Vibrating plate in landscape works. How to compact the soil under the lawn Compact the soil under the lawn

You look with slight envy at the neat lawns of neighbors or TV series heroes and think: “I wish I had such beauty.” Why not? Let's see how you can create an even carpet of emerald grass in your yard yourself. And in this article we will devote a special place to the process of preparing a site for sowing a lawn.

Soil preparation for a lawn is a certain set of works, which must be started a month before sowing seeds. Preparing the base for a lawn is similar to preparing the base for a building - it is of the same importance and the work process is somewhat similar. Of course, if you are a happy owner of a suburban area with fertile soil, then the work of preparing a site for a lawn comes down to just removing debris and leveling the surface. But if you are as “lucky” as most summer residents / owners of private houses, then you will need to work a little harder.

Soil preparation

We remove garbage

To get a beautiful and well-groomed lawn, it is important that initially the lawn soil is completely cleared of all debris. It can be small debris - leaves, paper, small stones; and large - stumps, trees. It is important to select all the garbage from the site, but in no case dig in, because over time it will begin to interfere with the growing root system, and when using lawn equipment, inconvenience may arise. Of course, you will have more work if the previously selected area has not been cultivated, but regardless of whether you plan to sow or lay lawn rolls, the work of preparing the ground for the lawn will be the same.

Remove debris and level the site

Also, a special place in the cleaning of the territory for the future lawn should be given to the destruction of weeds. This can be done by removing a layer of earth with a shovel (this, by the way, is the most environmentally friendly way), or you can use the achievements of the modern chemical industry and treat the earth with herbicides, which, penetrating straight to the root system, will destroy the entire weed. And although the latest chemicals do not accumulate in the soil, we would advise sowing the site with seeds only after 1.5 months.

How to remove weeds (video)

Digging

As we wrote at the beginning of the article, there are lucky ones who do not need to worry about the quality of the soil on the site. But this does not mean that you can avoid digging up the ground before planting. You can call for help and heavy equipment (cultivator), or you can get by with a shovel (which will be even better). By the way, digging is another opportunity to remove weeds from the soil that have not died from chemistry. Dig dry soil 25 cm deep. This is the so-called single-tier digging.

Is there a two-tier digging? Yes. This digging is used for plots of land that have not been cultivated for a long time. A furrow is dug across the lawn to a depth of 25 cm (a shovel bayonet), and a layer of earth is loosened with a pickaxe. In the next furrow, you need to select the loosened earth and fill it with earth from the previous furrow.

Digging up the ground, you solve several problems at once: remove the remaining weeds and fertilize the soil

But if the soil for sowing the lawn leaves much to be desired, then you need to think carefully about how to prepare the soil for the lawn. There is an option to replace the existing soil with fertile one. This is a complex process. It is necessary to remove 20 cm of earth and fall asleep another. You ask: "where to get the right soil for the lawn"? This is done like this: mix part of manure + 2 parts of peat + part of loam. Here is the answer to the question of how to prepare fertile land for a lawn. The second option is not so time-consuming, because it only consists in enriching infertile soil. To do this, add peat, manure, sand and loam to the existing soil and dig everything with the old soil.

What soil is best for lawn grasses? Experts say that it is a loam with a neutral pH level.

As a rule, digging is accompanied by the laying of a drainage system. Before sowing a plot with seeds, it is necessary to carry out communications and lay drainage. If groundwater is deep, then construct surface drainage. Surface drainage serves only to remove excess moisture after precipitation. In other words, it does not allow puddles to accumulate. If groundwater comes close to the ground, then deep drainage is needed here. Note that the creation of deep drainage requires even expert advice.

alignment

Preparing the area for the lawn involves carefully leveling this area, so that later, when cutting, it does not turn out that you cut it bald on the hills, and on the contrary, left it too long in the pits. Also, irregularities can damage the sharp blades of the lawn mower. To level the ground, we select a rake as a tool and pass them along the dug up earth up and down. Align the site all the time, looking at it from the side. The earth, where it is more, transfer to the pits for uniformity. After leveling, watering is needed in order for the earth to settle. When it dries, the bumps will reappear, and you will need to repeat everything.

