Make Your New Lawn Now!

Summary: Success with your lawn depends on doing the right thing at the most favorable time.

A new or remodeled home deserves a new lawn, for after all it is an important part of the setting. All home owners contemplating lawn construction will welcome the word that there has been a marked reduction in the mortality rate of new lawns, and once the lawn is started right it is no longer necessary to remake it periodically.

There’s no trick to making a good lawn, all that is necessary is consideration of some of the fundamentals involved, namely:

• Drainage
• Topsoil
• Final grading
• Feeding
• Choice of seed or grass
• Sowing
• Early care
• Weed control

Grading and Drainage

First to be considered is the final grading and drainage. Before any topsoil is put in place, the fill or subsoil should be roughly graded to the desired finish contour allowing room for the addition of 4 to 6 inches of topsoil. By rough grading first it is possible to get a more uniform depth of topsoil throughout the entire lawn area.

For more on Click here to read this article on – Landscape Grading

Heavy, compact soils, especially in low lying areas, might need improved drainage. The right way to take care of this is to survey the property to determine the degree of natural slope and the location of existing drainage facilities.

Plastic drainage pipe is then installed 18 to 20 inches below the final surface. These drainage pipes can tie into drains serving the perimeter of the foundation and roof gutters. Filling ditches with gravel or crushed stone before replacing topsoil will also help the system do a better job of quickly removing excess water.

The ideal seedbed for a permanent lawn is made of soil having a uniform consistency. Must Read Our article on Improving Lawn Soil will help show the importance of having soil foundation for your your lawn as you move forward. Any layers of materials with contrasting textures in the upper 6 inches should be avoided. Begin to reserve your topsoil early. Before building excavation starts, pile it to one side for use later in lawn construction.

Abundance of Humus Preferred

Either a clay or sandy loam containing an abundance of humus is the preferred soil. It should have a granular texture and be friable enough to retain moisture without remaining sticky, but not becoming powdery when it dries. Such a soil 4 to 6 inches deep will provide a most favorable home for grass roots. Also, the deeper the root zone below 4 inches, the healthier the grass will be.

A pleasing grade from the beginning obviates a general facelifting after the grass has been started and also provides a means to carry the excess water off in the right direction. To develop this desirable grade, reference marks on several stakes placed in the ground will be a big help. A carpenter’s chalk line fastened 2 inches above the final lawn level and stretched tightly between stakes is better than trusting to the eye. To help point out high spots or low pockets, use a long board with its straight edge held on the unfinished surface. Then by alternately raking and shoveling, the excess topsoil can be transferred to lower areas.

Lawn Fertilizer – Starting The Grass On A Full Stomach

Physical condition is not the only soil factor contributing to the lawn of your dreams. The best grass is started off on a full stomach. Once the lawn is established, food can be applied only from the surface downward. So the right time to fortify a lawn for a vigorous start in life is just before planting. Special turf foods (Lawn Fertilizer) that have as high a content of nitrogen as phosphate and potash combined, applied at the rate of 20 pounds per 1,000 square feet and evenly worked into the top 2 inches, will do the best job on new lawns.

After taking great care in providing drainage, a pleasing grade and the most favorable soil available, it would certainly be foolish economy to plant anything but the finest quality lawn seed.

Since it’s a rare neighborhood where one grass is the best the year around, a blend of perennial grasses will provide the kind of lawn you want. Attempting to start by sowing a single variety is usually asking for a lawn headache. If you don’t know your lawn seed, then make it a point to become acquainted with the lawn professional before you purchase your lawn, grass or turf. Naturally, he will be hesitant about recommending anything that will not give you the best results. Never select lawn seed on the basis of price alone – cheap mixtures are the most expensive in the long run.

Spreaders Eliminate Guess Work

Only 4 or 5 pounds of high quality seed are required for 1,000 square feet of new seedbed. Inexpensive spreaders from companies like Scotts, take much of the guesswork out of planting the right amount of seed for a given area. But even with a spreader it is well to divide the seed in half, planting the first half in the usual manner, and the rest crosswise of the first sowing. This method practically eliminates any possibility of skipping spots.

Broadcasting the seed by hand is made easier if the lawn is divided into sections and a weighed amount of seed reserved for sowing each part. After the seed is sown, hand rake the area very lightly with a flexible lawn rake, being careful not to bury the seed any deeper than 1/8 inch. Rolling with a light roller will firm the soil around the seed and also serve as an alternate method of finishing the planting.

