How to create a seed lawn with your own hands. Lawns. The best lawn grasses

Every summer resident wants to give his personal plot unique view and create a special atmosphere. This can be achieved by planting rare species trees and shrubs, forming an unusual flower bed or arranging a lawn with your own hands.

A beautiful and well-groomed lawn at the dacha will become a favorite place for family recreation, whether playing fresh air or drinking tea together. In addition to decoration, planting a lawn will bring certain benefits. First, you will get rid of the weeds. Secondly, you will breathe more clean air, since grass absorbs a significant amount of dust.

Types of lawns: making the right choice

Today, almost any gardener can organize a lawn at their dacha with their own hands. All you have to do is follow our advice. First of all, you need to decide for what purposes it will be used, what it will look like, and where it will be installed. Depending on the purpose, the following types of lawns are distinguished:

English lawn

This type is considered the most expensive and requires careful care. English lawn is used for decorative purposes; it is not designed for movement on it.

Garden lawn

Unpretentious and easy to arrange. The herbs used for this species grow well in both shade and sun. Suitable for picnics.

Sports turf

Quite dense and unpretentious in maintenance, resistant to trampling. An excellent choice for active recreation areas and playgrounds.

Moorish lawn

It is a beautiful lawn dotted with flowers and herbs, which makes it unique from an aesthetic point of view. It is not intended for walking, so as not to destroy the created composition.

For decorative purposes, English or Moorish lawns are arranged. If the grass area will be used for active recreation, it is better to choose a sports or gardening area.

Do-it-yourself lawn at the dacha photo. Which one to choose: roll or seed

Many gardeners have wondered how to make a lawn at their dacha with their own hands, so that it looks no worse, and maybe better, than one arranged by specialists. It’s worth figuring out what is preferable: sowing seeds and waiting or buying a ready-made roll.

Among the advantages of the rolled one, one should note the readiness for immediate use and constant self-renewal throughout the growing season, as well as the absence of weeds. However, we should not forget about the disadvantages:

• high price and large weight of rolls;
• freshly cut rolls require quick installation, otherwise they may not take root;
• mismatch between the composition of the soil on the site and the soil base roll lawn will require additional costs for the delivery of fertile soil.

At the same time, it is more profitable to create seeded lawns at the dacha with your own hands due to the low cost and the availability of various mixtures for sowing on any site. Sowing is carried out in May or September. Seed mixtures grow quickly, but need regular watering. There are only two disadvantages of such lawns:

• inability to move around the sown area before the first shoots appear;
• Expectation of the effect for several months.

As you can see, the choice depends on many factors, and the decision on which method to choose should be made carefully.

Do-it-yourself sowing lawn at the dacha step-by-step instructions

Bottom line

Thanks to the information received, figuring out how to make a lawn with your own hands will not be difficult. The main thing is to follow the recommendations of specialists and laying or seeding techniques, and you will soon be able to enjoy an excellent lawn.

For the third year now, I have been convinced that for a novice homeowner a lawn is not a luxury, but a necessity: the same as carpeting or parquet (to each his own) in a city apartment. “Landscape design was invented for the lazy, that is, for you and me,” said a neighboring builder. In the far corner of his ten acres, he stored for a long time all the garbage generated after clearing the site, stones, cuttings of building materials, and had no intention of taking it out. When the hill settled in the spring, he leveled it with sand and covered it with geotextiles, made a beautiful mound on which he planted grass, planted flower beds and apple trees.

My dacha is also almost built, you can live in the house. But nature does not give up. Raspberries and fireweed grow on fragments cleared of stumps and weeds (I have a wooded area). Along the trodden sand and gravel mixture plantain makes its way through the paths. The coppice, freed from dead wood and perennial layers of dead wood, is overgrown with weeds. This is a typical picture for the new dacha villages of the North-West, where plots were cut out in swamps generously flavored with humus, where there is abundant water and fertile soil, on which hundreds of species of vegetation are desperately struggling for survival.

But there are also other areas in our area, for example, with depleted clay soil of yesterday’s state farm fields, and stunted shoots emerge through the crust, and any rain turns the soil into a viscous slurry. The same picture is in old gardening, where grandparents grew root crops by actively sprinkling the soil with chemical fertilizers. If we exclude the idea of ​​concreting and asphalting ten acres, there remains one option for taming nature - creating so-called technical lawns around the house and gradually expanding them, so that in three years the entire area will be “under control.” Let's say right away: it will not be possible to develop the entire area in one fell swoop, even if you bring a tractor and a crowd of migrant workers. In this case, you will spend the three years allotted for the arrangement clearing out the rubble, eliminating errors and fighting weeds. If the territory is more than three hundred square meters, it should be “combed” gradually, recapturing bridgeheads and establishing control over small zones - several tens of square meters per month, two to three hundred square meters per year. Experience shows that in this situation there will be enough time for healthy rest and for other construction and landscaping work.

So, our task is to turn the weeds into a lawn. So that already at the beginning next summer you could walk barefoot on the young grass, and nothing would squish, prick, or crawl under your feet.

