Preparing the land for a rolled lawn on the site. How to compact soil under a lawn

Finally, our family joined the caste of summer residents. This year we bought a plot with a house and are improving it. We decided to sow lawn grass in front of the house for convenience and beauty. But we don’t know what the soil for a lawn should be like. Help with advice.

Once you decide to seed your lawn, you face many questions. First, you need to prepare the area for sowing, remove all debris, roots and stumps. Decide what kind of soil will be for the lawn and what kind of fertilizing should be used. Next, organize compaction of the top layer of soil. All these preparatory stages it is necessary to go through both for sowing grass and for the device. Let's look at all the operations in more detail.

Preparing the area for the lawn yourself

If you are cultivating an area that has not previously been landscaped, you will encounter some difficulties. To begin with, you must completely remove all debris from the area: stones, branches, construction waste, and so on. The paths will also have to be completely removed, since all this can prevent further processing of the site.

Stumps and old roots should be uprooted. Also clear the area of ​​growth and debris from flower plantings, especially pay attention to weed control so that they do not grow on the lawn. Some gardeners advise removing upper layer soil to ensure that your lawn is free of weeds. Weed control can also be carried out using herbicides, which will eradicate all unnecessary plants, penetrating into their stems and roots. The only inconvenience is that it will be possible to seed the lawn no earlier than after six weeks. All this time it will be necessary to destroy the emerging plants.

Digging soil under the lawn

Further steps to prepare the soil include digging up the soil. When using high-quality soil, it is necessary to dig up the area to a depth of no more than one shovel bayonet, making sure to break up pieces of soil. Add fertilizer or compost to the soil during the process.

If the area has not been subjected to any treatment for a long time, then more thorough digging is required:

• Divide the area under the lawn into smaller plots, in each of which remove the top layer of soil and set it aside;
• Process the bottom layer of soil with a pitchfork;
• Remove the layer from the second plot and fill the first with it;
• Repeat with the first section.

Don't forget to break up the clumps. Add fertilizer, manure or compost. If your site has soil with a high clay content, then use drainage to improve its quality. Crushed stone or gravel is suitable as drainage, which is laid on the lower layer of earth during digging.

Leveling the soil on the site

After digging the area, go over it with a rake. Inspect the area and determine whether it is level enough. If you find hillocks, move the soil from them to the lowlands, thereby leveling the ground level.

Make sure that the bottom layer of soil does not mix with the top. For more correct work on leveling the ground, carry it out on the lower layer of soil. To do this, remove the top, fertile layer and level the soil, then fill the top layer back. The fertile layer should be about twenty centimeters; this thickness can be achieved by mixing existing soil with purchased soil, which will provide better nutrition for the lawn grass.

The final stage of preparation

After leveling the ground, compact it yourself in small steps or using a roller. This is done so that the soil does not settle unevenly after rain. After the first compaction, go over the area with a rake and compact it again.

After all the manipulations, you will get the ideal area for the lawn.

Video: preparing soil for a lawn

For the third year now, I have had to convince myself that for a novice homeowner, a lawn is not a luxury, but a necessity: the same as carpeting or parquet (to each his own) in a city apartment. " Landscape design invented for the lazy, that is, for you and me,” said a neighboring builder. IN far corner Of his ten acres, he stored for a long time all the garbage that formed after clearing the site, stones, cuttings of building materials, and had no intention of taking them out. When the hill settled in the spring, he leveled it with sand and covered it with geotextiles, made a beautiful mound on which he planted grass, planted flower beds and apple trees.

My dacha is also almost built, you can live in the house. But nature does not give up. Raspberries and fireweed grow on fragments cleared of stumps and weeds (I have a wooded area). Plantain makes its way along the trodden paths on the sand and gravel mixture. The coppice, freed from dead wood and perennial layers of dead wood, is overgrown with weeds. This is a typical picture for the new dacha villages of the North-West, where plots were cut out in swamps generously flavored with humus, where there is abundant water and fertile soil, on which hundreds of species of vegetation desperately fight for survival.

