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Grass & Lawns |
Did you know that 25 square feet of actively growing grass converts enough carbon dioxide into oxygen for one person per day?
While grass is the least expensive ground cover to lay, many people feel that it is too demanding, but with some planning or modification lawns can be relatively easy-care, and a well cared for and established lawn will survive the water restrictions of a long hot summer. A lawn helps reduce glaze and reduces summer heat.
Curved, free-flowing lawns with mower stips will be easier to care for than those with sharp awkward corners.
Lawns should be mowed when they have grown around 1-2cm above the height they are cut at. Allowing grass to grow longer and then cutting back hard weakens the grass. As a general rule you shouldn't remove more than a 1/3 of the length in a regular cutting.
Nitrogen is the key to green, weed-resistant, vigorous lawns, and it is best to apply this in small doses as large doses can encourage fungal disease and much of the fertiliser can be washed away polluting waterways and wasting money.
For a lush green lawn deep watering each week in summer may be necessary, but a lawn that's left to brownoff will reshoot when adequate rainfall resumes.
Vigorous growth is the best control of lawn weeds, but hand weeding or selective weedkillers may be required at times. Regular mowing helps promote growth and helps prevents weeds setting seed.
Dethatching (tearing out the mat of dried up, undecomposed dead grass, roots and runners) is sometimes required and will then allow water and fertiliser to penetrate into the soil. Dethatching should be carried out just before the lawn begins its new season's growth. Heavy raking with a sharp pointed rake is often adequate, but a rotary mower set just low enough to bite into the thatch of larger lawns can save a lot of work. A complete fertiliser should then be applied. Easiest of all is to water with a seaweed solution which will encourage microorganisms and baterial which will then breakdown the thatch, effectively feeding the lawn at the same time. Some thatch is natural and helps to protect the lawn from wear and increases drought tolerance.
Aeration improves surface drainage, allowing deeper water penetration making the lawn more drought resistant. It will also help aleviate compaction. Improved air supply will encourage microbial activity in the thatch. Aeration in small areas can be done with a garden fork, but spiked garden shoes or mechanic options are also available depending on the size of your lawn and budget. Scattering sand into the aeration holes will help keep the soil more open.
There are a wide variety of grasses available depending on your requirements - full sun, part sun, shade, hard wearing, drought resistant, and so on. You might also consider lawn substitutes in some areas, for instace on places that are too steep to easily mow or that are too shady or damp for traditional grasses. Other ground covers won't wear as well a grass, so in high traffic areas you might consider paving or gravels. |
E-Garden News Pages: 1
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