If you weed and clean your lawn promptly and regularly, you will provide it with not only excellent appearance, but also give you excellent health. Unfortunately, even with thorough cleaning land plot Before laying the lawn, weeds still appear on the green lawn. And here you cannot do without manual weeding and treatment with herbicides.
In addition to weeds, keep your lawn free of dry grass and fallen leaves. You can do this manually, but it is better to use a special rake with teeth that are elongated and slightly springy when working, bent to the base at an angle. Most often, gardeners use such fan-type rakes. The procedure is called combing. It is advisable to carry it out both to clear debris and after mowing the lawn. Combing also helps fight such scourges as the formation of moss on the lawn.
Haircut
A neatly trimmed lawn is beautiful and attractive. In addition, a haircut improves root system and activates lawn grass bushes in general, which has a positive effect on its density and density. The frequency of mowing is determined by the type of lawn itself. For example, a universal lawn needs to be mowed once every 7-10 days, and a sports lawn - once every 4-5 days. Lawn mowing begins in May and ends in October. Autumn haircuts stop when the daytime air temperature does not exceed +10°C.
What height to cut also depends on the type of lawn. For example, on a lawn after mowing, the height of the grass should be 3-3.5 cm, on a decorative lawn - 4-4.5 cm, on a sports lawn - 5-5.5 cm, etc. The general rule is this: don’t cut your hair. leaf blades by more than a third and cut the lawn only over dry grass.
Watering
Watering is the most important part of lawn care. Watering should be uniform, without the formation of puddles. Soil moisture should be at least 5 cm deep. It is advisable to take care of uniform watering in advance. That is, even before laying the lawn, install the device automatic watering. It is not difficult to install it, but the headache over proper watering you will definitely free yourself.
Top dressing
At the stage of laying a lawn, grass especially needs nitrogen and phosphorus. If you feed it with fertilizers containing these elements (they are sold in specialized flower shops), it will respond with good growth, rich color and healthy appearance. Mineral fertilizing carry out early spring and in summer with a frequency of 2-3 weeks. These fertilizers should not be used in the fall, because... Active grass growth is no longer desirable. It is best to use organic fertilizer during this period.
Mown grass, a small amount of which is left on the lawn after mowing, can serve the role of organic matter quite well. Earthworms love to feast on these plant remains. By processing them, they supply the soil with organic fertilizer. Do not leave too much grass clippings, the layer should be small so that it does not delay penetration sun rays and will not impair aeration.
Aeration
The lawn loves this procedure very much. After it, it seems to come to life, becoming elastic and bright. And this is understandable, because the soil is saturated with moisture and air, the lawn literally breathes “ full breasts" The aeration procedure is simple; it involves piercing the soil with a fork or special aerator sandals with spikes on the soles (in this case, aeration turns into a leisurely walk across the lawn). This procedure should be carried out 2-3 times a year.
Nutrition: the basics
First spring work lawn care should begin with fertilizing. Some gardeners recommend spreading fertilizer over melting snow. This is not very effective, since half of them will be carried out of the soil with meltwater. Be patient, wait until the soil warms up to 10°C and then feed the grass nitrogen fertilizers at the rate of 0.5 kg per 1 hundred square meters (this corresponds to 1.2 kg of urea or 1.5 kg of ammonium nitrate).
It is better to divide the first feeding into two “portions” (for example, 0.6 kg of urea per hundred square meters) and apply them at intervals of a week.
The fertilizer mixture must be evenly distributed throughout the lawn. For this it is better to use a manual sprinkler.
Our advice:
It is not justified to use in early spring complex fertilizers, which contain, in addition to nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus, and microelements. It is better to apply them in early May.
If the weather is dry outside, then after fertilizing you need to water the lawn so that the fertilizers are well dissolved and do not burn the plants.
Spring lawn care: comb and chop
A couple of weeks after fertilizing the soil, the lawn needs to be “combed out”. Use a rake for this purpose. They will do a great job with fallen leaves and dry grass.