Step one: study the theory

First, let's look at the specialized literature. The best book on lawn construction is “All About the Lawn” by D. G. Hesayon. It is advisable to read it in order to have an idea of ​​what types of grasses grow on what soils, as well as how to control weeds using general and selective herbicides.

Often, a novice dacha owner generously waters the birch trees and raspberries protruding from under the brand new foundation with either Roundup or Tornado (it’s immediately obvious practical aids and doesn’t read smart books, but gains knowledge on agricultural technology by studying the labels on bags of seeds and packages of drugs and fertilizers). Is this a familiar situation? Meanwhile, there will be no “freebies”: not all weeds can be eradicated with herbicides, and “chemistry” is powerless against shrubs. Nature will take revenge for a thoughtless attitude. Therefore, you should definitely study the theory, and suggest that your practicing neighbor read a book about lawns.

From it you can learn about the properties of different types of lawn grasses, how to feed and treat them (and they also get sick), and correct mistakes that, obviously, will occur. All this will come in handy in the end. But do not forget that this book, although literate, is translated. Lawn agricultural technology in the conditions of the Russian North-West has different specifics from European and American ones, and seed mixtures, which are presented in abundance on the shelves of super- and hypermarkets, are also of imported origin.

On packages with lawn grass seeds, their purpose is usually highlighted in large print (front, sports lawn, grass mixture for shaded areas...) and in small print - the composition and proportions of the mixture. But the information, in beaded letters, is much more important. I will not go into details, I will only give what I had to verify from my own experience.

The basis of the most affordable and most low-maintenance grass mixtures is perennial ryegrass. The English name speaks for itself. This ragrice germinates well, quickly produces succulent shoots, but suffers from a weak root system and does not tolerate our damp winters with constant temperature changes around zero. Tough, trample-resistant sports turf rich color It can be obtained from it in the warm southern states or somewhere in the black earth zone of the Russian Federation (although problems are said to occur there too), but not in the Leningrad region. If the mixture contains 60% or more seeds of this exotic grass for us, be prepared for the fact that the lawn will turn out to be disposable. Although it will kill the weeds in the cleared meadow, next season you will have to deal with hummocks and bald patches.

In our region, mixtures with high content field fescue and meadow bluegrass. You won’t have to count on bluegrass in the first year, but in the next year, if the mixture is of high quality and the soil for sowing is prepared correctly, it will delight you with a dense and even grass carpet. There is another problem: the composition of the grass mixture indicated on the packaging does not always correspond to what is inside. The result obtained is the same. Therefore, ask your neighbors - owners of successful, from your point of view, lawns, what kind of seeds they bought. If no one around is “planting” lawns, and you buy material in hypermarkets, take mixtures different manufacturers and in small quantities. You will have to establish quality experimentally.

So, having studied the properties of herbicides and grass mixtures, put the book down. Everything in it is true for a tiny lawn in a drier and warmer climate than ours. If you cultivate a plot according to science, and even with truly British pedantry, you will have to devote everything to it free time. And you have fifteen or twenty hundred square meters of weeds, then Hesayon ​​will not help.

Our goal is a lazy (that is, not requiring serious costs and effort) lawn free from wild vegetation and construction waste soil. There are three things to keep in mind when doing this. Firstly, it is advisable to level, compact and sow an area of ​​any size, cleared of debris, stumps and weeds. Otherwise, weeds will grow again. Secondly, any lawn, even a technical one, will have to be mowed, not allowing the grass to grow waist-high and then dry out: fire-hazardous dead wood is the homeowner’s first enemy. If you don’t have the opportunity to mow the entire area weekly, choose mixtures of slow-growing herbs (there are some available for sale) for nooks and crannies. Third, remember that you cannot “fix” a swamp with stagnant water with your lawn. The waterlogged piece will have to be raised, having previously provided drainage.

Step two: preparing the base

So, the area that you intend to sow with grass must be solid and water should not collect on it. Therefore, we uproot trees and bushes, cut out hummocks, and weed out weeds. In theory, everything is simple and clear, but for a wooded area this stage is the most labor-intensive. By marking the scope of work with ropes and pegs, we will solve two problems: we will create a guideline for leveling the surface (the ropes must be pulled strictly horizontally, according to the level) and we will rid ourselves of the temptation to continue raking the rubble in breadth and depth (this way, you may not calculate your strength and abandon everything out of fatigue ).

Landowners, whose experience of developing a territory is limited to two or three uprooted stumps, usually ask: is it possible to cut the trees at the root and cover them with earth or plant oyster mushroom mycelium on the stumps so that they crumble, eaten by delicious mushrooms. Alas, believe a summer resident with three years of experience, in both cases, slowly rotting horizontal roots will remain in the soil. Despite the generous “sprinkles” on top, you are guaranteed to have dips and toadstool mushrooms. The work of eliminating wood debris can be made easier by cutting down small trees- waist-deep and slightly higher. It is good to use a trunk sticking out of the ground as a lever in order to pull out the entire root with a winch with a cable or by hand. To extract long roots, a tool in the form of a durable metal hook with long handle. Grass tussocks are cut out with a good knife. The soil exposed in this way is still unsuitable for sowing: there are a lot of half-decayed roots and woody remains that need to be removed. Dips and potholes formed after uprooting can be filled with half-decayed organic matter mixed with sand and compacted. We remove high-quality humus, sort it out, freeing it from the roots, and transport it in a cart to an open area, on a previously laid piece. polyethylene film or other material - we will still need it. If the area is swampy, it is necessary to provide drainage, that is, drainage.