After leveling the site, leave it for a while so that the soil shrinks.

Rammer

Lawn preparation includes tamping. For the future sowing of seeds, it is necessary to compact the soil. Compact the dug up and leveled soil with a hand roller weighing ≈ one centner. Although you can use a simple board. No one should be allowed to roll the ground after or during rain. Walking on compacted and rammed earth is not allowed. Carefully compacted soil will allow the seeds to lie evenly in the ground, and this in turn will help them swell and sprout.

Ramming is best done in dry weather.

We figured out how to tamp the ground under the lawn, now let's move on to the next final step.

Works immediately before sowing seeds

After the work done, we can say that the site for planting a lawn is almost ready. Only small details remain. Immediately before sowing, you need to scatter complex top dressing on the soil and rake. Also, with a rake, you will remove bumps and debris that have arisen again. The lawn area should have a grainy surface with a dense middle.

If it is possible to wait a little (a month or two), then the site prepared for planting can be allowed to stand fallow. This will make it possible to even better prepare the site for sowing, because after fallowing the land shrinks even more, and this, in turn, reveals new defects that can still be eliminated. Preparing the land for a lawn involves a lot of work and it would be a shame if it turns out that you have not cleared the land of weeds very well, and fallowing the land will help to cope with this problem, because. two months after the rest on the ground, the weeds that you missed will definitely appear, and they can still be removed before sowing.

Now it remains only to loosen the soil again with a rake and sow the seeds

Step by step guide

In order not to miss the sequence of how to properly prepare the site, we offer the following list of works:

• Experts in the field of landscape design advise against making areas with sharp corners and complex line breaks;
• Start cleaning the site in mid-spring, because by that time it will already be warm and still quite wet;
• If a concrete path lies on the path of the future lawn area, then it must be destroyed right to the ground;
• When leveling the ground, bumps and convex bumps can be removed with a chopper;
• We add sand to heavy soil, clay to light soil, we improve poor soil with compost;
• Now is the time to mount irrigation systems and lawn grates;
• It is advised to make a very slight slope so that water can drain over the lawn;
• If necessary, adjust the soil pH with dolomite flour, chalk and lime;
• For effective weed control with chemistry, leave the soil cleared of debris and leveled for a couple of weeks so that all weeds germinate;
• A layer of coarse sand and gravel will serve as excellent drainage;
• Digging the soil in autumn or spring and do not miss large blocks of earth;
• Leveling the soil with a roller does not allow excess moisture to penetrate to the roots or, conversely, to stagnate on the surface;
• An alternative to a skating rink can be a flat log or an empty gas cylinder;
• On a small lawn area, a heavy skating rink can be replaced with a plank attached to the legs;
• Nowadays, specialized companies are ready to quickly and efficiently do all the preparatory work for you;
• Remember that preparing the land is like laying the foundation, it will be almost impossible to correct mistakes in the future.

As you can see, there is a lot of work on arranging a lawn with your own hands, but this work is very interesting, and its result will please you for a very long time.

Soil preparation and lawn sowing (video)

The lawn in the country house pleases gardeners with emerald grass all season long, and this is a great place to relax.

The spring of 2008 was protracted, so the sowing of lawn grass took place only on April 24th.
When the snow melted, it turned out that moisture was well preserved under the spunbond, and the ground of the future lawn remained quite damp.

I first tried to sow lawn seeds according to the instructions - to sow the lawn area first in one direction, and then perpendicularly.
However, unfortunately, it is not always possible to follow the rules.
I sowed the first part of the lawn area. But then I realized that I was doing extra work. Then she began to sow the seeds as expected (along, and then across), but no longer going through the entire lawn completely, but in parts.
First, she sowed a small part of the plot (about 1 m long and about 50 cm wide) in one direction, then the same part passed in a perpendicular direction. As it turned out, this method saves a lot of time.

Before sowing, I loosened the surface of the moist soil with a rake.

