The Moorish lawn is a beautiful lawn that pleases the eye with many flowers and a wide variety of species gathered together in one area. If you have a country house with at least a small strip of land located in an open and sunny place, you can easily turn it into a fabulous corner for your family to relax. About how to do this, about the seed composition of the Moorish lawn and its pros and cons, read further in this article.
History tour
Such landscape design has been known for a long time - since the 7th century, when the Moor tribes, having migrated from North Africa, began to settle on Spanish lands. The new rulers formed states and built luxurious palaces for themselves, and around them they set up gardens and large park areas, which often combined the culture of several peoples at once.
Over time, through the Crimea, and then Constantinople, the Moorish rulers also learned about Slavic traditions. In addition to the beautiful and fragrant roses and tulips, there began to appear lawns with such a composition of herbs and flowers that looked a bit like wildlife. It was they who began to be called Moorish lawns.
Plant selection
In order to create such a lawn, you need to purchase a special set of seeds, which usually includes various wildflowers, herbs and cereals. Surely, each of you wants the Moorish lawn, the photo of which is presented in this article, to please with its variegated colors from spring to late autumn. This can be easily achieved if plants with different flowering periods are combined correctly.
Planting stock for this type of lawn with a ready-made composition can be purchased in specialized stores. However, another option is allowed - to buy bags with seeds of herbs and flowers, mix them and sow in your own area. Such flowering plants as:
- Orange and yellow medicinal calendula. It blooms from June to October.
- Nemesia will please the eye as much as the previous plant. It can be yellow, red, white and purple.
- White, blue and pink bells. They bloom from the beginning of summer until about mid-autumn.
- Bright red poppy. This large flower will be the highlight of your lawn and will attract the attention of all those present. In addition, its box is full of seeds, which provides self-sowing of this plant. However, poppy has its minus: its flowering period is short-lived - only two weeks, starting in the second half of May.
- Purple echinacea, which is famous for its healing properties. She has large beautiful flowers in several shades: from pale pink to bright raspberry.
- Meadow daisy blooming in April and making the lawn elegant until October. It is believed that a lawn without it would not have such an attractive appearance.
- Field cornflower bright blue. It will bloom throughout the summer season.
The composition of the Moorish lawn often also includes bulbous plants such as crocuses, daffodils and tulips. They will fully provide a riot of colors on your lawn. However, grass is still the basis of the lawn. Most often, preference is given to a thin field birch , pasture ryegrass and meadow pendulum and timothy. It should be noted that the final selection of colors always depends on the preferences of the owner, but do not forget about the pros and cons of the Moorish lawn.
Benefits
Like other elements of landscape design, such a lawn has both advantages and disadvantages, which you need to know in advance. Its advantages include:
- Gorgeous view. Such a blooming lawn can become a real decoration of the site with a country house.
- Large selection of seeds. This allows you to sow your favorite wildflowers and enjoy their view from spring to mid-autumn.
- Easy care. The maintenance of such a lawn does not require a lot of time, unlike a classical lawn, because it does not necessarily mow grass or often water and fertilize the soil on it.
- Pleasant aroma. It can also change depending on the season, as well as the appearance of the lawn.
- Environmental friendliness. For city dwellers and animals, it can become a real oasis among dust and smog.
- No special skills required. It can be organized at your site by any of the beginning gardeners.
disadvantages
The disadvantages of a Moorish lawn include the following factors:
- Allergic reactions. They can occur in some people who are sensitive to large amounts of pollen floating in the air.
- Additional watering. It may be required if the grass composition for the lawn was incorrectly selected. The fact is that some plants require more moisture than others. This can lead to poor flowering and even death. Therefore, it is best to choose mixtures with herbs that do not require additional moisture, such as sage, cornflower and others.
- You can’t walk on it barefoot. Among the mixture of herbs there are very hard species that can severely prick your feet. In addition, another threat may lie in such a lawn - when there are a lot of honey plants, you need to be prepared for the appearance of a large number of bees on your site.
Choosing a place under the lawn
Since the lawn looks very colorful, do not make it too big. A neat open glade, completely flooded with bright sunlight, will look most spectacular. However, even areas with slightly shaded places, for example, located along fences and between trees, as well as land that is especially poor and not suitable for growing cultivated plants, may be suitable for this purpose.
Soil preparation
Before sowing grasses, it is necessary to check the pH level, as well as the presence of nutrients in the soil. The increased nitrogen content in it usually leads to the appearance and rapid growth of other undesirable plants. These include weeds, which will subsequently dominate the lawn. In order to reduce the fertility of the substrate, before sowing the seeds of the Moorish lawn, you can grow mustard or rapeseed here, which perfectly absorb nitrogen. After that, all green mass is removed from the site and deep plowing is carried out so that the fertile layer moves down.
To achieve the best possible results, it is necessary to completely get rid of unnecessary plants. Experts categorically do not recommend using herbicides to eliminate weed grass. The fact is that these chemicals contain glyphosate, an active substance whose safety is highly doubtful. The most effective weed control method is to remove the upper layer from the soil. To do this, it is cultivated to a depth of at least 20-30 cm. Weeds will still appear on the plot prepared in this way anyway, but now they can be easily eliminated by loosening the soil a few centimeters in depth.
Sowing the lawn
Planting a Moorish lawn is very simple, but the method of sowing directly depends on the size of the site. Typically, seeds have a seeding rate of about 2 to 5 grams per square meter. That is why it is recommended to use professional seeders in large areas, which will help to achieve the best results and save time. If the plot allocated for the lawn is relatively small, then the seeds can also be scattered manually.
During sowing, it is advised to add sand to the mixture of herbs. With the manual method, the correct technique is very important - it is necessary to throw the seeds with sweeping movements, capturing at least two meters. It is best to sow “crosswise” when half the seeds are consumed, going from one corner of the plot to the other, and then similarly from the nearest to it, while always passing through its center. After finishing work, you need to carefully walk along the ground with an ice rink, and if you can, then water the future Moorish lawn abundantly.
With an area of more than 100 m², the best option for planting grass is a professional seeder. For uniform sowing, a large area is divided into several small ones.
Mowing
With the right selection of plants that are best suited to the environment where they were planted, the lawn does not have to be watered or fertilized. In this case, care consists only of mowing, which should be done several times a year. Their timing affects the appearance of the lawn.
For example, if you want the lawn to be the most beautiful in the spring, it is first mowed at the end of June, after the plants have already bloomed. In this case, the flowers and grass on the Moorish lawn are mowed to a height of at least 10 cm. If you want the lawn to bloom all summer, you need to have time to mow it somewhere until mid-June. The lawn will delight you again in July, and already in September it will be a real flowering carpet.
Reviews
The Moorish lawn has rather mixed responses. Some owners respond with admiration to the lawns, noting the pleasant aroma emanating from various plants, as well as the wonderful appearance of their transformed house adjoining areas.
However, there are other reviews that say that this type of lawn is not always beautiful. During hot summers, greens often burn out, and after mowing, flowering plants no longer bloom and only grass remains on the lawn. In addition, a large number of different insects and especially bees, which sometimes fly right into the house, constantly swarm on the site.