But there are also other areas in our area, for example, with depleted clay soil of yesterday’s state farm fields, and stunted shoots emerge through the crust, and any rain turns the soil into a viscous slurry. The same picture is in old gardening, where grandparents grew root crops by actively sprinkling the soil with chemical fertilizers. If we exclude the idea of ​​concreting and asphalting ten acres, there remains one option for taming nature - creating so-called technical lawns around the house and gradually expanding them, so that in three years the entire area will be “under control.” Let's say right away: it will not be possible to develop the entire area in one fell swoop, even if you bring a tractor and a crowd of migrant workers. In this case, you will spend the three years allotted for the arrangement clearing out the rubble, eliminating errors and fighting weeds. If the territory is more than three hundred square meters, it should be “combed” gradually, winning back footholds and establishing control over small zones - several tens of square meters per month, two to three hundred square meters per year. Experience shows that in this situation there will be enough time for healthy rest and for other construction and landscaping work.

So, our task is to turn the weeds into a lawn. So that already at the beginning of next summer you can walk barefoot on the young grass, and nothing will squelch, prick or crawl under your feet.

Step one: study the theory

First, let's look at the specialized literature. The best book on lawn construction is “All About the Lawn” by D. G. Hesayon. It is advisable to read it in order to have an idea of ​​what types of grasses grow on what soils, as well as how to control weeds using general and selective herbicides.

Often, a novice dacha owner generously waters the birch trees and raspberries protruding from under the new foundation with either Roundup or Tornado (it’s immediately obvious practical aids and does not read smart books, but gains knowledge on agricultural technology by studying the labels on bags of seeds and packages of drugs and fertilizers). Common situation? Meanwhile, there will be no “freebies”: not all weeds can be eradicated with herbicides, and “chemistry” is powerless against shrubs. Nature will take revenge for a thoughtless attitude. Therefore, you should definitely study the theory, and suggest that your practicing neighbor read a book about lawns.

From it you can learn about the properties different types lawn grasses, how to feed and treat them (and they also get sick), and correct mistakes that, obviously, will occur. All this will come in handy in the end. But do not forget that this book, although literate, is translated. Lawn agricultural technology in the conditions of the Russian North-West has different specifics from European and American ones, and seed mixtures, which are presented in abundance on the shelves of super- and hypermarkets, are also of imported origin.

On packages of lawn grass seeds, their purpose is usually highlighted in large font (front, sports turf, grass mixture for shaded areas...) and small - the composition and proportions of the mixture. But the information, in beaded letters, is much more important. I will not go into details, I will only give what I had to verify from my own experience.

The basis of the most affordable and most low-maintenance grass mixtures is perennial ryegrass. The English name speaks for itself. This ragrice germinates well, quickly produces succulent shoots, but suffers from a weak root system and does not tolerate our damp winters with constant temperature changes around zero. A tough, trampling-resistant sports lawn of rich color can be obtained from it in the warm southern states or somewhere in the black soil zone of the Russian Federation (although problems are said to occur there too), but not in the Leningrad region. If the mixture contains 60% or more seeds of this exotic grass for us, be prepared for the fact that the lawn will turn out to be disposable. Although it will kill the weeds in the cleared meadow, next season you will have to deal with hummocks and bald patches.

In our region, mixtures with a high content of field fescue and meadow grass are preferred. You won’t have to count on bluegrass in the first year, but in the next year, if the mixture is of high quality and the soil for sowing is prepared correctly, it will delight you with a dense and even grass carpet. There is another problem: the composition of the grass mixture indicated on the packaging does not always correspond to what is inside. The result obtained is the same. Therefore, ask your neighbors - owners of successful, from your point of view, lawns, what kind of seeds they bought. If no one around is “planting” lawns, and you buy material in hypermarkets, take mixtures different manufacturers and in small quantities. You will have to establish quality experimentally.

So, having studied the properties of herbicides and grass mixtures, put the book down. Everything in it is true for a tiny lawn in a drier and warmer climate than ours. If you cultivate a plot according to science, and even with truly British pedantry, you will have to devote everything to it free time. And you have fifteen or twenty hundred square meters of weeds, then Hesayon ​​will not help.

Our goal is a lazy (that is, one that does not require serious costs and effort) lawn on soil freed from wild vegetation and construction waste. There are three things to keep in mind when doing this. Firstly, it is advisable to level, compact and sow an area of ​​any size, cleared of debris, stumps and weeds. Otherwise, weeds will grow again. Secondly, any lawn, even a technical one, will have to be mowed, not allowing the grass to grow waist-deep and then dry out: fire-hazardous dead wood is the homeowner’s first enemy. If you don’t have the opportunity to mow the entire area weekly, choose mixtures of slow-growing herbs (there are some available for sale) for nooks and crannies. Third, remember that you cannot “fix” a swamp with stagnant water with your lawn. The waterlogged piece will have to be raised, after providing drainage.