Early Stages

Bringing the new lawn through the early stages of development requires careful watching. It is seldom advisable to force germination by artificial watering since it is next to impossible to match the thoroughness of a gentle rain with sprinkling equipment. However, and underground irrigation system makes lawn maintenance much easier.

Keeping the sprouting grass alive once the green fuzz puts in its appearance is another thing. When rain clouds are giving you the go-by, faithful sprinkling with a fine spray several times daily is recommended. This is imperative when a warm or windy period follows the first appearance of the new grass. Keeping the surface moist will save your investment until the return of normal showers.

There is also a right time to give the lawn its first mowing. When most of the grass has reached the height of 2 to 3 inches, mowing will encourage more lateral growth, leading to a denser turf. The first cutting will he less likely to injure the grass if its foliage is free of moisture and the mower is sharp and adjusted to a cutting height of 1-1/2 to 2 inches.

Lawn Weeds

The rapid growth of weeds is not an uncommon problem faced by the builder of a new lawn. The first few mowings will destroy some weeds, but others may require the use of chemical weed killers. After the grass has been cut a half dozen times, and the temperature is in the low 70′s, it is safe to use a chemical weed control.

Check out – Enemies of Your Lawn

A number of soil and weather factors strongly favor autumn as the best season for planting new lawns and fixing up old fawns. One of the greatest advantages of fall lawn work is that the grass does not have to compete with weeds. It just isn’t natural for troublesome lawn weeds. such as crabgrass. to sprout and make rank development during this season.

New Grasses Versus Old For Better Lawns?

Every year new lawn grasses are put on the market, swelling the number that are already available. The introducers of the new lawn grasses claim that their strains are far superior to the older time-tested ones.

They often use only the juiciest superlatives in describing their new grasses. Should the homeowner tear up his lawn that is already established and reseed it with a new strain that is advertised as being far superior to the grass he now has? Or if he is building a new lawn, should he stake everything on the new strains and completely disregard the time-tested strains of bluegrass, bent, and fescue that have served well for so many decades?

Judging New Grasses

Just how should the home gardener judge all the information on the new grasses that he reads? It is true that new grasses often represent long years of patient work by highly gifted specialists, and the research men who develop them are usually honest and accurate in their statements. As is true with anything new, however, the advertisers and writers of popular articles may over-emphasize the good qualities of the new strain and completely disregard the poor qualities.

When judging for yourself the merits of a new lawn grass, You would do well to remember that the introducer has tested his new strain for a relatively short time when compared with the older, common strains. Most likely, he has tested it under the most favorable conditions. Also, he probably has not grown the grass under the widely varied conditions that exist in the United States.

Only the rough and tumble test of being tried by millions of lawn makers under every combination of conditions over a period of a decade or more will determine the real importance of these new grasses to American horticulture.

The soundest procedure for the homeowner to follow in judging the merits of a new strain of lawn grass is to plant a small test plot with the new seed and then judge its performance.

To be a good strain a lawn grass should meet the following standards:

First Grass Test

First, it must persist under your environmental conditions soil structure and texture, moisture conditions, exposure, temperatures and so forth. There is no one grass that will persist under all climatic conditions, but instead, each grass is adapted to a specific region. A good grass is one that performs well consistently in its own unique area.

Second Grass Test

Second, it should be able to reproduce itself from year to year without losing its outstanding qualities, and should be a good seed producer.

Third Grass Test

Third, it should have a reasonable tolerance to disease. It is always advisable to choose a seed that is known to have a high degree of natural resistance.

Fourth Grass Test

Fourth, it should be able to produce a good quality turf for the particular purpose for which you are using it. Some of the important characteristics of a fine turf are resistance to wear, good color and desirable texture. The performance of the new strain should be judged over a period of at least three years.

And finally, to be the best grass for you. it should be superior to the grass that you now have in at least one of the above qualities.

The smart gardener’s motto was well stated by Alexander Pope many years ago. when he said, “Be not the first by whom the new is tried, nor yet the last to cast the old aside.”