Let's consider a case that is, as they say, couldn't be more complicated: the area planned for a lawn is swampy and, in addition, also low - there is nowhere to drain the water. If we are talking about a small fragment (up to several tens of square meters), it makes sense to make a backfill of sand, crushed stone, or a sand-gravel mixture. Enlightened homeowners use geotextiles for such work - a non-woven material characterized by considerable tensile strength. Its main function is to prevent the mixing of soil layers. If the soil is heterogeneous, it makes sense to use geotextile fabric, but preference should be given to non-dense materials used in road construction, but to the most affordable canvases of minimum density that allow water to pass through well (look for specifications on the manufacturers’ websites).

If in such an area we find the bed of a stream that has gone underground or an overgrown pond, it is useless to fight them: we clear it, monitor the watercourse, and in places where solid soil is needed, we lay drainage pipes. We strengthen the banks of a cleared reservoir (stream, drainage ditch) with soil-reinforcing gratings (they are sold in the same place where geotextiles are sold), compact the soil and also sow grass. Heavily wetlands require professional design of complex drainage systems - half measures are usually not enough.

Preparing depleted soil for a lawn comes down to leveling it and forming a fertile layer on the surface. Simply put, you contribute to it top layer what is missing (sand or humus), mix thoroughly (best with a light cultivator), level and tamp. At the very least, it will be easier to control weeds. If there is viscous clay under your feet, after leveling the area, it is good to sprinkle it with sand, and on top form a fertile layer of soil (sand, clay and peat in equal proportions) of at least 10–12 cm. This is quite enough to create a high-quality grass cover in the problem area.

However, lawn grasses, as well as any cultivated plants They do not tolerate poorly drained soils with stagnant water. Therefore, the lawn, or more precisely, the clay layer, must have a slope to drain thawed and surface waters. If there is nowhere for the water to go, you have to raise the soil, preparing a more complex layered “pie”: leveled surface - geotextile - drainage layer - geotextile - fertile layer. With all the options between fertile layer soil and clay base require a “breathing” layer of coarse sand.

Step three: level and compact the soil

A landowner who has dealt only with beds and is laying out a lawn for the first time usually plows and loosens the soil before sowing grass. And this is the most typical mistake: after several rains, the carefully “whipped” base begins to settle in waves, similar to small ripples on the water, and then dips and gullies form on such a lawn. To make the lawn even, the soil must not be loosened, but compacted. Ideally, there should be no distinct shoe marks left on the surface prepared for sowing.

Leveling and compacting the lawn is no less important than preparing the foundation. The plowed and pliable soil is leveled with a long (about 2 m) board, and the best compactor will be old sandals or boots, to the soles of which 30–50 cm cuttings of a thin and light board are attached. The main thing is that these homemade “skis” do not fall off your feet and are not too heavy, otherwise “dancing” in them will quickly tire you.

So, after compaction, we got a flat, trampled area. Now it is advisable to take a break in order to observe its condition (we level out and compact the unevenness that appears) and the weeds (we pull them out). If lawn grass is sown at the beginning of summer, the soil should be left fallow for at least a month; if it’s in the middle or at the end, time is already running out, but you need to wait at least a week. The main thing is to remember that right now you can easily get rid of the first enemies of a decent lawn - hummocks and depressions. Then, when the shoots appear, it will be much more difficult to do this.

Step four: sowing grass

Best time for sowing - when the surface dries slightly after a good rain. Seize the moment. After all, before the emergence of seedlings, the area should be watered only in case of emergency (if there is a drought), with great caution and only after sunset. But not with a stream from a hose (it will wash away the seeds), but with the help of a sprinkler attachment with small streams. If there is no rain, we water the future lawn generously (with a hose while you can), correct the resulting unevenness and gullies, compact the loose areas with “skis,” then lightly scratch the surface with a fan rake, 1–2 cm (after all, not asphalt).

Now you can sow. There is no special wisdom here. Be sure to mix the contents of the package thoroughly. The seeds should be distributed over the surface as evenly as possible, the approximate consumption is 2–3 tablespoons with the top on square meter. Try not to make any gaps and don't be afraid to sprinkle the seeds too thickly. Nature will take its toll: it will grow exactly as much as needed.

Now all that remains is to be patient, stick up a sign “The lawn is seeded” and fence off the area of ​​the future lawn with a rope stretched over pegs. In spring, seedlings appear within two to three weeks; if you sow closer to autumn, the grass grows faster. When the grass has risen 8-10 cm and is slightly stronger, you can try trimming it using a light electric mower with sharp blades. If you have not yet purchased a mower, hold off on purchasing it until next year, in the meantime, mow the grass with a trimmer (which every novice landowner probably has), maintaining a height of 5–6 cm, but try to do it carefully. To avoid the formation of bald spots, be sure to remove cut grass from the lawn: a compacted cover of dry grass prevents seedlings from emerging.

