cannot be pulled out of the ground entirely and the remaining pieces give rise to shoots.

You can make your task easier by first treating the area overgrown with weeds with a herbicide; it is much easier to remove dead plants.

Leveling the surface of the area

The lawn requires a perfectly flat area. At least as smooth as it will turn out in your particular case. Some craftsmen use for this purpose building level. You should start planning on a clear day, as the soil should be loose and completely dry.

If your site is located on a slope, then in a sense this is even to your advantage: it is this natural feature the site will provide the necessary drainage of rainwater. But do not forget that the slope must be perfectly leveled.

There are two methods to cope with lowlands and holes in the selected area:

1. By moving soil into them from hummocks or hills, or filling them with fertile soil from other places in your garden;
2. Filling the lowlands with a purchased peat-based substrate - this method is relevant in fresh, not yet treated areas.

Dense clay soil mix well with sand, so it will be more permeable to moisture and oxygen.

The ideal soil for a lawn is neutral soil, fertile with high content it contains nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus, but the content of copper and zinc in it is recommended to be constantly kept under control.

Drainage: is it necessary?

If you are lucky enough to have a plot of land in good location, not flooded by spring floods and summer-autumn rains, then you just need to dig it up thoroughly, add lime and increase fertility. In all other cases, you will have to think about creating reliable drainage.

This activity is carried out simultaneously with leveling the area.
Drainage should consist of a couple of layers. Next come those layers of fertile soil that you removed during the leveling process. As a result, your lawn area will be located on a three-layer basis:

1. 10-15 cm of large cobblestones or broken bricks;
2. 10-15 cm of fine gravel or sand;
3. 15-20 cm of nutrient soil.

Each of them is well compacted as they are laid.

Soil treatment

A small area is easier and more efficient to treat manually using a shovel or pitchfork. Impressive areas will require the intervention of serious equipment in the form of a motor cultivator. The depth of digging cannot but depend on the thickness of the fertile soil layer; on average it should be 20-25 cm.

Arranging a lawn on poor, depleted soil is an absolutely useless exercise, so the digging procedure is combined with applying organic fertilizer and sand.

A mandatory procedure is to get rid of earthen clods, the soil under the lawn must be absolutely smooth and even, the presence of stones is not acceptable. Using a rake or fork, break up any clods and remove any roots, weeds, stones and debris.

If you like to do everything in advance and prepare the area for the lawn in the fall, then the earthen clods formed after digging can be left alone until sowing. This maneuver will promote better drainage of your area and will only benefit you.

Soil compaction

The next step in preparing the area for the lawn is tamping. It is necessary to get rid of voids in the soil, because they subsequently cause unevenness to appear on an already grown lawn. It must be carried out in dry weather.

Before starting the procedure, drive pegs around the perimeter of the future lawn and stretch a rope along them. All lines must be perfectly straight; an ordinary level of builders will help you with this.

The compaction itself is carried out with a garden roller or with feet. An object that is round, fairly heavy and completely smooth over its entire surface will also work. For example, a log or pipe made of metal or concrete, the radius of which is at least 20 cm.
If you compact the soil with your feet, shoe marks can then be removed using a rake.

Regularly inspect the driven wedges from different angles; they should remain level. If somewhere a corner has shifted, voids or hills have appeared, then do not be lazy and correct the situation.

Steaming – is it worth the time?

Quite often this step is not considered necessary and is skipped. Undoubtedly he takes certain time and requires some effort, but if you plan to sow your lawn with seeds, you can’t do without fallowing. The point of this activity is to destroy weed seeds, rhizomes and grasses.

The whole process takes a month and a half. During this period, you regularly remove the emerging weeds and complete the treatment with herbicides.

Recently, fallowing is increasingly being replaced by sowing the site with green manure (lupine, sweet clover, vetch, etc.).

They are planted a month and a half before creating a lawn, before sowing mixtures of grasses or laying turf; the grown green mass is simply plowed into the soil. This helps improve the soil and its structure, enriches it with easily digestible nitrogen and other elements.

Preparing for sowing

Professionals advise leaving the prepared area for the soil to settle for three months before planting a lawn. This is a classic in creating lawns all over the world, but in our country the growing season is too short, so only residents of the south of Russia can try it in action.