Having sowed lawn grass, I slightly harrowed the future lawn, and then trampled down the sown area with a “stomper” (which my husband made for me in the fall).

So, before sowing lawn grass seeds, I opened the ground under one of the parts of the covering material. And having finished sowing this part, she again covered the soil with a spunbond (so that the soil moisture was preserved, and so that the birds would not peck at the scattered seeds). It is useful to cover the sown area with a spunbond until the sown seeds swell and begin to germinate.

Another deviation from the traditional method of seeding the lawn was that I did not sprinkle the seeds on top of the earth immediately after sowing. The fact is that the land brought to the dacha in the fall was still damp, and it was problematic to sift it through a sieve. And I did not dare to cover the seeds with unsifted soil, because there were a lot of wheatgrass rhizomes in it.

By the evening of the next day, it began to rain and watered our future lawn, saving me from these troubles (in our garden society, the water had not yet been turned on at that time).

The benefits of spring sowing lawn grass have been confirmed:
- the soil prepared in the fall has time to settle over the winter;
- in the spring there is still a lot of moisture in the ground after the snow melts, and there is no need to water the lawn often (especially if the irrigation water is turned on late).
And one more thing: unlike spring seedlings, which have time to get stronger by the beginning of wintering, weaker late crops can die from the cold, and can also rot under the fallen leaves of trees.

Already a month after the spring sowing of seeds, the sprouted young grass pleased us with its emerald green!
True, uneven shoots were found. I realized that I would have to re-sow the seeds in some places (especially at the junctions of the spunbond), and one strip of the plot turned out to be sown more rarely.

Weeds, of course, also soon got out on the lawn (mainly quinoa). Horseradish appeared in two places of the lawn, which is very difficult to get rid of immediately. Convolvulus, horsetail and other perennial weeds, the rhizomes of which have remained in the ground (therefore, their shoots periodically appear again on the lawn), will also have to be fought until their roots are finally removed from the soil.

In early June, I mowed our lawn for the first time, by which time my husband bought an electric lawn mower.
I never thought that mowing lawn grass is such a pleasure! True, at first I had to adapt to the lawn mower, but by the end of the first mowing everything went fine. The main inconvenience of an electric lawn mower is that you have to hold the wire and make sure that it does not fall under the knife.

With the cut grass, I mulched the bare soil in the garden around my flowers. So the problem with mulch was solved, as they say, "cheap and cheerful." As a result of mowing even such a small lawn, a sufficient amount of grass is collected for mulching, it is enough for all garden plantings.

After mowing the lawn, all the "flaws" that were made when laying the lawn and sowing grass were exposed. I had to sow the seeds on the resulting bald spots.

In July I was on vacation; Within a month, there were big changes in the dacha.
As for the lawn, during this time the lawn grass has grown and strengthened. The number and size of bald spots has decreased, the lawn has become thicker ...

By the way, in the annotation to the lawn mixture "Lawn for the Lazy" it is written that this lawn does not require frequent mowing - it is enough to mow twice a month. But my experience has shown that this is not the case at all.
Even with our Siberian unstable weather (either drought or rain), we have to mow the lawn weekly. Of course, this does not bother me, because. there is a lawn mower, and the lawn area is small. But one day, due to heavy rains, I was unable to mow the lawn for two weeks, so the grass grew huge!

Clover, which is included in the purchased lawn mixture, gives our lawn a special softness and charm. But the clover does not have time to bloom, because I regularly mow the lawn.

A well-groomed plot with a green velvet lawn, decorated with picturesque groups of bushes, trees and flowers - this is a fairy tale that every fan of country life wants to see in their possessions.

A lawn is not very fast and it is better to prepare in advance and do everything right so that you do not have to redo it later.

Be sure to keep in mind the shrinkage of the soil

To make dreams come true, summer residents spare no time and effort, tirelessly weeding the lawn from dandelions and planting flower seedlings. Often forgetting about the prose of life - the proper preparation of the soil for all this splendor. And then surprises cannot be avoided - subsidence of the soil. Soil shrinkage is a natural process, landscape design lovers should not forget about it.

