For most people, spring and summer are associated primarily with a bright sun, blue sky and fresh green grass. And how nice it is to walk barefoot on the grass on a warm day in the country or on a plot near your own home. In addition, the lawn instantly gives a well-groomed look to the garden plot, serves as an element of landscape design, is an independent and full-fledged recreation area and is simply necessary if there are children in the house.
Types of Lawns
Before laying the lawn, you need to determine its type. There are several main types, each of which has its advantages and disadvantages.
1. Ordinary, or landscape gardening, lawn. The most common type, often found on the territory of country houses. The technology of laying the lawn is quite simple, and anyone can master it. You can create such a coating in sunny and darkened areas, for this purpose, herbs are specially selected in the mixture.
The main care is constant abundant watering and regular mowing of the grass.
2. Flower lawn. The advantages of this type include a beautiful flowering lawn view, minimal maintenance and naturalness. By cons - the Moorish lawn may look untidy due to the fading heads of flowers, and clover can grow greatly throughout the site. However, the clover lawn is almost impossible to trample, and it can withstand any load.
3. English, or ground, lawn. It differs from others and looks very beautiful thanks to the dense, richly emerald grass. But more care is required. So, laying the lawn should be carried out only in sunny areas. Mandatory daily watering, haircut every two to three days and regular feeding.
In addition, the English species reacts poorly to the Russian climate and large temperature differences. Laying a
lawn with your own hands, without the help of professionals, is almost impossible.
4. Rolled lawn. Suitable for those who are not ready to wait long and spend a lot of time on growing grass mixtures of the previous types. Rolled lawn is very popular because it has enough advantages: the absence of weeds in the first year, resistance to changing weather conditions, drought, frost, trampling. By cons include a relatively high price. However, if the lawn is laid on its own, then you can significantly save.
How to choose a place under the lawn?
The place for the lawn is chosen in advance, based on the needs of the herbs that make up its composition. In any case, do not consider heavily darkened areas near the house. It will be very difficult to achieve a beautiful and even lawn there.
But a light shadow from sprawling trees and bushes is suitable for planting special shadow grasses.
If the plot is very humid, there may be stagnation of water, you should look for special grass mixtures, since most lawn grasses do not tolerate waterlogging.
It is not recommended to lay the lawn on steep slopes, slopes, as showers will wash away the topsoil and sprouted grass. If necessary, use supports or lay supporting grids.
How to prepare a site for a lawn?
Preparing the soil before sowing herbs can greatly facilitate the maintenance of the lawn in the future, therefore it is precisely this stage that should be given due attention.
Firstly, the selected site is thoroughly cleaned of debris. Weeds are removed, stumps are uprooted. Many gardeners resort to chemical agents to destroy weeds, since it is difficult to do this manually by quality. In addition, it is worth remembering that it is not recommended to lay the lawn in early spring or, conversely, in autumn, because at this time there are many still undecreased weed seeds in the soil, which, when germinating, can violate the integrity of the lawn and inhibit the growth of young grass.
Secondly, the cleared area undergoes deep digging to a depth of about 20 cm. In parallel, the remaining debris, stones, and roots are removed from the ground. Then the surface of the earth is leveled as much as possible.
At the third stage, fertilize the soil. The composition of fertilizers is selected depending on the needs and the particular land. So, in areas with sandy or clay soil, additional application of chernozem and peat will be required.
The final stage of preparation is tampering of the upper layer of the earth. The importance of this procedure is that on non-compacted soil, tubercles and depressions can form, which significantly interferes with walking. And also during rain, water accumulates in the recesses, and the grass dies from waterlogging. It is most convenient to compact the earth with the help of a skating rink, but you can also use an ordinary flat board or just walk around the site, trampling the soil.
After this, the prepared site is left alone for a month. During this period, the surface of the earth will be finally compacted, perhaps it will give some shrinkage, all the remaining depressions and bumps will appear, which in the future must be eliminated.
How to plant a lawn?
Before planting grass mixtures, the top layer of the earth is loosened with a rake. For planting, choose a warm, calm day so that the seeds do not fly away from the lawn. Seed consumption is approximately 40-50 g per square meter. After sowing, they are covered with earth using a rake. Then abundantly watered using a spray with a shallow rain nozzle. It is forbidden to water with a hose or bucket, as there is a high risk of washing the seeds from the soil.
How to care for the lawn?
Increased attention is paid to the young lawn. Watering is extremely important, especially in the first weeks. Drying of seedlings should not be allowed, since immature grass can easily die. But you can not rush to the other extreme, since overflow is also detrimental to seedlings. Optimal daily moderate watering. Grass shearing is carried out weekly, with a grass size of 5 cm.
If you skip this moment, then after mowing you will notice that bald patches appeared on the lawn, and the grass itself became prickly.
How is laying the lawn in rolls?
After preparing the site, you can go to buy a rolled lawn. The important point is that its installation should be carried out within 72 hours after cutting from the field.
So, the laying of a rolled lawn with your own hands begins from the edge that is closer to the folded rolls. The sod is laid out only in a straight line, turns and bends are prohibited. At the beginning and at the end of each row of the lawn there should be a full plate or part of it at least half the size of the whole. Small remaining pieces can be placed in the middle, but not along the edges. Having laid one row, ram it properly, but do not nail, namely, press the roll firmly to the ground.
The next row is placed so that the edges are displaced, that is, like brickwork. The seams between the rolls are filled with a mixture of peat, clay and sand. After that, water the lawn abundantly.
How to lay an artificial lawn?
For those who do not want to spend the whole summer caring for living herbs, laying an artificial lawn is suitable. It is carried out as follows. First, mark the future lawn, then clean, level and tamp the soil surface. A waterproof geofilm is laid on top, on which a drainage grid is placed.
On top of the grill lay a special fiber that allows water to pass through. An artificial turf is rolled out next, cut to relieve tension, and after a day the joints are glued with special glue.
To summarize
So, there are many options for the beautiful design of the site with a mixture of grass. For lovers of incredible beauty, an English lawn is suitable, for those who want to see an instant result, it is possible to lay a rolled lawn with your own hands. These procedures are described in the article. Well, for people whose time is scheduled by the minute, laying an artificial lawn will help create green lawns.