About a week before sowing the grass mixture, mineral fertilizers are scattered over the soil surface at the rate of 40-60 grams per square meter. Then they are carefully sealed with a rake to a depth of 5 cm, while thoroughly loosening the soil.

Try to plant on a clear day when the surface of the soil is dry and there is enough moisture in the depths.

• If you plant in the fall, this should occur between mid-August and mid-September.
• Spring planting is carried out from late April to early June.
• Summer planting is complicated by the need for regular watering, which is not at all easy to implement, because young growth often dries out and is subject to erosion.

Planting and watering

• Use a fan rake to make shallow furrows.
• Mix the seeds well.
• Do not forget that when planting you will have to go beyond the area by 8 cm on each side, which means planting material more will be needed.
• If the package does not indicate the planting method, then plant approximately 30-60 grams of seeds per square meter. Planting sparser will result in weeds breaking through the lawn and bald spots that are not at all decorative will be visible.
• It is much easier to sow if you divide all the prepared seeds into 4 parts and use each of them on a fourth part of the plot. The seeds are covered on top with the same fan rake. You cannot step on the sowing areas.
• After 1-3 weeks, shoots will appear. Depending on the amount of precipitation, the lawn is watered every few days. This is done extremely carefully with a watering can and a fine spray. Strong pressure can cause seeds to wash out to the surface of the soil and ruin all your work.
• When the young shoots reach a height of 8-10 cm, they can be trimmed for the first time.

To give any building, be it a structure industrial purposes or a residential building, well-groomed and noble in appearance, it is necessary to bring the area around it into proper condition. One way is to create a lawn.

This process consists of three main stages:

Preparing the site for planting;

Selection of planting material;

Directly planting the lawn.

How to properly prepare an area intended for planting lawn grass.

Preparatory work for planting a lawn

A very important and responsible process. The durability and condition of the planted grass will largely depend on it.

The first step is to clear the area of ​​debris, unnecessary stumps and bushes. If you plan to plant trees on the lawn, then it must be done at this stage. Before starting soil preparation, it is necessary to lay all the engineering networks, if any, that will pass through the territory of the future lawn.

If water stagnates in the area intended for the lawn after heavy rainfall or during the melting of snow in the spring, then it is necessary to carry out work on installing a drainage system.

Sequence of work when installing drainage:

Freeing drains from fertile soil layer;

Filling with a layer of gravel 12–15 centimeters thick; gravel can be replaced with broken bricks;

Laying sand in a layer of 8 - 10 centimeters;

Work on the installation of the top layer: pour about 15 centimeters of fertile soil and lightly compact it.

The preparation of the area for planting a lawn is completed by removing weeds. This work is carried out either using chemicals(herbicides), or through mechanical impact for weeds - weeding and mowing.

Usage chemical method tillage allows you to start planting lawn grass only after 3 - 4 weeks.

Selecting material for planting a lawn

One of the most expensive materials for installing a lawn is rolled lawn grass. The result is visible immediately after installation.

Get aesthetic pleasure and see real result labor will allow a lawn organized with your own hands. To plant such a lawn, herbal mixtures are used.

It is the use of a seed mixture that allows the lawn to achieve higher resistance to weather conditions. The quality of the herbs chosen depends on appearance and the intensity of lawn growth.

Typically, up to five types of seeds are used in an herbal mixture. The varieties used must correspond to the type of lawn selected:

A parterre decorative lawn requires planting grass, which forms a rather dense and very delicate cover. The grass should have narrow leaves, such as bentgrass or fescue. Such a lawn is not suitable for walking on.

On the lawn intended for a garden or park, you can not only walk, but also play active games(football, badminton). The grasses used to plant this lawn are highly resistant to frequent mowing and constant exposure. They are rougher and tougher.

A meadow-type lawn is the most cost-effective of all existing ones. A mixture of lawn grass is sown with wild herbs.

A lawn located in the shade requires the planting of special, very resistant grasses that do not respond to a lack of light. Such varieties successfully resist the spread of weeds or moss.

To create an even lawn surface with a uniform grass structure, it is necessary to select external signs. It is necessary to take into account the width of the leaf, the growth rate, and the shade of color. An important condition for planting a beautiful and durable lawn is to use a mixture of grasses designed specifically for the type of soil and those climatic conditions, in which it is expected to land.