Subsidence can happen in a variety of places, especially if you poured soil over pits, cellars, built a pool, dug trenches for laying pipes, imported fertile soil for site reclamation. The density of the soil is restored over time, but do you need dips and subsidence on the site, the question is. There is only one salvation from subsidence of the earth under tiled paths and playgrounds, a lawn and a flower garden - soil compaction is still at the stage of preparing the site for cultivation.

Rescues vibrating plate

It is possible to level a site or its part, to compact the soil in order to avoid its subsidence quite quickly and simply with the help of special equipment - a vibrating plate.

For landscape work, the capabilities of a lightweight vibrating plate with a reliable Honda engine are enough. The stove weighs 60 kg, runs on gasoline, which means it does not depend on the mains, this is a convenient plus of the unit. The light weight of the plate does not create problems during transportation, while creating a seal to a depth of 15-25 cm. It is not difficult to control the unit and no great physical strength is needed - the plate moves by itself, you just need to direct it a little.

The vibrating plate (vibrating rammer) moves along the surface, compacts the soil by means of its oscillations. It rams a variety of soils - crushed stone, sand.

For the best result, each layer of soil and each fraction, for example, crushed stone, must be compacted separately.

Also, the vibrating plate will perfectly help to compact paving slabs or paving stones during laying. In this case, it is important not to forget about the so-called polyurethane damper mat. It is securely attached to the working sole of the slab and creates protection for fragile tiles, paving stones and does not damage them during its movement.

The device is easy to operate and maintain, it needs to fill the fuel tank with gasoline and the crankcase under oil-oil, the 4-stroke Honda engine consumes fuel economically and has an increased resource.

Preparing the soil for a lawn is comparable to laying a solid foundation for a house. The more responsibly you take this important step, the smoother and neater the finished lawn will look, and the less problems it will have later. Be prepared for the fact that it will take you a lot of time and effort, but the result is worth it!

You will need to clear the selected area of ​​debris, remove weeds and uproot stumps, dig up the soil, level the surface, fertilize, compact the topsoil, and then loosen and re-level. You will especially have to sweat if the site has not been mastered before. And it does not matter whether you plan to sow the area with grass yourself or lay a rolled lawn - soil preparation for the lawn will be the same.

Land for the lawn must also be completely freed from trees, shrubs, young growth, former flower beds.

Land clearing and lawn preparation

The first thing to do is to clear the area from construction and household waste, from chips, stones, branches, etc. Just do not bury small debris in the ground, otherwise problems may arise when using the equipment, and foreign objects will interfere with the development of the root system of plants. If you have concrete or stone walkways where you plan to lay your lawn, you will need to remove them all the way down to the base.

Lawn preparation video

Land for the lawn must also be completely freed from trees, shrubs, young growth, former flower beds. Particular attention is paid to the destruction of weeds. You can remove a thin layer of turf with a bayonet shovel and later use it as fertile land (lay the turf in a pile with roots up in the far corner of the garden, and after six months it will turn out to be excellent fertile soil).

Another option is to get rid of weeds with the help of chemicals (reglon or roundup), which, penetrating through the stems and leaves of plants into the root system, completely destroy all the grass in a few days. After the application of herbicides, it is recommended to sow lawn grass seeds only after six weeks, carefully weeding out the weeds that appear during this period.

How to properly dig soil for a lawn

Further preparation of the earth for a lawn consists in its careful digging. This stage cannot be skipped, even if it seems very difficult. Good soil (after a garden or flower bed) is enough to dig up to the depth of one bayonet of a shovel, turning over and breaking pieces of the earth. Simple single-tier digging is only suitable for soil that has previously been cultivated, since only the top layer of soil is prepared, and the bottom layer remains unchanged.

Well-rotted manure or compost can be added to the soil

If the site has not been processed for a long time or the soil is too light or heavy, a two-tier digging will be required:

• dig a furrow across the site for one bayonet of a shovel, removing the earth for a while to the side;
• carefully loosen the lower level of the earth with a pitchfork or pick;
• dig a second furrow, fill the first furrow with earth taken out of it;
• break large clods of earth with a pitchfork or shovel;
• the last furrow is filled with the same soil that was dug at the very beginning.

