Before starting the preparation of land for a lawn near the house and sowing grass, the owner is expected to draw up a plan, clean the territory, lay communications, and cultivate the top layer of soil. It is necessary to draw a drawing of the territory on a scale in which small flower beds, decorative reservoirs, and shrubs should be provided if desired. It is better to immediately plan the location of the lamps, the laying of the water supply system to the reservoir, the sewage system for draining the water.

The first thing to do is to determine the slope of the site so that rainwater can drain freely, and check the foundation under the fences. If it is tape and is laid to a great depth, then in the event of heavy rains, a small pond may appear in the yard of the house. During prolonged downpours, the lawn will not withstand such waterlogging and will be hopelessly spoiled. Therefore, in the strip foundations at the lowest point of the plot, it will be necessary to punch several holes to drain water with a diameter of about 100 mm every 3-4 m at a depth of 30-40 cm.

Important!Pay attention to the tall trees in the neighborhood. They should not completely shade the entire area.

Lawn

What are the lawns

Gardeners have 4 types of lawns:

  • English, or parterre;
  • garden and park;
  • meadow;
  • Mauritanian;
  • sports.

Of these, only English is for decorative purposes. You cannot lie on it, play, or have picnics. Needs regular care: haircut, watering, fertilizing. The herbal mixture is expensive compared to others. Only the ideal preparation of the soil for the lawn can ensure an even cut of the grass carpet. Even a small bump or fossa will be clearly visible from afar.

Garden and park is more resistant to loads, has a certain composition of grasses, is not afraid of shading from trees, cold, prolonged rains. It is cheaper to set up and maintain than English. Most often used in summer cottages.

Note! Lugovoy is more resistant to stress, unpretentious in care, also has a specific composition of herbs. Suitable for home lawns and large areas, does not require frequent mowing of grass. It contains herbs that bloom all summer.

Moorish differs from the rest by the abundance of flowering herbs. They delight the eye all summer long. They are mowed only after all the flowers have wither: in late summer and autumn. Does not require any maintenance, except for watering in dry summers and mineral fertilizing.

Sports differs from the rest in the composition of the herbs. They are selected in such a way that he is not afraid of heavy loads. The lawn is not afraid of trampling and is specially designed for sports fields. You can play football, have picnics, just relax on it, but it is very demanding to care for. It needs to be watered regularly and mowed weekly.

Preparing a site for a lawn and sowing grass

Roll lawn: how to lay it yourself

The preparation of the territory for sowing grass can be ordered from specialized firms, but the prices for such work are not small, but you can do everything yourself. However, nothing can be aligned by eye. You will have to pull colored threads at an equal distance from the ground along the perimeter, diagonals and in places where small architectural forms are located.They will immediately give a general idea of ​​the scope of work.

Note! If the volume of work is large, it is better to order an excavator or a truck than to carry the soil with a wheelbarrow from one end of the site to the other for weeks.

Next, you will need to remove construction waste and large stones. If it is not possible to take out the cobblestones, they can be buried to such a depth that there is a fertile soil layer above the stones with a drainage of at least 20 cm.It is not allowed to leave branches from trees, boards, sawdust and similar waste in the ground, expecting that they will be in the future will rot.

Before final planning, you need to remove the fertile soil layer with an excavator and dump it in one heap. To prevent weed seeds from being sown again, you will have to cover it with a black film. While planning work is going on, the weeds will die without access to light.

Preparing a site for a lawn and sowing grass

In addition, you will need to do a soil analysis. If the soil is poor, clayey and heavy, you will need to bring in several machines of fertile soil. You will definitely have to buy peat if possible, but do not get carried away. Peat should be no more than 20% of the volume of the top layer of fertile soil. A few machines of fine sand wouldn't hurt either.

[a

Important! The lawn must be perfectly level, otherwise the lawnmower will not cut the grass straight.

How to prepare the land for sowing lawn grass

If the owners do not plan to remove the fertile layer and lay various communications (electric cables, pipes), then first you need to get rid of grass and weeds. There are two options for dealing with unwanted herbs.

Sports turf: description, mixture composition and characteristics

In the first case, you need to dig up the soil, carefully turning it over with the grass cover down. This activity is difficult and not always effective.

On a note!In the second option, it is recommended to use chemicals for weed control, such as roundup and the like. However, it is worth considering that "chemistry" acts on plants through the leaves and stems and has absolutely no effect on the seeds. Therefore, between the first and subsequent treatments, you need to wait about 2-3 weeks. During this time, young shoots will break through from the sown seeds and then the grass should be treated a second time. After that, you can start digging and leveling.

Influence of seasons on work performance

The lawn can be broken in two different ways: quickly for a lot of money and cheap with your own hands. In the first case, the seasons and the weather do not affect anything. And if you do everything yourself, then the preparation for the lawn will last for six months. It is necessary to prepare the area for the lawn in the fall and finish in early spring. Reasons why it is worth doing this way:

  • In autumn, all weeds with long roots are visible. They are not so difficult to deal with. It is necessary to process the grass with a roundup and feel free to start leveling. After a couple of weeks, the earth will sag and it will be clear where to add and where to remove the surplus.
  • As soon as the snow melts, it is worth waiting for the first shoots to appear, and then process the crops again. Having finally destroyed the foreign grass, it is worth starting to sow the lawn. At this time, the plants have not yet begun to bloom, they do not throw out the seeds, so there is a margin of time for spring work.

Note! When buying seeds, it is recommended to increase the rate by 10%. This means sowing the grass according to the instructions, and leaving 10% in reserve. After the first shoots, you will see where you need to sow the grass again.