The most common grasses used in lawn mixtures are fescue, ryegrass, and bentgrass. These herbs are the most resistant to sub-zero temperatures, diseases and various types of pests.

Planting a lawn can be done at almost any time, but each region has its own characteristics. The most optimal temperature for sowing seeds is warm, but not hot weather, moderate rainfall. If sowing is carried out in the fall, it is necessary to ensure that there are at least 45 - 50 days left before the first drop in temperature. Summer sowing is possible only in regions with a temperate climate, and is by no means applicable in dry areas.

Lawn grass is sown in a previously prepared area. The next step after preliminary preparation is leveling the ground. All lumps must be crushed, for which you can use a hoe, and then level the dug up area with a rake.

The soil must be compacted with a special roller or trampled down using available means, such as boards.

To loosen the soil, you need to walk through the area with a large rake at a depth of about 2 centimeters. Carefully break up the smallest lumps of earth, making the surface almost flat, without depressions or mounds.

After completing all the above steps, you can proceed directly to sowing the seeds.

Sowing seeds

In order for sowing to take place more evenly and uniformly, it is necessary to carry it out using a special lawn seeder. If there is no such device, you can use a special canister.

Sowing seeds with its help occurs using water. Of course, manual sowing remains the most accessible.

Sow grass seeds to a depth of about 2 millimeters, about 50 grams per 1 square meter. meter. During the sowing process, special fertilizers are used, which include potassium, phosphorus and nitrogen. To obtain an even grass cover in the future, half of the seeds are sown along the site, and the second - across.

Incorporation of seeds and fertilizer must be done very carefully, using a rake. To compact the soil above the seeds, you need to walk with a roller.

Under no circumstances should you compact the soil too hard.

The soil should remain moist until seedlings emerge. To do this, it is necessary to water it daily. Water should be sprayed evenly throughout the lawn, and not poured in a stream. This condition is mandatory!

The length of time until the first shoots appear varies from a week to 20 days. You can step on the lawn grass after another two weeks of patient waiting.

Subject to all the rules and conditions for planting and caring for lawn grass, the green carpet will please the eye for a long time.

Nowadays, the lawn has become popular not only in city parks and squares. More and more summer residents are giving preference to it, taking away space from traditional garden beds and implementing comfortable recreation areas. The lawn is an integral element of landscape design, tying together flower beds, compositions of shrubs and large trees. Due to the property of lawn grasses to evaporate large amounts of moisture, even on hot days a comfortable microclimate is maintained on the green lawn. In this article we will consider not only how to plant a lawn with your own hands at the dacha, but also how to properly care for it throughout the year.

Choosing grass for the lawn

Exists great variety lawn grasses, each of which is designed for specific operating conditions. To achieve the desired result, it is not enough to simply read the name of the herbal mixture on the packaging; you must carefully study its composition, having a clear understanding of the properties of each herb in its composition.

Based on functionality, lawns are usually divided into three types:

• decorative;
• sports;
• specialized.

Sports turf grass

As the name implies, such lawns are planted on sports and playgrounds.

They differ:

• resistance to mechanical damage;
• resistance to trampling;
• fast recovery.

It is for this reason that most summer residents choose these grass mixtures for their plots. But it is worth considering that they always contain ryegrass, which dies during cold winters. Therefore in northern regions It is advisable to abandon it or be prepared to re-seed every spring.

As a rule, the sports grass mixture contains the following set:

• perennial ryegrass. It germinates most quickly and has bright green, persisting throughout the season;
• meadow bluegrass. It can withstand both heat and cold very well. Forms a dense cover that perfectly resists trampling;
• red fescue. This is the least demanding cereal with good frost-resistant properties;
• meadow fescue. In most cases, there is the least amount of it in the mixture, since it does not resist trampling well, but at the same time responds well to mowing.

The sports lawn should be planted as densely as possible, at least 50 grams per 1 m2 is recommended. In areas with increased load, this norm doubles and is no less than 100 grams per m2.

The best time to plant it is early autumn.

Grass for a specialized lawn

These grass mixtures are used for landscaping roadsides, industrial sites, etc. Their direct purpose is to absorb dust and purify the air. Therefore, you should choose the least demanding herbs that can filter polluted air and be resistant to burning.

