The lawn must be well-groomed, because it is created for the most part for beauty, giving the site a respectable appearance. And what happens if the lawn care wrong or not care at all? There’s a lot of grass outside the fence, and nothing grows without our constant care.
You will, on your lawn, everyone has the right to experiment as you like, but I wouldn’t risk it – have a wild and turf grasses with different life objectives. My firm belief, based on the realities of life: a good lawn, not its pathetic semblance, time to create and maintain will require a lot, no matter what they write and say. The more insulting are the annoying mistakes, which are long and difficult to fix, but it will not work to ignore: small lawn troubles can quickly grow to the size of serious problems and irretrievably spoil the lawn. I will not beat around the Bush, I will pass to concrete examples.
1. Sowing the lawn is a matter of professionals
Still, to sow a lawn is not the same as a row of carrots – the specifics are different. Frankly, I was not able to meet the cottagers, adequately cope with this task. Perhaps there are, but the vast majority of ordinary gardeners are still not among them. Arrogance in this case will only hurt, the results will be something like this: the effect of a patchwork quilt, where in places thick, in places-empty. Or just a rare sowing, when instead of a cheerful brush of friendly shoots, lonely blades of grass appear above the ground.
It is clear that an urgent need to hog, if you do not want to admire the lawn bald before the fall. Sad? Still. Meanwhile, this sad situation could not happen at all, if the sowing of the lawn was entrusted to a professional seeder. It does not need to fill the hand, it was specially created in order to evenly scatter the seeds. By the way, in the future it will not remain idle: with its help, regular feeding even large areas of lawns will take a minimum of time. If you carefully handle and store correctly, the technique will last a long time, because it is made of steel and high-quality plastic.
2. Removal of weeds – jewelry work
Even if the pre-sowing preparation of the soil was ideal, it will not save from the appearance of weeds. Dandelions are constantly sending parachute troops, wind and birds carry seeds of sedge, plantain and other herbs. Weeds love to grow on the lawn: food and water plenty, and tender grass is clearly not rivals in the battle for a place in the sun. Another thing is that their presence does not add beauty to the lawn or pragmatic summer residents can not see it.
Some weeds can be lime frequent mowing. But with most intruders, this trick will not work. And means of defense in our Arsenal, not a lot, to choose between two evils: either chemicals (herbicides) or mechanical method. With the selection of the drug problems usually do not arise – in the instructions all clearly explained, take it and do it. But with the elimination of manually the situation is not so rosy: in the course go and hoes, and hoes, and shovels – it is necessary not only to demolish the top of the enemy, but also to get rid of the root.
Against such brute force, weeds can not resist, but the lawn also gets: an inverted clod of earth neatly fit into place will not work, so the number of removed weeds is equal to the number of bumps on the lawn. Not only that: grass with damaged root system often falls, and a lot of mini-bald spots do not make the lawn more beautiful. At one time, the weeds on the lawn brought me almost to a nervous breakdown: to fill the earth with chemistry, I categorically did not want to, and to remove them with a knife was not only tedious, but also physically difficult.
The first 5-10 pieces of roots were cut, somewhere on the 50th dandelion, I began to notice that my black soil today is somehow especially dense, and when the bill passed for a hundred-the right hand categorically refused to obey, because it was already really painful.
Thanks to a friend: she told me the right solution – weed remover. Long steel needles easily extract roots even from dense viscous black soil, while the appearance of the lawn remains almost flawless. And how conveniently located in the palm of the handle with anti-slip pad! Who did not fill the bloody blisters, stubbornly picking weeds with a knife, he will not be able to fully appreciate the convenience of the tool, but let him take his word for it – so it is.
And most importantly, it helps to quickly and easily get rid of weeds without herbicides, which for me, I confess, one of the main advantages. If possible, I will always choose a less convenient and fast, but environmentally friendly way to solve the problem.
3. Why does the lawn need a comb?
Many summer residents sincerely believe that combing the lawn-absolutely useless. Is it any wonder that the mowed and dead grass forms a dense layer, hindering the access of oxygen to the roots. Moreover, over time, it is saturated with moisture and becomes a hotbed of various diseases.
And it will be much harder to cure the lawn than to comb it regularly, believe me. Just do not repeat one of the most annoying mistakes that disfigure the lawn – do not comb it with a garden rake! I have seen a lawn that has undergone such a procedure-a pitiful sight. Use only a special lawn tool. Working with such a tool is a real pleasure. What a tool, I know!
Interestingly, only me impossibly annoying, when while working you have to continually straighten the teeth of the rake, which bent in all directions at the first strokes? And with a convenient rake mandatory combing procedure will be easy and enjoyable.
4. Deep breaths!
Over time, the soil on the lawn is compacted, which is not the best way to affect its appearance: the grass grows worse, turns yellow, dries. Resistance to diseases is also sharply reduced, there is a probability of falling grass in winter. And all this mess is because the roots suffer from a lack of oxygen, moisture. But the problems can be easily avoided if timely aeration.
If the area of the lawn is small, you can do with a pitchfork, but I have been using an aerator for many years – much faster and, in my opinion, it turns out better.
5. Steady, steady!
No wonder they say that the perfect image create little things. Let the lawn is perfectly green and healthy, even if exactly mowed, but if there are flaws – Islands of grass that did not fall under the knife of a lawn mower (at curbs, along paths or benches) – they will spoil the overall impression. Of course, this is not such a serious problem as improper care, but beauty is not the last criterion by which we evaluate the green lawn in front of the house. So I decided to include this mistake in my list.
And eliminate disorder quite simply: shears in hands, get up on its knees and forward – on edge of lawn. My back used to ache at the thought of the entertainment, and my hands would get calluses. By the way, in those glorious days I have only had stationery scissors. Not surprisingly, after the endless torture of haircuts I sincerely wanted to drive the mixer and for all simplify the maintenance of this part of the garden.
Therefore, the first news about the miracle-scissors for the lawn were taken by me as a personal holiday. It was about 10 years ago. Having gained experience during this time, I can confidently say that you need to take scissors on a long rod – so almost do not have to bend over. Wheels on the tool, too, will not be superfluous, you do not need all the time to keep the scissors on the weight. And in the store be sure to test the purchase-the handle should lie comfortably in your hand.
I really like green lawns, but I do not intend to deviate from the principle of “lawns for us, not we for lawns”. Yes, it is not required: care of grass can and should be easy and simple, the main thing – to choose the right assistants. And how to avoid the basic mistakes of lawn care, you now know.
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