After you have cleared your lawn, you should aerate it. Special aerators or garden forks will do this job well. If you use a fork, make sure that the depth of the soil puncture is at least 8 cm. At this depth, air will easily flow to the roots.
Our advice:
If your lawn covers a large area, it will be difficult for you to maintain it manually. Then concentrate your efforts on those areas where water stagnates.
Down with the weeds!
At the end of April and beginning of May, weeds begin their “expansion”. IN spring period It is advisable to start weeding the lawn. You can use two weeding options:
- Organic - for these purposes, use a narrow weeding scoop or special lawn forks.
- With the help of chemicals. Selective action herbicides show their effectiveness in the control of dicotyledonous weeds (lintur, makstar, golf and others), as well as dandelion and clover.
Herbicides should be abandoned if they contain lawn mixture includes leguminous herbs.
Reseeding empty areas on the lawn
If you see withered grass or bald spots on your lawn, then you need to reseed the lawn in these areas. First you need:
- level the area, roll it with a roller or compact it with boards
- loosen top layer and sow a mixture of lawn grasses
- the seed rate for overseeding is 50-60% of the initial sowing rate
Leveling out the bumps
Hummocks can form due to soil heterogeneity and uneven moisture in winter. When caring for your lawn in early spring, they should not be left on the lawn as they will spoil its appearance. Even rolled lawn may “bubble” after winter. Rolling the lawn with a roller helps get rid of bubbles and bumps.
Lawn care after winter: and getting rid of snow mold
Snow mold may develop on the lawn if there has been a thaw in the winter. The result is the formation of mycelium of several types of pathogenic fungi, which cause a fluffy pink coating on the grass and a fluffy light gray coating
Snow mold is easily noticeable in cloudy and windless weather on an unmowed lawn. It looks like a thin layer of snow.
- The most disease-resistant herbs are: many varieties of red fescue.
- The following have an average degree of resistance: meadow and reed fescue.
- Most vulnerable: meadow bluegrass and perennial ryegrass.
Our advice:
To protect your lawn from snow mold, it is necessary to carry out autumn or early spring treatments with fungicides (foundazole).
Tatyana Yukhimenko, landscape architect
© Ogorodnik magazine
Photo: depositphotos.com
Spring is the time to actively start lawn care work. Caring for this element of the garden never stops, but in the spring it is especially important! If you dream of an emerald smooth grass carpet in your garden, do not miss important procedures in the spring.
March
The beginning of spring in Ukraine on the calendar comes only formally, while outside winter is still in full swing. Its only difference is frequent thaws mixed with snowfalls, which leads to the formation of an ice crust on the lawn. Under such a crust, the lawn begins to rot and “suffocate,” and subsequently this negatively affects the quality of the grass cover. Therefore, it is necessary to monitor the formation of an ice crust and break it in time. You should also distribute snow evenly over the entire surface of the lawn and limit movement in these places, otherwise dents may form. And you should not allow the formation of stagnant puddles, this leads to damping off.
Fertilizer feeding. The first fertilizing - nitroammophoska at a rate of 20-30 g/m² - can be carried out in the snow or after it melts in the second half of March. Any other high-nitrogen fertilizer labeled “Spring” or “Spring-Summer” on the package is also suitable, for example:
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Agricol (Agreеcol) (N 34%);
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Fertica (Kemira) (Fertica), NPK+ (11-12-26) with the addition of microelements;
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Florovit NPK+ (18-2-9+4Fe);
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fertilizers “Green Guy”, NPK (27-4-10) + microelements (EDTA);
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Scotts Landscape Pro, NPK (27-05-05+2MgO) – long-term fertilizer (4 months);
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Novofert for lawns, NPK (20-10-12+3MgO+4S+ME) and others.
Try to apply fertilizer evenly, otherwise in the place where it will be more, a hill of lush grass awaits you.