Well-rotted manure or compost can be added to the soil. With poor drainage and clay soil, soil preparation for the lawn also includes the creation of a drainage layer - during two-tier digging, crushed stone or gravel is poured onto the lower level.

Leveling the site and the top layer of the earth

When leveling the site, try not to mix the top layer of earth with the bottom.

So that on small hillocks the grass does not look cut bald, and in the lowlands it is not too long, you need to take care in advance how to level the area under the lawn. To do this, walk with a rake over the dug up area, at the same time removing old roots and stones that have appeared on the surface. From time to time, carefully inspect the area from the side so that its level is the same from different points. Transfer the soil from the hillocks to the lowlands for leveling, but keep in mind: all the irregularities will reappear after the ground settles.

When leveling the site, try not to mix the top layer of earth with the bottom. If you need to level bumps and depressions, it is better to remove the fertile layer for a while and put it aside, carry out all the leveling work at the level of the lower layer, and then pour the fertile soil back. In case of a lack of fertile soil on the site (the layer must be at least 20 cm), you can purchase it and mix it with the existing one - this way you will ensure uniform drainage.

Final preparation of the soil for the lawn

Before you prepare the ground for the lawn, you need to apply mineral fertilizers to it, because in any case, the soil will lack nutrients, and top dressing at this stage will allow the best distribution of fertilizers in the ground. Organic fertilizers are applied in spring and autumn.

Video about the lawn, preparing the land for sowing

The leveled ground must be trampled down in small steps or so that it does not sink after the rain. In addition, on compacted soil, the grass will take root better. When the soil under the lawn is thoroughly compacted, walk over its surface again with a rake, leveling the irregularities that have arisen and removing stones. As a result, the surface of the earth should look like a cake sprinkled with sand chips, while remaining fairly dense inside.

This completes the preparation of the soil for the lawn. It is recommended, if time permits, to leave the site for one and a half to two months under fallow - the earth will shrink a little more, and you will be able to eliminate the defects that have appeared, as well as destroy the wave of weeds that will inevitably grow on freshly cultivated land. After that, it remains to loosen the surface of the site again with a rake and sow the seeds of lawn grass.

After building a house and cleaning up the garbage, it's time to ennoble the site. I remembered a long-standing dream of a lawn - a lawn with emerald grass, without beds with vegetables. Just near the house there was free space, not occupied by agricultural land. It was decided to give him under the lawn. I began to read information on this topic, then - to plan in what sequence to carry out the work and what seeds to plant. I want to say right away that laying a lawn is a matter of many months. Personally, for me, all stages, from the beginning of earthworks to the contemplation of a decent-looking lawn, took about a year. I will tell you how it was for me - I will share my experience, which, I hope, will help beginner "lawn growers" to avoid many mistakes.

After studying the information on the topic, I came to the conclusion that the best types of grasses for the lawn (in our conditions) are bluegrass meadow and red fescue. I started looking for a suitable grass mixture in stores. In most formulations, ryegrass is required, which in our climate is not ice at all. For warm Europe - excellent, suitable, but in our country ryegrass freezes in winter, in spring such a lawn wakes up noticeably thinned. As a result, I came across a suitable single-species grass mixture - from varieties of one meadow bluegrass True Blue Kentucky Bluegrass. Whole bluegrass lawn... Why not? Of course, the first years will have to be carefully looked after, at first bluegrass is capricious. But such a lawn, with proper care, is considered one of the most decorative. Decided - bluegrass lawn to be!

So, I bought bluegrass seeds - 30% more than recommended by the manufacturer. This is important, as some of the material may not germinate.

For myself, I deduced the following scheme for laying a lawn:

1. In spring and summer I prepare the soil: I plan, cultivate, level, roll.
2. In early August, I carry out herbicide treatment, get rid of weeds.
3. At the end of August - I fertilize the soil and sow the lawn. I take care of seedlings: I water, mow, I fight weeds.