How to level the area and speed up work

So that the leveling does not turn into exhausting work, you need to grind the top layer of the earth with shovels, hoes, rakes to a depth of 0.5-1 cm. On large areas, you can use manual cultivators or walk-behind tractors for this. After crushing the top layer of soil, a long (6 m) rail with a cross section of 70 * 100 mm is needed for leveling. The procedure consists of two people pulling it all over the site in all directions.Such an operation will significantly speed up the work. The sharp edges of the slats cut off excess soil and fill it into the grooves.

How to check the acidity of the soil

Before you start preparing the leveled soil for the lawn before planting bushes and sowing grass, you need to determine its acidity. For lawn grasses, a pH of no higher than 7 is best suited. This indicator corresponds to neutral soils. There are several ways to determine the pH level:

  • laboratory;
  • independently with litmus test;
  • a portable device that checks the acidity of soils;
  • on growing plants.

How to check the acidity of the soil

Important! If possible, you can use a portable device for measuring soil acidity. It will show the acidity level at any point with high precision.

In the first case, you need to take samples from several points of the garden at a depth of about 10 cm and take them to the laboratory. The results will be ready in a few minutes.

In the second, you will need to buy litmus papers and distilled water. It is necessary to stir soil samples in distilled water and check the acidity with a litmus indicator.

And you can just pay attention to the plants growing in the summer cottage. By their number and types, you can approximately determine the acidity of soils. On acidic soils grow:

  • chamomile;
  • horse sorrel;
  • most types of mosses;
  • mint;
  • wild rosemary;
  • creeping wheatgrass;
  • field bindweed.

Important!If at least one of the species of these plants grows near the house, it means that the soil is acidic and requires deoxidation. To do this, use dolomite flour, chalk, lime fluff.

Tools for work

Roll lawn - what is it, description, features

Setting up a lawn is a very expensive task and requires a lot of manual labor. To carry out the work, you need to have the following tools:

  • shovels;
  • wheelbarrows;
  • rake;
  • rail or thick board;
  • construction cord;
  • tape measure 10 m.

On a note!If the plan is to buy a roll lawn, then you need to make a roller from a log or thick pipe.

Drainage device

How to prepare the land for a lawn with a high water table or in a wetland? This will require a high-quality drainage of excess water. The type of drainage system is selected depending on the soil and the level of groundwater rise during peak periods. For sandy loam soils, as well as when the site is located on a hill, with the natural removal of excess moisture (the presence of deep ravines, ditches, etc. nearby), a drainage device is optional.

There are two options for drainage systems:

  • solid;
  • channel.

Note! Continuous drainage is arranged only for heavy clay soils. For this, a completely fertile layer is removed and gravel, sand, broken brick, small stone about 150 mm thick are laid on the clay. The preparation of the area for the lawn provides for a drain for excess water in its lower part.

Canal drainage systems are used on waterlogged soils with a high level of groundwater and the risk of flooding the site as a result of snow melting. The easiest way of the device is to dig ditches and fill them with small stones, rubble sand. For swampy areas, drainage is made from asbestos or plastic pipes. They are placed in cushions of sand or fine gravel. For proper laying, you need to make a geodetic survey of the plot with the determination of the direction of drainage of ground and melt water. Duct systems are expensive and labor-intensive to implement.

Creation of rolling lawns

Interesting!This is the fastest way to set up lawns. Rolls of earth with a base made of synthetic mesh and sown perennial grasses are laid on a prepared base with drainage and laid communications.

How to prepare the soil for a roll lawn? The work is no different from the device of an ordinary lawn. For quick and easy installation, tamp the top layer with heavy rollers for compaction and better contact of the laid sod mats with the ground.With regular watering, the result will be visible in 2-3 weeks.

Tips for preparing the soil for a rolling lawn:

  • When laying a fertile soil layer, it is worth remembering that over time it becomes compacted and sags. For a simple parterre lawn, the thickness of the fertile layer should be at least 20 cm after shrinkage. That is, you will have to fill in fertile soil 25-27 cm thick, taking into account future shrinkage.
  • If the soil is sandy or sandy-gravel, then more clay should be added to the fertile layer to retain moisture.
  • A thin layer of sand should be used to perfectly level the ground for laying a rolling lawn. The root system of plants easily overcomes the sand and penetrates into the nutrient layer of the prepared soil.
  • It is recommended to apply nitrogen fertilizers to the topsoil before laying the lawn.
  • It should be noted that in the spring it is better to apply nitrogen fertilizers to form a bright green grass. In autumn, on the contrary, you need to add fertilizers with a predominance of potassium and phosphorus for better formation of the root system.

Creation of rolling lawns

Lawn care: nuances and secrets

It is necessary to water the lawn in hot summer in the evening so that the grass has time to be saturated with moisture. Special sprinklers that spray water jets like rain are best suited. Watering should be carried out by spraying a jet and in no case with a strong pressure as from a hose.

The lawn should be mowed in dry weather, preferably with a lawn mower. Only she is able to create a smooth, uniform cut of the carpet. Depending on the composition of the grasses, the lawn is cut once every 1-2 weeks.

Important! When weeds appear, they need to be dug out without regret, and seeds must be sown into the bald spots that appear. You should always keep a small amount of seed in reserve to “repair” your lawn.

It is recommended to fertilize a green meadow with mineral fertilizers before rain or before watering.

In the fall, when the grass is dry, it is worth scarifying with a rake. It is possible to sow the grass stand in areas requiring repair throughout the summer.

Before laying a lawn, you need to draw up a timetable for creating it. And, using the tips, advice and recommendations described above, step by step go to the realization of your dream. If everything is done correctly, the green lawn near the house will delight its owners with silky grass and small flowers for a long time.