Lawn Grasses Selection For Warmer Regions

Summary: Select a grass for your lawn that will best meet your needs, in soil type, care and location. There are several to choice for those in the warmer regions – zoysia, St Augustine, Bermuda and centipede

Question: We are looking to put in a new lawn and could use some advice on the best grasses for our area of the south. John, Helena, AL

Answer: John, since your home is in the South, I won’t waste your time by showing you the northern models. People keep trying to use them – red top, bents, fescues, and others – but in most of the South, they’re as unhappy as penguins in the Sahara Desert. They don’t last long. Maybe you’ve already learned the hard way that these northern grasses, and lawn mixtures carrying them, just don’t belong in Dixie.

You still have a number to choose from, however, and to, help you make the choice, we’ve prepared a chart showing some of their requirements. Study this chart, remembering that for best results the grass must fit the environment.

Suppose you live south of Birmingham. Forget about bluegrass.

Are there a number of trees in your lawn, but the shade is not heavy? Zoysia and St. Augustine would be your best choices, but carpet and centipede could also be used.

You say the soil is well-drained and very sandy, tending to get very dry when rainfall is short? Cross off carpet grass unless you can water in dry periods. Be prepared to use a little extra lawn fertilizer if you decide on Zoysia or St. Augustine. You won’t have much time to give your lawn? Then centipede grass is probably your best choice.

Green Grass Year Round

You’re looking for a grass that will be green the year around? So are we, but we haven’t found it yet. Grasses that do well in the summer turn brown after the first freeze and those that stay green in the winter turn brown and usually die when summer comes. Zoysia will tolerate more frost than other summer-growing grasses but frosts around 26° turn it brown, too.

If you must have a green lawn the year around plant domestic (Italian) ryegrass in your summer grass each fall, Broadcast ryegrass seed evenly and work it down in contact with the soil. Water to hasten germination, fertilize freely and mow regularly for best results.

If you live in the Bluegrass belt, new some of the newer bluegrass a try. They give more disease resistance and superior turf qualities make it a good buy even though the seed costs more.

Bermuda Grass Lawn

If your lot and your needs call for a Bermuda grass lawn, remember the lot must be sunny and well-drained and if the soil is not fertile, frequent fertilization will be necessary. Few grasses will stand as much wear as Bermuda grass and, as a grass to grow in association with ryegrass for year-around green lawns, it is unsurpassed. Some of the new varieties – Cheyenne, Patriot and Tifgreen makes a greener, denser, more beautiful turf than common Bermuda and recovers much faster when overseeded with ryegrass. Although it must be established from sprigs, its rapid rate of spread permits wide spacing and keeps establishment costs low.

Growing Centipede

Growing centipede from seed makes it possible to cut costs. This is good news to the city dweller who wants a lawn that requires a minimum of care. Centipede grass cannot be recommended for farm lawns, however, because it will eventually get into pastures and make them worthless.

There will be other grasses; some good, some bad. Every spring new “dream grasses” are reported to do all of the things homeowners have ever asked of lawn grasses make the headlines. But unless you wish to make an experiment station of your lawn and are willing to risk failure, you will do well to use those grasses that have stood the test of time.

Remember the best grass in the world will fail without proper care. Most southern soils require five to ten pounds of a good complete fertilizer such as 10-10-10 per 1,000 square feet early every spring. One or more applications of a nitrogen fertilizer (two to four pounds per 1,000 square feet), Milorganite, or cottonseed meal (five to ten pounds per 1,000 square feet) made during the summer will improve the color, thicken the stand, and help crowd out weeds. Apply fertilizer when grass is dry and water it in to prevent burning.

Regular and frequent mowing increases sod density, discourages weeds and makes any lawn grass more beautiful. Southern turf grasses, with the exception of bluegrass, should be mowed at a height of approximately 1-1/2 inches. Mow frequently enough that clippings can be allowed to fall without smothering the grass. Every week to ten days is best in midsummer when growing conditions are optimum.

Water the lawn thoroughly when evidence of wilting is apparent. Check the amount of water your sprinkler puts out by placing an empty can in the area being watered. Don’t move the sprinkler until there’s at least one-half inch of water in the can. Don’t water again until the grass shows evidence of wilting.

If your lawn begins to show unexplainable signs of dying, consult your county agent. He can supply or obtain the assistance you need. Remember: a good lawn, like good health, is easier to keep than to recover, once lost.