How not to overstrain yourself: proper organization of work

So, the process of gas construction is very, very labor-intensive. We promised to tell you about the lawn for the lazy. How to make your life easier? Only by proper organization of work.

Firstly, complex and problematic areas should be cultivated in small fragments - 5–10 square meters each. m, no more. But in the average area there are usually few of them.

Secondly, “call a friend” and “help from the audience” are always available. Hired workers (relatives, neighbors) can be involved in heavy work (moving earth masses, uprooting, clearing, removing, removing and burning garbage). Your actions in this case boil down to proper organization work and monitoring its implementation.

Thirdly, no one says that you should turn all six (ten, twenty...) acres into a lawn in one season. First, you need to draw up an action plan, that is, determine which parts of the site need priority “greening”, and which parts can be postponed. First of all, with the help of a technical lawn, you need to get rid of the overgrowth of weeds from buildings (houses, gazebos, bathhouses, barns...). Around the blind area and perimeter paths wooden house It is advisable to provide a three- to four-meter strip of shade-tolerant grass that is resistant to trampling. Forming a dense grass cover around the path leading from the gate to the house -

also from the category of priority tasks. Further options are possible: one will prefer to expand the property, cutting new pieces to the already cultivated lawn, the other will begin to develop the outer perimeter of the site (along fences and drainage ditches). Let's consider a typical option: a plot of 10 acres. with a new house 6 x 8 m, the soil around which needs to be cultivated by 4 m, and a road leading to the house 7 m long, along which strips of grass 1.5 m wide need to be formed on both sides. I won’t give the arithmetic calculation, but it will be necessary about 200 sq. m (that is, two hundred square meters) of lawn. This is the volume that the right approach easy to keep in order, remaining in good shape. But do not forget that these two hundred square meters will have to be mowed, weeded, removing weeds, and fed with nitrogen fertilizers. In addition, they need to eliminate unevenness, bumps and bald spots. But more about this in the following publications.

There are fewer and fewer summer residents who would not use a lawn on their plots. Everyone approaches the issue differently: some lay out a green lawn near the gazebo, others adapt the lawn for children’s games, others consider it beautiful when adjacent to a flower bed. Let's figure out how to do landscaping work with your own hands.

Peculiarities

Seeding and rolling - these are the main types of lawns. The first one is usually more beautiful, hardy, and lush, but also requires more expenses. The second one is more modest, but simple to create - you need to buy it ready-made and lay it out correctly. You save yourself from waiting for the grass to sprout, care, and watering, although at the same time you lose the joy of the process of creating it. After laying your lawn, your lawn is ready immediately, although it will cost you quite a lot.

Before you make a decision, you need to decide on the type of lawn. The options are as follows: ground floor, sports, park, Moorish, universal.

• Parterre lawn– exquisite, silky grass, bright emerald color. The cover is ceremonial; as a rule, the owners do not allow walking on it, since the plants are very delicate and susceptible to damage. Such a lawn is located in a dacha near a house, flower bed or alpine slide for decorative purposes.

• Sports– on the contrary, it’s enough practical option. It is sown with vegetation, which tends to recover quickly. Serves for children's games, located near gazebos, benches, and country fountains. It is not afraid of stress on the grass.
• Park lawn not as persistent as the sports one, but also not as capricious as the ground one. The grass mixture that makes up the lawn was selected so that it would be possible, if not to run and lie around, then to walk on it barefoot. In this case, the grass will not suffer much.

• Moorish lawn- This is an elegant meadow. The herbs here are selected to be in bloom. So you get a fragrant carpet, riotous in color: cornflowers, California poppy, lavatera, chamomile, tenacious. It's good to sunbathe in the Moorish splendor.
• Universal– lawn wide application. It does not wear out, the grass does not wrinkle, and at the same time it is also a beautiful area with special vegetation. Can be used both in the shade and in the sun.

Types of design

To create a smooth lawn, you need to look at the usual green grass creatively and with imagination. The belief of the lazy that the lawn is vegetation that only needs to be mowed occasionally will immediately ruin the whole point. Get ready to take serious care of your green lawn, which will only become beautiful as a result of careful care.

The lawn in front of the house looks luxurious if you arrange a flower garden in the middle of the green lawn. The green grass background will be a magnificent frame for the flowerbed and will highlight its elegant palette. In this case, the flower garden should be bordered by a strip of bare earth or decorative border so that the lawn does not grow into the flower bed.

In general, summer residents need to work very responsibly with the edge of their lawn. It is trimmed with a shovel, and it is better if according to a template. At the cutting site, a 3 cm groove is created, which is filled with mulch. The lawn must have its own clear configuration. A well-groomed edge makes the lawn more decorative and formal.

Landscape design masters suggest diluting the “green lake” to taste bright accents. For example, form spots of daffodils, hyacinths, and forsythia. Many owners of acres like single specimens on the lawn ornamental trees or bushes. These can be thuja, juniper, mini-cypress, spirea, hydrangea. Here you need to select specimens that would be combined with each other.