They contain:

• awnless rump. This is an undemanding cereal that easily tolerates drought and frost;
• shoot-forming bentgrass. It is optimal for those areas that cannot be mowed frequently, as it recovers slowly after mowing. It does not tolerate drought, but is extremely frost-resistant.

Grass for decorative lawn

Decorative lawn, in turn, is divided into three types:

• meadow. As the name suggests, it imitates a natural meadow landscape, in which there is great combination grasses, wildflowers and some weeds;
• ordinary. Consists of several herbal mixtures. In terms of the softness of the turf, it is inferior to a parterre lawn, but superior to a sports lawn. A lawn made from an ordinary grass mixture can withstand light loads, but will require regular care behind you;

• ground floor. These are elite lawns that are extremely demanding to care for. They are intended only to be admired. Parterre lawns are unstable even to minimal loads, as they consist of one type of grass, which has exclusively decorative functions. Therefore, it is often placed in front of the main facade of the house as a rich green background for flower, tree or shrub compositions.

• stands apart from everyone else Moorish lawn. It is distinguished by the widest composition of herbs: clover, cereals, wild flowers and many other herbs. It is sown only once in mid-spring (depending on the weather conditions of the region), and subsequently reproduces independently - by self-sowing. This DIY lawn does not require regular mowing.

• In addition to classic mixtures of cereal grasses, there are lawns made from chamomile, clover, thyme or yarrow.

• Recommended grass composition for certain areas:

1. for a shaded area, the following herb composition is suitable: meadow fescue 60%, white bentgrass 20%, meadow bluegrass 20%. Or red fescue 50%, perennial ryegrass 25%, meadow bluegrass 25%;
2. for an area in the open sun, you should choose a herbal mixture of bentgrass 60% and comb bent 30%;
3. shoot-forming bentgrass is intended for full shade;
4. A mixture of meadow bluegrass 60% and red fescue 40% is planted along the fence.

• It is also worth mentioning about rolled lawns. There is a misconception that this is an option for the lazy. In fact, it requires exactly the same serious soil preparation as a conventional seeded lawn. The only difference is that using roll lawn immediately you get ready-made thick turf.

• When purchasing domestic grass mixtures, you must be prepared for the fact that fodder grains will certainly be added to their composition. It is also possible that there are some weeds present.

Layout of the lawn on the site and preparation of the soil for it

Before planting a lawn, a number of preparatory work must be carried out.

The first step, even before preparing the land, is to draw a plan for the location of the lawn on the site. It is important to take into account the location of flower beds, trees, small architectural forms etc. This is necessary so that there are no problems with mowing the lawn in the future.

Stages of preparing soil for a lawn:

• clearing the lawn area of ​​debris, which includes branches, stones and various household waste. This must be done efficiently, without burying anything in the ground;
• delete all unnecessary trees and shrubs;
• clear of weeds. There are several ways to do this:

1. the first is regular weeding by hand. To do this, in the spring the earth is watered abundantly to speed up the growth of weeds, after which they are weeded and the soil is thoroughly watered again. This will need to be done several times;
2. in the second case, any aggressive green manure, for example, rye, is planted in the fall. In the spring it will come out first and “strangle” most of the weeds. It must be dug up at the stage of young shoots and embedded in the ground. It will not only help to cope with most of the weeds, but will also further loosen and enrich the soil;
3. the third way is to remove weeds using herbicides. The most popular of them is Roundup. But it negatively affects any vegetation, so today there are chemicals that remove only weeds without harming lawn grass;

• the prepared soil is dug up. If necessary, a new one will be delivered fertile soil, for the development of good turf, a layer of 10 cm thick is sufficient. At the same stage, mineral complex fertilizers are applied;

• Now it's time for leveling. Using a rake, all lumps and depressions are broken and leveled;
• The soil leveled under the lawn is compacted tightly with a roller. If a large area is being cultivated, then it is most rational to rent a special skating rink from any landscaping company. When settling in small area, you can get by on our own, for example, using a barrel of water or making a skating rink out of a log;

• Before sowing the seeds, the surface of the soil must again be lightly loosened with a rake and covered with film for a couple of months. Thanks to this, some of the remaining weeds will rot and die.