In this situation, that is, when sown at the end of summer, the lawn will have time to grow and get stronger before the onset of cold weather. In winter, it will leave already formed, with dense turf. And in the spring it will look quite presentable.

I followed this pattern.

Step 2. Earthwork

I started preparing the ground for the lawn in the spring, in April. Perhaps this is the most difficult stage on which the future appearance of the lawn depends. Work is carried out in the following sequence: cultivation, leveling, rolling (tamping). Rolling and tamping, as a rule, is repeated several times. This is what I read on smart sites and decided to follow unconditionally.

The site chosen for the laying out of the lawn

Initially, the soil on the site is heavy loam. It seems to be not bad, but for the lawn, as I understand it, more loose earth is needed. Therefore, to improve and drain the structure, I brought and scattered peat and sand on the site.

It turned out the following: at the bottom I have a pillow of loam, on top - a mixture of sand and peat. To mix all the ingredients and get rid of weeds, I plowed the plot with the help of.

Plowing with a cultivator loosens the soil, makes it homogeneous and removes weeds.

Such a cultivator was used for plowing a plot for a lawn

Now we had to level the ground. How? At first I thought about walking with a rake, but I have a large area - 5 acres, I can’t achieve an even lawn. Decided to go the other way. He took out an aluminum ladder of 6 meters from the barn, tied a rope to its edges.

From above, for gravity, I put a load - a channel with stones inside. It turned out something like a modernized building rule, with which I walked around the site back and forth. Where necessary, leveled, in some places poured earth. The process was controlled by a laser level.

Alignment of the microrelief of the site is an important component of the preparatory work for creating a lawn

After leveling, I walked with a skating rink. Well shed the earth. The process of leveling-tamping-watering was repeated many times, for two months with level control. By the middle of summer, after the rains, two hours later it was already possible to walk on the compacted area - there were practically no traces left. Then I thought that this ground work can be completed.

If the soil is sufficiently compacted, it should not leave deep footprints when walking.

Step 3. Herbicide treatment

Initially, I was generally against the use of herbicides. But ... It seems that he plowed the land, and during the summer he constantly pulled out malicious weeds, but they all grew and grew. The prospect of endless weeding did not please, especially since the time of sowing was inexorably approaching. So I spilled the rammed pad, waited for the weeds to appear, and dressed them with Roundup.

Then he removed the dried grass. After two weeks, it was possible to start sowing. By the way, by this time, young weeds climbed again, but I quickly pulled them out - on prepared soil it is not difficult.

Material on ways to control weeds on the lawn will also be useful:

Step 4. Fertilize the lawn

As I understand it, some do not fertilize their lawns at all or fertilize them once a year, something long-term. Probably, such an approach takes place, but only on fertile soils, in which nutrients were originally laid. The soil in my area is not very nutritious, so I decided to go the traditional way and still fertilize before planting.

At this stage, the Texas seeder was very useful to me, which can not only scatter seeds, but also loose fertilizers. At first, I shed the earth well, then I walked on it with a seeder, introduced ammophos (nitrogen and phosphorus content 12-52) - 2 kg per hundred square meters, and potassium chloride - 0.5 kg per hundred square meters. In the pre-sowing fertilizer, special attention is paid to phosphorus. It accelerates seed germination and activates the formation of the root system. Then, with basic care, other fertilizers will be needed for the lawn.

Fertilizing before sowing lawn seeds will speed up their germination

After spreading the granules, I harnessed to a small harrow and went to loosen the soil. A harrow is optional, you can also use a rake.

Step 5. Sowing seeds

And then the sowing began. I mixed the seeds with sand, then divided the entire volume of the mixture into two piles. I loaded the seeder with one portion, performed sowing in the longitudinal direction. The second portion of seeds went for sowing in the transverse direction. At the end, I walked over the sown with a rake to plant the seeds a little into the ground. No more than 1 cm, so as not to be washed away by rain and not carried away by the wind.

Lawn grass seeds can be patched up a little by loosening the soil with a rake.