If you did not apply fertilizer in the snow, then you should thoroughly water the lawn after that.
apply fertilizer evenly
April
Combing and aeration. Important stage in lawn care begins in April, when the snow melts and the overwintered lawn has an unsightly appearance. It is covered with felt and plant debris, which can cause disease and promote pest infestation.
It is necessary to perform verticulation - piercing the surface of the lawn with a pitchfork. As well as scarification (from the Latin scarifico - “scratch”), which is carried out using loosening with a rake or an aerator. These actions will help to establish air exchange in the root layer of the soil.
During winter, the soil under the lawn becomes compacted, which prevents the supply of sufficient oxygen necessary for the growth of grass roots. As a result carbon dioxide accumulates, grass growth slows down or stops altogether. Aeration should be carried out - artificially saturate the surface layer of the lawn soil with oxygen. For these purposes, special aerators with different teeth are used. An ordinary fork is also suitable as an aerator; it is enough to pierce the soil to a depth of 8 cm in places where there was stagnation of water or moss formed. For a large area, it is advisable to use special equipment, since it will be difficult to do it manually.
combing out felt
Treatment for diseases. In the spring, very wet soil after the recent melting of snow begins to be warmed by the sun, which can cause fusarium and mold formation. Unfortunately, it is difficult to notice the infection processes in the initial stage; fusarium appears as spots or rings of yellowing grass already in May. The spots gradually increase in diameter, forming bald spots. During humid weather, fluffy white or pink mold may appear along the edges of affected areas of the lawn.
Preventive measures against lawn diseases must be taken in April.
That's why preventive measures must be done in April, using the drug Maxim at the rate of 20 ml of the drug per 10 liters of water per 2 acres of lawn.
Fertilizer. If you did not have time to apply the first fertilizers in March due to the snow, then in April you need to do this after combing and aeration. The Solution fertilizer has proven itself well.
The main rule of fertilization is uniformity. This is not so easy to do even with the use of seeders. It is recommended to apply part of the fertilizer by scattering it over the lawn by hand, and part of it by dissolving it in water and applying it using a backpack sprayer.
Sanding. The next stage concerns improving the structure of the lawn soil by mulching with sand. Sand gives porosity to the soil, improves its structure and, as a result, promotes the formation of cereal roots. Sanding is used mainly on loamy soils or in areas of heavy load, such as sports turf.
For sanding, dry alluvial sand with a grain size of 0.6–1.2 mm should be used in an amount of 0.1 m3 per 100 m2 of area. Sanding is carried out once a year after combing and aeration during the most active growth of grasses.
May
Weed control. May is characterized active growth not only lawn grass, but also weeds, which are not easy to control. There are two ways to fight:
● Mechanical– weeding special device, the so-called root extractor, or manually pulling out weeds. But this method is suitable for small areas lawn
● Chemical method
– application of herbicides. These drugs come in both continuous action, which kills all vegetation, and selective action, which allows you to destroy weeds without damaging cultivated plants.
How to use herbicides? Continuous action herbicides on the lawn are used locally, that is, they are carefully applied from a syringe to the leaf of the plant. The drug Roundup has proven itself well wide range action: consumption rate from 50 to 120 ml per 10 l.
Selective herbicides kill your lawn weeds, causing minimal harm to lawn grasses. It is recommended to use drugs such as Lintur (consumption rate of the drug is 2 g per 10 liters of water) or Lopren. The frequency of treatments is at least two times with an interval of one week. Herbicides should be used in calm, warm and dry weather. For best effect, it is recommended to use two types of herbicides.
Restoring damaged lawn. After winter snow and frost, it is difficult to predict what condition the lawn will be in. There may be damaged areas that need to be radically repaired.
The damaged piece of turf must be cut out and a new one placed in its place. It can be cut from another site or purchased from garden center. Adjust the soil level under the new piece of turf by adding or removing soil until the new piece is level with the rest of the lawn.
Having equalized the piece in height with the lawn, compact it reverse side rake or small roller. Sprinkle some sand over the surface, especially at the joints, and water thoroughly.