How to sow a lawn with your own hands

It is best to sow grass mixtures in late spring in calm and dry weather, which will ensure even distribution of seeds over the soil surface.

Today, for uniform sowing of lawn grasses, special devices are sold - seeders.

Their absence is not a problem; all the work can be done manually.

Stages of work:

• for ease of work, the lawn is visually divided into longitudinal strips. First, the grass is sown moving along them, not missing even a small area. And then they walk across. In this way, a uniform and dense distribution of seeds is obtained;

• Now the seeds must be protected from birds and possible erosion by rain. To do this, they are slightly buried into the ground with a rake. Here it is very important to do all the work carefully so as not to disturb the density of the sowing;

• To speed up the germination of a lawn, it is not enough to simply rely on weather conditions. Be sure to water it immediately. First, you need to spill it at least 5 cm, but at the same time make sure that no puddles form. In the future, it will also be necessary to provide regular watering, the frequency of which depends on the time of year.

Mistakes when creating and caring for a lawn

Wrong choice of grass mixture

• Before purchasing, you need to have a clear idea of ​​the conditions under which the lawn will be used. And also the characteristics of the herbs in its composition.
• Avoid choosing a lawn designed for full sun and plant it in the shade.
• Not all grasses that come in finished lawns can overwinter even in middle lane Russia. It is important to consider that they will not sprout in the spring.

Wrong time for sowing

• Sowing in autumn before winter is possible only in the southern regions of Russia. Otherwise, the lawn seeds will freeze without having time to gain strength before winter. Or early spring frosts young shoots will be destroyed.
• Spring is also not the best time. Since, together with the young lawn in large quantities weeds will begin to sprout.

Advice: best time for sowing lawn grass seeds - late summer.

Maintenance mistakes that lead to moss formation

Due to the fact that it disrupts air circulation, the lawn begins to turn yellow and die in this area.

Reasons why moss may appear:

• very short regular lawn mowing;
• swampy area;
• acidic soil;
• high soil density;
• 24-hour shade;
• insufficient amount of nutrients.

But all these troubles can be corrected by determining by the type of moss what the lawn lacks:

• low-growing or creeping moss is a disadvantage sunlight and high soil moisture;
• tall moss indicates too acidic soil;
• dense, small size and low islands of moss are a sign of a haircut that is too short.

To prevent this, the lawn requires constant maintenance, consisting of combing, fertilizing and piercing to improve aeration.

Late application of nitrogen fertilizers

Nitrogen helps stimulate the growth of the above-ground, green part of the lawn, it is useful as spring feeding. But it would be a mistake to apply it in the fall, thereby reducing the winter hardiness of the turf.

Advice: at the end of autumn, you need to apply a complex of phosphorus and potassium fertilizers that help strengthen the roots.

Improper mowing of the lawn

• Too short and it will weaken the lawn, making it more vulnerable to diseases and weeds;
• It is not recommended to cut off more than one third of the plant’s height at a time. When strongly advanced case, the haircut is performed in several stages at intervals of a couple of days. Otherwise, it will be difficult for the lawn to recover;
• You should not cut the lawn after it rains, as it is more susceptible to damage when wet.

Mistakes when preparing your lawn for winter

There is an opinion that leaving mown grass and leaves on the lawn over the winter will protect its roots from frost. But this will harm him more than help. Dense turf does not need this kind of protection, but fungi can develop on the greenery left behind, which will cause plant disease. In addition, such a covering layer prevents air from penetrating into the soil.

Advice: before winter, the lawn should not only be fertilized, but also trimmed and combed.

Winter lawn care

• Until enough snow falls (and this is at least 15 cm), you cannot walk on the lawn.
• When crust or ice forms, they need to be loosened, as they block the access of air.
• You cannot set up a skating rink on the lawn, as in the spring, due to the slower melting of ice, it will lead to a number of problems.

Creating a real lawn with your own hands is a painstaking and labor-intensive task. It will require constant attention, especially on difficult soils. Of course, you can make the task somewhat easier by purchasing special equipment to care for it and installing a watering system, but all this will require serious financial investments. Therefore, summer residents often limit themselves to regular mowing of the lawn, which consists of weeds.