Just in case, I rolled the crops with a roller. And began to wait for shoots.

I would like to draw attention to the following point. I dated the sowing to the 20th of August. At this time, as a rule, the withering heat is no longer there, the rainy season and cloudy weather begin. My lawn is lucky in this regard. After sowing, the weather was cloudy, cool, it often rained, so there was no need to water before germination. If you choose a different sowing time, for example, at the beginning of summer (in general, you can sow the lawn from May to September), you will have to constantly monitor that the seeds do not dry out. The soil must be constantly moist, only then the seeds can germinate.

In the heat, you will have to water 2-4 times a day, otherwise you will have to put an end to the lawn experiment - nothing will sprout or it will sprout in separate areas (where there is more moisture-intensive soil or in the shade). To simplify the task of watering a little, in the hot or dry season it is advisable to cover the sown area with agrofiber - Spandex, Agrospan, etc. Under the material, the seeds will be protected from moisture loss, wind, hot sun. Therefore, under agrofibre, lawn grass sprouts faster than in open areas. However, as soon as she ascended, it is recommended to remove the "greenhouse". And take care of the lawn in the usual, traditional mode.

Step 6. Care of the first shoots

The first shoots of my bluegrass lawn appeared on the 10th day of sowing. These were small thin threads, the seedlings were uneven. Thought I would have to finish it, but no. With a delay of a couple of days, lagging seeds also hatched.

It is better not to move on a young, just sprouted lawn, so as not to trample on small blades of grass

Just at this time, warming came, there was no rain for some time. I placed sprayers around the site and watered the young borers every day, in the morning. The seedlings are very tender, as soon as they dry out a little, they all die. The earth should be constantly slightly moist until the sprouts have a more or less developed root system. From my experience, this happens when the blades of grass reach 4-5 cm. After that, you can relax a bit. But just a little. Before the first mowing, drying the ground can be detrimental to the lawn, it is very sensitive to drought.

I really hoped that the cold would not come ahead of time and I would have time to mow the lawn for the first time, form a beautiful carpet and look at my handiwork in all its glory. And so it happened. Already after 3 weeks, the herbage reached a height of about 8 cm, it was possible to mow. In the morning I spilled the lawn well, got the lawn mower out - and go! I cut no more than the upper third of the blades of grass, so as not to damage the young plants. I liked the result: a smooth, fairly dense rug of a pleasant color. After the mowing, it rained. Before winter, I did not water the lawn or mow it. The experiment and observations of the lawn were continued the following spring.

In October the lawn was mowed for the first time

Step 7. Young lawn care activities

In the spring, after the snow melted, the lawn sat "without movement" for a long time, probably due to the cold. As there were small sprouts, they remained, the color also left much to be desired - some kind of grayish-yellow. But half-forgotten weeds appeared. At first I tried to pull them out, and then I etched them with Lintur. Weeds shriveled, then there were already fewer of them - the lawn itself gradually forms a dense turf and displaces unwanted "neighbors". Yes, and mowing on them does not work in the best way.

Material about possible diseases and pests of the lawn will also be useful:

After winter, the color of the lawn leaves much to be desired

The visible growth of the lawn began when the ground warmed up sufficiently, to a temperature of 10-15°C. Now you can look at the result - the herbage is fully formed, survived the winter well and got stronger.

The lawn has already grown and turned green - May

Bluegrass lawn is fully formed - June

I do the following aftercare of the lawn:

1. I water as needed. Not every day, but only after drying the earth. Watering should be plentiful, but rare. In autumn, before the cold weather, it is better to refrain from watering altogether, otherwise the lawn will not overwinter badly.
2. Fertilizer. For my lawn, I apply a three-time feeding scheme per season, that is, only 3 times with an interval of a month. I use any fertilizer for lawn grasses with an approximate combination of the main elements 4:1:2 (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium).
3. Mowing. In the second year of the lawn's life, I switched to weekly mowing, each time cutting no more than a third of the grass stand length.

These rules help me keep the lawn in good condition. The result suits me, I think that my experiment with the lawn was a success.