▷ how to get it cheaper and easier

A beautiful new lawn on the farm is a serious challenge. The larger the areas, the greater the investment and even greater the time costs. We talked Inge Auželienėhorticulture expert, our course «Farm landscaping” teacher to talk about situations in which and how it is possible to transform the land into a beautiful lawn without spending a lot of money.

THE TRADITIONAL WAY: LOTS OF TIME, MONEY AND NO ECOLOGY

If you hire a company to install a lawn, by default they will most likely follow the usual practices in Lithuania: pushing the fields, spraying the grass with chemicals, leveling, rolling, seeding. I understand that you may not like the use of chemicals. I understand that you may not like the amount you will have to pay for a large area of new lawn. And you may not like the amount of maintenance required for a new lawn.

For this reason I asked I. Auželienė where it is easiest to see what alternatives are available for installing large lawn areas on the farm.

One thing you can’t avoid is that it will take a lot of time and work. However, in some cases, you may be able to reduce costs or avoid using chemicals that kill everything.

IF THE IRREGULARITIES ARE SMALL

To make mowing the lawn convenient, so that it is pleasant to walk on, it is very important the surface of the ground would be smooth. Are there hills, slopes, ravines in the large area of the farm? Everything is great, they do not interfere with the beautiful lawn. Is the ground pitted because it was once plowed, but is now just covered in clods? Yes, then there is a problem.

First you need to evaluate how noticeable such lumps and irregularities are, says I. Auželienė. If those the irregularities are minorMaybe it’s not worth spraying, leveling and reseeding it all over? there is a way:

Cut the grass as low as possible.
Bring soft, loose soil (no clods).
Just spread it on the grass. Indeed, right on the grass that grows.
Smooth with a roller or simply with a board. Here you have a smooth surface.

In places where the layer of filled soil is small, the tips of the grass stick out and, little by little, that thin layer will become too large. In those places where there were more bumps and you covered more ground, do not rush to do anything yet. If the grass still grows, no problem. If it doesn’t grow, you’ll notice bare areas, so add lawn seed on top.

This way the ground surface will be the same height, the grass will grow evenly and you will have an excellent lawn, even if you avoid spraying, moving the fields and reseeding the entire area.

IF THE IRREGULARITIES ARE EXTREMELY SMALL

There are cases when the surface of the earth appears visually smooth, but it is unpleasant to walk on it due to extremely small irregularities. They occur after many years of lawn maintenance (or too infrequent mowing), due to weeds, perennial grasses that form tufts after mole management. If we want to have a beautiful lawn, shouldn’t we remove everything and sow again? Not necessarily.

The formation of the lawn is strongly influenced by… mowing. Mow the lawn with a lawnmower or tractor as often as possible. The grass will get more sun, space and start to thicken, eventually filling in those little gaps. Frequent mowing changes the species composition of the lawn, as broad-leaved plants that do not like mowing die on their own, and bell grass multiplies. It is an effective way to combat lice, lice, milkweed, even bluebells and horseflies.

IF THE IRREGULARITIES ARE LARGE ENOUGH

If you’re designing a lawn where plows once stood or where the irregularities are very large, just mowing or spreading the topsoil won’t get you away.

In some cases milling can help, but this method is not always suitable.

If the irregularities are such that it is not possible to mow the lawn normally, then you will have to follow the standard path: destroy the existing grass, move the soil and sow the lawn again. For a large area, lawn installation work is expensive, so we asked the landscape course teacher for several further suggestions.

How to save money by installing large grass areas on the farm:

Combine different methods. If there are areas that can be improved by mowing, do so. And then install the others as usual. It is not necessary to manage the entire lawn area in one way. This will save you money, less chemical additives, less work.
The grass that lives naturally in your home is already adapted, resistant to drought and cold. As much as possible save him: hay, hay, hay. And the newly sown lawn will be beautiful for many years to come.
Sow before a wetter week. In order for the seeds to germinate well, they must be constantly moist. You probably won’t have an irrigation system on your farm? So ask heaven for help. Do not sow during the heat of summer, it is better to sow in early spring, when the soil is not yet dry, or in late summer, when there is a high probability of rain.
Choose the right mixture of seeds. We recommend that it contains fescue and cane fescue – they take root quickly, tolerate poor soil and drought. Lots of lawn fog, which we highly recommend for small, well-groomed areas, we do not recommend for farms. It looks good and is reliable in Lithuanian winters, but takes a long time to germinate: if the area is not watered, planting may not be successful.
If you save a lot, you can use lower seeding ratethan what is indicated on the packaging. But then definitely sow before rainy days for maximum germination.

In the courses we get a lot of questions about how to make a farm lawn look beautiful with less maintenance. There are several methods that we will talk about: choosing a pleasant and fast mowing method, growing a flowering lawn, directing attention to beautiful groups of plants, reducing the area of u200bu200bthe well-groomed lawn. It just takes a little knowledge, persistence, work and the right attitude to make your homestead a vacation and not just a chore.