4. Tricks of pets
Many summer residents and owners of country houses keep in mind, among other things, the opportunity to enjoy the lawn with a pet when arranging a lawn. But unfortunately, cats and dogs are the main enemies of a beautiful lawn, no matter how sad it may sound. Landscape designers do not even want to take up the creation of a lawn if the owners have a large pet.
Moreover, there are two aspects of this issue. Firstly, a pet can physically damage the grass cover by rolling, lying on it, running, digging holes. In this case, the device of a specialized lawn — sports or airfield — partially solves the problem, where special grass mixtures resistant to trampling are used. However, it is impossible to release a dog even on him in the first couple of years. It must be said that such lawns will not withstand too energetic and large animals, one solution remains — to fence.
The second aspect is that your pet can defecate on the lawn, this will manifest itself in the appearance of yellow spots. Neither owners of small cats nor happy owners of large dogs are immune from this. The best solution is to train the animal to relieve itself in a specially designated place. However, this does not always work with cats, besides strangers can enter your territory.
If you notice the process itself, then you can quickly spill the place of urine with water, reducing the concentration, and then the grass will not suffer so much. You can try to accustom a domestic cat to a certain place on the site by transferring the cut-out spoiled turf there. Subsequently, the toilet area is sown with white clover, it tolerates the natural secretions of animals quite stoutly.
5. Mowing errors
Improper mowing of the lawn leads to deterioration of its appearance, and even to damage. When using a lawn mower, it is important to observe the technology in which the movement should not be chaotic, but in strips: first you move in one direction, and back — a parallel course to the other. So you will get beautiful alternating dark and light stripes. In the next haircut, you need to move in the opposite direction. In hot weather, it is better not to cut, but if you had to do it, then immediately you need to water the lawn. Do not mow wet grass: it sticks to the blades of the mower, clogs it, and therefore the quality of mowing is reduced. On wet ground, the wheels of the mower can leave traces.
The minimum mowing height of an ordinary lawn is 4-5 cm (adult parterre — 3-4 cm). If you mow the grass too low, it slows down its development, grows weakly, dry bald spots may form. If you are late with the haircut, and the lawn is overgrown, then you should not immediately mow it to the usual height. Remove no more than a third of the length at a time. For example, first leave about 7 cm, and after a week shorten to 5 cm.
Both regular and high cutting height can be provided by a reliable self-propelled lawnmower Husqvarna LC 140S, designed to work on small and medium-sized plots. The mowing height is adjustable from 25 to 75 mm, the width is average, 40 cm. This model has a function of ejecting mown grass onto the lawn surface. By choosing this mode, you will be able to mow without interrupting the emptying of the grass collector. The left grass should be collected after work. It is most convenient to process the edges of the lawn and mow the overgrown grass for the first time (more than 15 cm) with a lawn mower. For example, using the Husqvarna 226R model. She can handle not only a lawn, but also uncultured grassy vegetation, because instead of a trimmer head, you can install a metal three-bladed Multi 255-3 knife, which is included in the standard package.
You can entrust regular and proper lawn mowing to a battery-powered robot lawn mower. You will only need to configure the operating mode on the control panel and limit the territory to it with a special wire (it is included in the kit). Well, it will mow and charge itself. For a small suburban area with a lawn, we recommend choosing a compact model of Husqvarna Automower® 105. It is suitable for flat areas of up to 600 m2 and is capable of processing areas with a slope of up to 25%. The robot lawn mower is eco-friendly, silent and safe, including for children and animals that may be on the lawn at the time of its operation.
An arsenal of equipment for cutting grass. 1 — lawnmower-robot Husqvarna Automower® 105. 2 — grass mower Husqvarna 226R. 3 — self-propelled lawnmower Husqvarna LC 140S
It is important that the knives of your lawn mower are always sharpened, otherwise they will soak the blades of grass, or even pull them out of the turf (young shoots will definitely be able to “thin out”). The lawn deteriorates instead of becoming healthier and more beautiful. You should check the knives about once a month and sharpen them if necessary. It is better to entrust the sharpening to the specialists of the service center. It is not easy to make it qualitatively yourself. Without the skill and special equipment, it is very easy to disrupt the balancing of the knife.
6. Subsidence of the soil
It’s a shame to watch how depressions appear on a flat lawn. Most often this happens for the following reasons. The first is a poorly conducted ramming of the soil for sowing. The second is if you hurried to arrange a lawn almost immediately after laying underground utilities. The ideal option is when all technical work is completed in the fall, and the lawn begins to be engaged in late spring next year.
If the subsidence of the lawn has already happened, there are two options. You can simply pour the earth over the lowered area, level and sow the grass. The second method is more complicated, but more effective. It is necessary to cut through the turf, cut out one or more strips, bend them (or put them aside), pour in the earth, carefully tamp it and return the turf to its place. As a rule, it is easier to do this with a relatively fresh rolled lawn. After the grass layer returns to its place, it should be watered more often, preventing drying.
7. Freezing
They look like thinning of the grass cover, the appearance of brown rotting islands. Most often, the reason is the difficult conditions for cereals during the transition from autumn to winter. When snow falls on the unfrozen soil, the plants continue to vegetate, gradually depleting and dying off. Also, losses occur during the formation of an ice crust that does not allow air to pass through.
Evaporation can also be a consequence of the freezing of grass, when it does not have time to prepare for winter due to a sharp frost or insufficient fertilization with phosphorus-potassium fertilizing. Ugly brown-brown spots of rotten vegetation may remain if the mown grass or dried grass is not removed in a timely manner after combing.
It is impossible to save the swollen areas of the lawn — you can only plant the same seeds on the damaged sites, after removing the dead grass and loosening the ground with a hoe. Proper agricultural machinery can prevent such troubles.
The grass grows longer when it is left in winter too long. Approximately in the middle of autumn (at a steady air temperature of + 10 … + 12 ° C), it is necessary to mow the lawn for the last time, and then feed it with autumn fertilizer with an emphasis on phosphorus and potassium. So the plants will have time to strengthen before the onset of cold weather and will survive the winter better. It is important to carefully remove fallen leaves so that the lawn goes clean under the snow.
We have considered the main problems that arise on the emerald lawn at the house. It is advisable to know about them even before the lawn arrangement has begun. So you can, taking into account the peculiarities of your site, carefully prepare the site, choose the right seeds and plan a convenient watering.