Leveling a hole or hump. As mentioned above, during high humidity You cannot walk on the lawn, otherwise dents and various irregularities will form on it. But it is not always possible to keep the lawn intact; the main thing is to know how to fix everything. For example, in places where hills or holes have formed, it is necessary to use a semicircular blade to make two cuts in the turf at right angles and unscrew the turf from the deformed area. Hollows need to be filled sandy soil, and remove excess soil from the hills. Then turn back the edge of the turf, lightly compact and mulch fertile soil over the entire area.
Lawn mowing. Lawn mowing is the most important and responsible maintenance procedure! In May, grass growth is most intense, and the lawn requires mowing 2 times every 10 days, and in the summer it can be reduced to once a week. The recommended cutting height is 5 to 6 cm; anything shorter can weaken the lawn and cause narrow-leaved grasses to fall out. Mowing is done in dry weather, never on a wet lawn. After mowing it is required abundant watering.
If you don’t have a lawn and are just dreaming of sowing one, be sure to read this useful article on our blog. And in the next article about the lawn we will talk about the work required to care for it in summer period. Good luck!
Having a beautiful green lawn on your summer cottage is not so easy. In order for your lawn to please you for a long time, it should be given special attention every spring.
Basic stages of lawn care in spring
When positive temperatures have established and the top layer of grass has dried, it is recommended to begin preparing the green area for the next season, in other words, in early spring you should start restoring the lawn after wintering.
As a rule, the basis spring care should include the following steps:
- combing;
- aeration;
- feeding;
- sowing new grass (optional).
Video: spring lawn care
Combing
Important! No matter how much you would like to grab a fan or ordinary rake upon arrival at the site and begin spring combing, you should refrain from this procedure until the grass is completely dry.
- For combing, you can use a simple rake or a fan rake. The latter are more desirable and convenient, because ordinary ones can tear out the grass along with the roots, especially if you have young crops (they are 1-2 years old).
- First, you should collect all fallen leaves and other debris in the area.
- Next, comb the lawn well, that is, you need to comb out all the compacted grass that is on the surface of the ground, and then collect it in a pile and take it to compost pit or destroy (burn).
Video: combing the lawn in early spring
Aeration
This is the process of enriching the upper and lower layers of the lawn with oxygen, in other words, providing air access to the roots, which contributes to more rapid development root system. Thus, acting with special devices, the soil is pierced to a shallow depth (8-10 centimeters). It should be noted that for young grass 3-5 cm will be enough.
Can be used to aerate the lawn various means. For example, verticutters or scarifiers (they are mechanical, electric and gasoline). With the help of these same units you can comb out especially large plots, which are very difficult to handle with a rake, as well as time- and labor-intensive.
By the way! If you have small area, then to perform this procedure you can use special aerator sandals or a pitchfork.
Video: lawn aeration in spring
Feeding and fertilizer
Feeding is very important part spring lawn care. During this period, it is necessary to give preference to nitrogen-containing fertilizers, which help any plants grow green mass. For example, ammonium nitrate or urea (urea). There are also special complex mixtures for feeding the lawn (usually spring-summer).
By the way! It is very convenient to apply prolonged complex fertilizers, especially for use on large areas. It is enough to apply them in early spring, and this will last until the end of the growing season (that is, there will be no need to feed in summer and autumn).
According to some gardeners, it is most convenient to use liquid fertilizers. If you follow the proportions, you will definitely not burn out the young grass, unlike dry and granular analogues.
After fertilizing the lawn, it is imperative to water it abundantly: to prevent the young grass from burning out with fertilizer granules, they must be dissolved with water at all costs.
The main thing when applying fertilizing is its uniform distribution throughout the still yellow-green area, otherwise the grass will grow unevenly and it will look sloppy.
By the way! Exists special devices for feeding lawn grass.