It’s good to make an elegant path along the lawn along the edge or center. The path will emphasize the aesthetic individuality of the lawn. Fashionable direction became cutting various forms on the lawn - circles, squares or complex patterns. Fans of unique figures mow down paws, leaves with beds, stars and more subtle designs on their lawns.

What grass should I plant?

In order to achieve a healthy, exquisite lawn, generations of plant breeders have filtered different varieties of vegetation to create the perfect lawn.

The requirements for lawn grasses are:

• they must grow in one place for many years;
• be resistant to cold;
• have a dynamic, measured growth rate of young leaves;

• do not suffer from constant haircuts;
• have a low tillering center near the ground;
• do not produce tough long shoots.

These are the properties that thin bentgrass and red fescue have - an excellent combination for an emerald, delicate parterre lawn.

For a sports lawn, grasses are prepared that are accustomed to developing without moisture, as well as fescue and bluegrass.

To obtain a park lawn, sheep fescue, tall fescue, bentgrass, ryegrass, and timothy are sown. These are all shade-loving, slow-growing herbs that do not require frequent cutting. A mixture of different varieties of red fescue and bluegrass has proven itself well in a universal lawn.

Accommodation options

When choosing a place for a lawn in your country house, it is important to think not only about yourself, but also about your green lawn. After all, it has to grow, so you should take into account the structure of the soil and the “demands” of the herbs. For example, it is logical to lay out an English lawn in front of the house; it needs a well-lit area; a shaded area will not work. In general, any grass will need sun, albeit periodically, otherwise the crops will not produce a rich green color.

It is quite acceptable to sow a lawn near a private house, just do not bring the crops close to the fruit trees. Large plantings suck everything nutrients from the ground. The grass will not have the required set of elements.

If your site covers low-lying territory with high humidity, it will also become a problematic choice for the lawn. We will have to arrange drainage. Can't stand grass mixtures wet soils, their roots begin to rot.

Terraces and other elevation changes are not very suitable for lawns. summer cottage. They have to be reinforced and smoothed. And, of course, you should not form a lawn where you park a car or between the gate and the house, where there is constant movement of people. It will simply die, because even the hardiest grass does not require the stress of being endlessly trampled on. As a way out, you can consider paving the path with tiles along the route of movement through such a lawn.

A fountain in the middle of a green meadow will look charming. The lawn fountain will amaze your guests with its emerald perspective and gushing jets of water. Sparkling drops falling on the young green lawn are a delightful accent to decorate and refresh the area.

The originals have adapted to sow lawns even on the roofs of garden houses. For this purpose, a special stand is built and low-growing grasses are selected. Environmentalists believe that greening roofs is an additional source of oxygen and has a beneficial effect on human well-being.

Lawns on the roof are practical at those latitudes where precipitation is frequent. Almost 70 percent of the moisture is absorbed by the roots of the plants that you sow above your head.

How to grow with your own hands: step-by-step instructions

The technology for growing a lawn manually is quite simple, but it is very important to fully comply with all the rules. Laying is done by carefully digging up the soil on level ground. During the digging process, the soil under the lawn must be perfectly leveled, cleared of stones and roots, as well as weeds. Fighting roots through sprouted grass will be much more difficult. All unnecessary bushes are uprooted. If you want to leave a tree, carefully dig around it.

Digging is carried out to a depth of 15 cm. If the soil is entirely sandy, dilute it with loam. If it is clayey, on the contrary, add sand. Mix well lawn seeding compost. The next step is to further fertilize the soil. Deposit as much special staff, how much is indicated on the package of all-purpose lawn food. Calculate the concentration depending on the area you plan to arrange. Then take a roller and compact the dug area well. Don't put in extra effort - just walk it across the surface.

A very important stage is sowing the grass. If you still grow a lawn, and do not spread the finished roll on the prepared soil. It is better to sow seeds in calm weather so that they fall evenly into the ground and do not fly to neighboring beds or flower beds.

The best time to lay a plot is April. It is important to do this before the soil dries out. At least five weeks should pass from planting to sowing (taking into account that herbicides were used), so the planting deadline is the first two weeks of May.

After preparation, the surface is loosened with a rake. For optimal lawn development, special seeders are used. If you don’t have such a necessary device in stock, you can come up with it yourself tin can with holes. The seeds should lie in a thick, dense layer.

The soil should be carefully sprinkled on top of the seeds, leveled, compacted again and watered with a “fine rain.” weak pressure water. The first shoots usually appear within a week. When the grass rises to 5 cm, it will be necessary to carry out the first cutting. Then you will have to mow the lawn regularly, more often during the rainy season, otherwise the greenery will lose its charm.

In summer and autumn, the lawn is fed. This can be done by spraying fertilizers. To supply air to densely growing grass, it is pierced, producing aeration.

Try also planting it next to your lawn. vegetable bed with beautiful green ingredients - lacy lettuce, double basil, purple-lilac decorative cabbage.

Reviews

Lawn reviews contain a variety of opinions. Romantics like having somewhere to rest their eyes. Practitioners praise lawn grass, which is good at killing weeds. Most people agree that the lawn is not an activity for the lazy; it always requires some kind of work to maintain a modest lawn in an aesthetically attractive condition.

It is believed that it is better to choose a regular green grass mixture, since flower lawns do not bring the same peace as a uniform emerald area. However, in this case, you need to somehow design the lawn.

Experienced landscape designers suggest making a border of bulk material. Crushed granite, pebbles, and special wood chips are suitable. In this form, the lawn will have a finished and distinctly cultural appearance.

For those site owners whose soul asks for bright inclusions in the overall picture, we recommend small flower beds with elegant plants. Cineraria, marigolds, saxifrage, and ageratum will illustrate the theme well. The trend is for small ponds near the lawn - water and grass create a unique feeling of peace.

To be fair, it should be said that negative reviews about the “character” of the lawn also take place on the forums. For example, if the soil is not compacted sufficiently, the lawn often subsides. And if watering is too aggressive, part of the clearing “flows away”, after which unevenness is formed. Then the lawn needs to be reseeded, starting almost everything all over again.

A certain category of summer residents complain about domestic mowers that do not pick up grass well. But perfect haircut lawn maintenance is the main process of its maintenance. Forum participants come to the conclusion that imported lawn care equipment is better to use. And of course with a grass collection function, so that the clipped tops are not later collected all over the lawn with a rake.

Participants in the comments clarify that constant mowing of the lawn and walking on it causes fatigue even in the most hardy grass mixtures, the grass begins to take root worse, and the root mass “shrinks.” Therefore, the authors of the reviews emphasize, any lawn sometimes needs a rest. For this purpose, it is quite possible to allow the above-ground part of the grass to grow to 12 or even 15 centimeters. After all, mowing is always a huge stress for plants.

Spraying liquid lawn: step by step guide. How to make a lawn with your own hands: application features new technology on the home lawn

“I came across an advertisement offering liquid lawn. It seems like I sprayed it and voila,” owners suburban areas interested in unusual technology, and most importantly, its possibility self-use. This article tells:

• What is lawn hydroseeding?
• Do-it-yourself grass hydroseeding technology
• Liquid lawn: when is its use justified?
• Pros and cons of hydroseeding a lawn
• ​How to make a composition for hydroseeding a lawn with your own hands

Hydroseeding of the lawn

From the outside, hydroseeding a lawn even looks somewhat absurd, as if people were painting the grass for the arrival of some important official. In fact, during hydroseeding, it is not paint that is sprayed, but a special mixture with the addition of dye. Once sprayed, it becomes an almost ideal medium for lawn grass seed to germinate. This mixture includes:

• Lawn grass seeds;
• Harmless dye;
• Mulch made from cellulose or based on sawdust or straw;
• Hydrogel;
• Fertilizers;
• Additives to improve soil structure;
• A fixative that binds together all the components of the solution.

After some time (depending on the time the mulch sets, from several hours to two days), the area where the solution is applied is covered with a crust, which securely packs the seeds. They don't care and strong winds, and heavy rains.

This is an important advantage of a liquid lawn over a seeded lawn. But there are other advantages:

• Seeds and fertilizers are distributed evenly over the sown surface, the lawn grows smoothly, without bald spots;
• The seeds germinate quickly and grow quickly too;
• Given that high quality high seed germination is guaranteed;
• All seeds are immediately soaked in a mixture that not only accelerates their germination, but also protects them from diseases and a number of pests;
• Liquid lawn is easy to apply on steep slopes, banks of ponds and areas with difficult terrain;
• Liquid lawn can be sown on clay and sand;
• Much less prep work is required compared to . Overall it's easier and faster.

For many summer residents who are accustomed to saving their nerves, money and time, hydroseeding a lawn seems a more attractive option than the traditional method of creating a lawn.

IgorOld FORUMHOUSE Member

Home hydroseeding: soak the seeds in a bucket, add mulch, fertilizer, paint, and let sit for a day. And apply all this mass to the prepared surface. But no! We are ready to dig with shovels ourselves, gnaw this earth, pull and level. We mock ourselves for the sake of getting a piece of grass.

The photo below from a member of our portal with the nickname PapaTemi shows a lawn created by hydroseeding in the fall. (Photo taken in spring).

How much does liquid lawn cost?

Traditionally, liquid lawn is used in urban landscaping; it is used to decorate roadsides, sports grounds, strengthen and protect slopes, embankments, and cliffs from weathering.

In recent years, ordinary suburban residents have also begun to use liquid lawn.

maxsimus1974 Member FORUMHOUSE

Here's mine green roof. The facade is still under construction but the roof has turned green. Sowed with hydroseeding.

This technology also attracts the opportunity to sow difficult areas with grass. And there are two ways:

Invite a specialist with your equipment. The cost largely depends on the complexity of the terrain. Below are prices for 2018.

paulspb FORUMHOUSE Member

Materials for a simple case (flat area with fertile soil): 8-15 thousand rubles;
Seeds 4-12 thousand rubles;
Water 0-4 thousand rubles;
Works (for simple plot) cost differently, the range is 10-25 thousand rubles, depending on a dozen factors. Total: 22-55 thousand rubles. Difficult areas with steep slopes, inaccessible, depleted and saline areas are significantly more expensive to process. The final price can reach up to 250-300 thousand rubles.