Video: what and when to feed the lawn
Restoration (seeding of lawn grasses)
If there are damaged areas on the lawn ( various kinds bald spots), then you should darn or restore it, in other words, install a new one. To do this you need to clean it top part, loosen slightly, and then sow the seeds evenly and mulch with a thin layer of soil (with the addition of river sand). Then tamp down well.
Advice! Over the winter, uneven spots can form on your lawn. Such depressions should also be filled with soil.
Video: lawn restoration
Thus, if you properly care for your lawn in the spring, then every year you will have a beautiful emerald green lawn, which will attract the envious glances of your lazier neighbors.
Video: spring lawn care
The ideal lawn for summer cottage
To get a perfect, even lawn and cause the envy of your neighbors, you need to try hard. Lawn care requires quite a lot of effort and is necessary throughout the entire summer season. It includes many different procedures that not only help good growth and the development of herbal coverings, but also serve as prevention against diseases.
About how to properly care for a lawn, what fertilizers should be used, and what equipment will help treat large territory, read our article.
Lawn care after winter
If you want a beautiful lawn, you should start caring for it as soon as the snow melts. TO compulsory work include:
- soil drainage;
- alignment, trimming edges;
- verticulation (aeration and scarification);
- restoration of bald spots;
- feeding;
- cutting and watering.
How to deal with melt water in spring
One of the most big problems after winter - melt water. Large quantity liquid collects on the lawn, which subsequently negatively affects the quality of the grass cover and causes fungal diseases at the grasses To eliminate this drawback, when laying the canvas, it is necessary to provide drainage to remove excess moisture. Such a system will be very useful in rainy summer.
One more thing perfect solution to combat stagnant water on the site - use a landscape slope technique. This option can be used during the formation of a site or part of it, when zoning is carried out or the soil is leveled for sowing a lawn.
The idea is to make the overall slope of the ground surface 3-5 degrees towards the final boundary of the site. The result is a kind of slope that will not be visually noticeable. At its lower border rummages drainage ditch to drain water from the site.
Leveling the lawn after winter, trimming edges
After the water has left the area and the grass has dried out a little, you can continue caring for the lawn in the spring. It should be rolled with a special garden roller Sadko HLR-57 or Elephant.
You can also compact it using a board. Pressing the soil with your weight, you need to gradually move the plate evenly across the entire plane of the lawn. This is necessary in order to level the surface of the lawn as much as possible and press the grass roots to the ground after thawing.
The edges of the canvas tend to lose their shape due to grass growth. To give the lawn aesthetically pleasing It is necessary to level the contour once a year. You don't have to make a straight stripe - it can be an arc, a wave, or any other shape that you like.
How to care for lawn grass
Verticulation is called comprehensive care for lawn grass, including aeration and scarification of the turf. This is done twice in the spring (after winter and in mid-May), and then repeated if necessary to remove the accumulated layer of debris and felt from the grass and open air access to the roots.
The aeration procedure is best carried out with a special aerator, for example Husqvarna AR19 1100 or Gardena ES 500. You can also use ordinary garden forks: you need to evenly pierce the turf layer at a distance of 10-15 cm, and to a depth of 10 cm.
During scarification, moss and weeds are removed from the surface of the canvas and the felt is combed out. As a result, the soil becomes loose, the access of air, water and minerals to the roots is facilitated, and the grass quickly grows. The procedure can be carried out with a regular rake, but for convenience it is better to use a Gardena EVC1000 or Husqvarna S500 PRO scarifier. Prevention should be carried out in late spring.
How to care for your lawn when bald spots appear
Fertilizing the lawn in spring
After winter, grass needs a lot nutrients. To maintain the balance of the nutrient medium, fertilizing with a higher content of nitrogen and less potassium and phosphorus (ammonium sulfate, ammonium nitrate) is suitable.
The lawn should be fertilized after the second mowing and verticulation. Fertilizer granules are applied to the surface of the grass and then watered well. In rainy weather there is no need for additional moisture. It is not recommended to carry out the feeding procedure in hot, dry weather.