Or you can make a simple device for hydroseeding a lawn with your own hands from small equipment And gardening tools that are already on the farm.

DIY hydroseeding

The entire technology of sowing liquid lawn can be divided into three stages.

Dye must be added to the mixture: This will allow you to see how evenly it is applied to the area and whether there are any untreated areas left.

Until the young lawn grass germinates, there is no need to water the crop. The hydrogel is added to the solution just to moisten the soil as soon as it needs it. And the clay crust with which the solution sets will maintain the desired microclimate.

But after germination, the fresh lawn needs to be watered daily for two weeks. On a day when it rains, there is no need to water. After two weeks, the liquid lawn should turn into a smooth emerald lawn.

This technology works very well for repairing the lawn, for filling bald spots formed from getting wet, trampled or freezing.

How to make a composition for liquid lawn

Let's take a closer look at the composition for lawn grass. You can buy ready-made: manufacturers make them specifically for liquid lawns. You can do it yourself. Here is the approximate composition of a liquid lawn solution required to sow an area of ​​100 sq.m.

• 2 kg of seeds. An article on Forumhouse talks about this in detail;
• 2-3 kg of nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers and biostimulants. It depends on the fertility of the soil;
• 4-12 kg of mulch. At home, chopped straw or sawdust is used;
• 100 grams of hydrogel;
• 300-600 grams of gluten (clay);
• 60-100 liters of water.

How to prepare a solution for hydroseeding

The solution is prepared in the following sequence: first, water is poured into a large container, seeds and food coloring are poured into it (enough so that the solution becomes distinctly green), then fertilizers, then stimulants (and, if necessary, herbicides), mulch, hydrogel. Clay is added last.

The better you mix this mixture, the higher the quality of your lawn.

Therefore, it is advisable to mix with a special attachment on a drill, and ideally, mix everything in a small concrete mixer (of course, after cleaning it first).

The finished mixture should stand for several hours, it is best if it stands overnight so that the seeds have time to be saturated with moisture and fertilizers.

Hello, dear readers of our blog, who want to give their site an impeccable look!

Growing the perfect green cover yourself is not an easy task, but it is quite doable. This article is for those who are not afraid of difficulties and are ready to sacrifice a fair amount of their time for the sake of a beautiful lawn in front of their house.

Landscaping of the soil should begin at the final stage of territory development - upon completion of all construction work, wiring of communications, and installation of basic decorative elements.

Think over the site plan in advance and determine the places where the emerald carpet will be located. The most suitable options Lawns for a private home are meadow or park. They are resistant to trampling and other mechanical stress, have a decent appearance and do not require painstaking care.

In such clearings you can plant flower beds, place sun loungers, and it’s not even scary to play ball or badminton. To create them, perennial cereal plants are usually used:

• meadow bluegrass,
• ryegrass,
• bentgrass,
• fescue,
• comb

It is easier to achieve a uniform cover if you use one type of seed rather than a grass mixture. At the same time, there is a higher probability of avoiding fragments different shades and textures.

In the case of a meadow lawn, one type of grass is taken as the basis, which should make up at least 80% of the seed, and then the rest are added to it in small quantities.

If you want the turf to be hardy, durable and to withstand various natural phenomena, the onslaught of weeds, pest attacks and diseases, in this case you need to combine several types of grasses.

When choosing seeds, pay attention to the following aspects:

• Climate . Consider the ability of plants to tolerate certain weather conditions characteristic of your region. For example, harsh winters are not scary for meadow bluegrass, various types fescue, bentgrass. The same cannot be said about ryegrass, which, in addition, does not tolerate drought.
• Degree of shading of the area . For sunny areas, meadow bluegrass, thin bentgrass, clover and perennial ryegrass are suitable. In dimly lit places it is better to plant fescue.
• Soil moisture level . Poa, clover, red fescue and thin bentgrass are unpretentious in this regard. TO moisture-loving plants include sheep fescue and bentgrass. While perennial ryegrass does not survive on damp soils.
• Manufacturer. Give preference only to trusted, well-established companies. These include Danish and Dutch brands, but domestic brands, unfortunately, rarely delight with their quality.
• Price. Good product, accordingly, is not cheap. Therefore, trying to save money on grass seeds can subsequently lead to even more significant expenses.
• Best before date. Often this nuance is simply forgotten, but if the material turns out to be expired, all further actions to create a lawn will be pointless.

Preferably in specialized stores with a good reputation and high ratings.

Preliminary work before laying the lawn

This is the most important and troublesome stage in the formation of a lawn. After all, the more thoroughly you prepare the ground, the better quality your future lawn will be.

It is better to start activities in the spring, so that the grass stand can take root and become stronger in the summer:

• In an overgrown area, you will need to remove all foreign objects (garbage, stones, branches, etc.), uproot roots and stumps.
• After this, completely remove the weeds. For more effective results, it is better to use herbicides continuous action containing glyphosate (Hurricane, Roundup, Argument, Napalm) since select all roots mechanically impossible, and you can’t leave even small particles - they will definitely germinate again.