Lawn grass care: cutting and watering in spring
basis regular care The lawn is being mowed. For this purpose, lawn mowers (Gardena Power Max 42E or Husqvarna LC 356V) and trimmers (Gardena PowerCut 500 or AL-KO BC 1200 E) are used. The height of the grass should not exceed 4.5-5 cm.
If the cutting could not be done on time, and the grass has grown too much, then first mow it halfway with a trimmer, and the second mowing is carried out using a lawn mower, leaving the grass cover at the required height.
Haircuts should be done regularly every 7-10 days, and during the rainy season the interval is reduced to 5-6 days. It is quite convenient to use the Grunhelm EM-618B lawn mower with a container for mowed grass, which immediately after mowing can be sent to compost or to garden beds as mulch. With frequent mowing, the grass begins to bush and becomes denser, which gives the area a neater appearance.
IN hot weather the grass dries out quickly, the cover becomes red and completely loses its aesthetic appearance. Watering can be done from a hose or using an automatic irrigation system, which is installed simultaneously with the drainage system at the time of laying the canvas.
Modern systems with electronic air and soil humidity sensors, they can turn the water supply on and off without human help. Timely and regular watering will allow you to grow thick, vibrant and juicy grass, keeping your lawn looking emerald throughout the summer.
Lawn care in spring video
Summer lawn care
Caring for lawn grass in summer includes watering, fertilizing and removing weeds from grass cover. If these activities are not carried out regularly, the lawn can very quickly lose its appearance.
At the beginning of summer, the turf should be aerated again. This should be done on a cool and humid, but not rainy day. During aeration, the appearance of the coating is slightly disturbed, so at the end of the work you need to carefully level the surface with a rake.
At the end of summer, it is advisable to carry out verticulation again, and, if necessary, reseeding the grass. The lawn should be fed in August with phosphorus and potash fertilizers, or ready-made complex lawn care products (Fertika, Bona Forte, Pokon).
In addition to regular watering and mowing, do not forget to remove weeds as they grow. Weeding can be done manually, or use selective herbicides (Agrokiller, Lontrel-zood). These drugs destroy monocotyledonous weeds without affecting dicotyledonous cereals.
How to care for your lawn in autumn
With the arrival of autumn, when the heat begins to subside, watering the area is gradually reduced, and if there is enough precipitation, then it is stopped completely. In September it is necessary to carry out aeration and scarification again.
With the beginning of leaf fall, you should regularly remove fallen leaves and constantly keep the lawn clean. This will protect the grass from rotting and disease. If necessary, carry out winter sowing herbs
Disease control and prevention
Few experts know the answer to the question of how to care for lawn grass so that it does not get sick. Most fungal diseases occur due to high acidity of the soil. Throughout the year, various mineral fertilizers, which in turn significantly increase the pH level.
Lawn grass prefers slightly acidic soils, therefore, when the acidity increases, the growth of greenery stops, moss, rot and others may appear fungal diseases.
After testing the soil for acidity and confirming the problem, it is necessary to carry out the liming procedure. Do it better in autumn once every 3-4 years. Ground limestone is used for liming the soil. wood ash or dolomite flour. Consumption should not exceed 500 g. on square meter canvases.
How to choose lawn care equipment
Depending on the size of the lawn, different techniques can be used. If the lawn is small, you can get by with a simple set of garden tools: rakes, pitchforks, hoes. On medium areas for relief manual labor It is better to use electric and motor units.
These include: seeders, aerators, verticutters, lawn mowers, trimmers, rollers, garden vacuum cleaners. They may be universal purpose with the presence of various removable devices. On large areas It is rational to use a mini-tractor or walk-behind tractor with a set of attachments.
When purchasing a particular unit, carefully read the technical data. This will help you do right choice and purchase exactly the equipment that is most suitable for your site.
Bottom line
A beautiful emerald lawn in your yard is the result of hard work and regular maintenance. Use garden and lawn equipment to create a unique landscape effortlessly, so you can enjoy beautiful views from early spring to late fall.