The soil should be treated with chemicals at temperatures above 25 ºC in dry weather without wind and only on growing plants.

• Then you need to pour a generous layer of fertile soil and plow it together or properly dig the soil to a depth of at least 30 cm, breaking up large clods.
• If there is excessive moisture at the lowest level, make drainage from crushed stone or gravel. Clay soil dilute with sand, and sandy with compost. It is also important that the acidity is within normal limits: for lawn grass 5 – 6 pH. If the indicator is high, it can be adjusted by adding acidic peat, and if it is low, add limestone, dolomite or calcite.

• Then, using a cultivator and a rake, begin loosening and leveling the area. You should end up with a completely smooth area. You can use a wide board, dragging it edgewise along the surface, or a special roller. This will fill in all the depressions and smooth out the bumps.

• A few days before planting, thoroughly wet the soil. If puddles appear in some places, add soil there, otherwise later bald spots will form in these areas or moss will grow.
• Now apply mineral fertilizers to strengthen the root system and stimulate growth - preferably a nitrogen mixture (nitroammophosphate) or a starter complex, which, in addition to nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, includes iron, zinc and other trace elements.
• Immediately before sowing the seeds, the soil must be compacted to prevent subsidence (for this it must be completely dry), and then lightly walked over it with a rake.

How to sow lawn seeds correctly?

There are several ways to plant soil:

• regular seed planting
• laying rolled lawn,
• hydroseeding

For the lazy, the third option, the so-called liquid lawn, is more suitable. It does not require such thorough preparation of the site. Yes, and spraying seeds using special solution, containing everything necessary for maximum germination, mulch, fertilizers, herbicides, requires less effort.

You can quickly get a green carpet using ready-made rolls. True, in order to lay them correctly, you need to know the technology.

These methods have their advantages and disadvantages. We will look at the first one in detail. traditional way, especially popular among gardeners. I like him more than the others.

The most important thing is to ensure even distribution of seeds over the surface of the site. If you do choose a mixture of herbs, then first mix it thoroughly with your hands. Don't skimp on material. Focus on the upper consumption rate indicated on the packaging. This way you will quickly achieve a thicker cover.

You can sow lawn grass only in dry, windless weather. For planting, it is better to use a mechanical seeder, but in the absence of one, you can do it manually.

It is best to use the cross-sowing technique, that is, first plant the seeds along the plot, and then across it, to a depth of no more than 1.5 cm.

After planting, go over the surface with a rake again, roll it again with a roller and water the area generously through a fine sprinkler. The lawn should be irrigated this way for the first few weeks until the bulk of the sprouts appear. Apply mulch to protect seedlings from wind, wash-off, and birds.

When the grass reaches a level of 8 - 10 centimeters, mowing can begin. First, make a light cut, removing only the very top, and after the turf has completely taken root, you can begin more thorough mowing.

We offer you help detailed video about how to properly sow lawn grass on your property. Perhaps, looking at the whole process from the outside, you will come to the conclusion that doing it yourself is not so difficult.

How much does it cost to make a lawn?

The price mainly depends on the desired quality, since based on this, materials are selected and carried out preparatory work. The specifics of the relief and soil properties play an important role in determining the cost.

A regular seeded lawn is the most economical, especially if you do it yourself. In this case, you will only have to spend money on plant seeds, fertilizers and herbicides.

On average, one hundred square meters of grass cover will cost 20,000 rubles. For comparison, a hydroseeded lawn will be approximately 1.5 times more expensive, and a rolled lawn – 2 times more expensive.

It is worth noting that with any option you can get excellent results. A reasonable question arises: why pay more?

Typical mistakes when landscaping a site

Why is it that not everyone succeeds in growing a beautiful lawn? Let's look at the main reasons:

• Incorrect selection of seeds. Often the significance of this issue is neglected and they buy lawn grass, like from a neighbor or from an advertisement, without going into the details of the relief, soil, location of the lawn, climatic conditions. A grass mixture may have excellent characteristics, but simply not be suitable for your area.
• Haste in preparing the site, especially when leveling it. It is important to carry out all actions in required sequence. After leveling the area under the lawn for the first time, be sure to let the soil stand, and then repeat the procedure to identify and eliminate possible unevenness after the soil settles.
• Lack of drainage system. Excess moisture is just as detrimental to the lawn as its lack. Therefore it should special attention pay attention to the composition of the soil. If clay or black soil predominates in it, it is necessary to ensure unhindered outflow of water. Otherwise, you will have to constantly fight against mold, moss and bald spots.
• Uneven grass seeding. At this stage, too, you can’t rush. It’s better to spend a few extra hours when planting than to spend the whole summer here and there filling empty spaces.

Conclusion

By following our advice, you can avoid such mistakes and achieve the best result.

Now you know all the stages of creating the treasured green lawn in the yard of your home. But in order to preserve its beauty for a long time, you need to know how to properly care for your lawn. On our blog you will find comprehensive information on this issue.

Stay with us and improve your gardening skills. Write in the comments what difficulties you encountered when laying a lawn and how you overcame them. And we wish you easy planting and soft, juicy grass!