Step two: preparing the base

So, the area that you intend to sow with grass should be solid and water should not collect on it. Therefore, we uproot trees and shrubs, cut out hummocks, and weed out weeds. In theory, everything is simple and clear, but for a wooded area this stage is the most labor-intensive. By marking the scope of work with ropes and pegs, we will solve two problems: we will create a guideline for leveling the surface (the ropes must be pulled strictly horizontally, according to the level) and we will rid ourselves of the temptation to continue raking the rubble in breadth and depth (this way, you may not calculate your strength and abandon everything out of fatigue ).

Landowners, whose experience in developing a territory is limited to two or three uprooted stumps, usually ask: is it possible to cut the trees at the root and cover them with earth or plant oyster mushroom mycelium on the stumps so that they crumble, eaten by delicious mushrooms. Alas, believe a summer resident with three years of experience, in both cases, slowly rotting horizontal roots will remain in the soil. Despite the generous “sprinkles” on top, you are guaranteed to have dips and toadstool mushrooms. The work of eliminating woody remains can be made easier by cutting down small trees - waist-deep and slightly higher. It is good to use a trunk sticking out of the ground as a lever in order to pull out the entire root with a winch with a cable or by hand. For extracting long roots suitable tool in the form of a durable metal hook with a long handle. Grass tussocks are cut out good knife. The soil exposed in this way is still unsuitable for sowing: there are a lot of half-decayed roots and woody remains that need to be removed. Dips and potholes formed after uprooting can be filled with half-decayed organic matter mixed with sand and compacted. We remove high-quality humus, sort it out, freeing it from the roots, and transport it in a cart to an open area, on a previously laid piece. polyethylene film or other material - we will still need it. If the area is swampy, it is necessary to provide drainage, that is, drainage.

Let's consider a case that is, as they say, couldn't be more complicated: the area planned for a lawn is swampy and, in addition, also low - there is nowhere to drain the water. If we are talking about a small fragment (up to several tens of square meters), it makes sense to make a backfill of sand, crushed stone, or a sand-gravel mixture. Enlightened homeowners use geotextiles for such work - a non-woven material characterized by considerable tensile strength. Its main function is to prevent the mixing of soil layers. If the soil is heterogeneous, it makes sense to use geotextile fabric, but preference should be given to non-dense materials used in road construction, but to the most affordable canvases of minimum density that allow water to pass through well (look for specifications on the manufacturers’ websites).

If in such an area we find the bed of a stream that has gone underground or an overgrown pond, it is useless to fight them: we clear it, monitor the watercourse, and in places where solid soil is needed, we lay drainage pipes. We strengthen the banks of a cleared reservoir (stream, drainage ditch) with soil-reinforcing gratings (they are sold in the same place where geotextiles are sold), compact the soil and also sow grass. Heavily wetlands require professional design of complex drainage systems- Half measures are usually not enough.

Preparing depleted soil for a lawn comes down to leveling it and forming a fertile layer on the surface. Simply put, you add what is missing (sand or humus) to its top layer, mix thoroughly (best with a light cultivator), level and tamp. At the very least, it will be easier to control weeds. If there is viscous clay under your feet, after leveling the area, it is good to sprinkle it with sand, and on top form a fertile layer of soil (sand, clay and peat in equal proportions) of at least 10–12 cm. This is quite enough to create a high-quality grass cover in the problem area.

However, lawn grasses, as well as any cultivated plants They do not tolerate poorly drained soils with stagnant water. Therefore, the lawn, or more precisely, the clay layer, must have a slope to drain thawed and surface waters. If there is nowhere for the water to go, you have to raise the soil, preparing a more complex layered “pie”: leveled surface - geotextile - drainage layer - geotextile - fertile layer. In all cases, a “breathing” layer of coarse sand is required between the fertile soil layer and the clay base.

Step three: level and compact the soil

A landowner who has dealt only with beds and is laying out a lawn for the first time usually plows and loosens the soil before sowing grass. And this is the most typical mistake: after several rains, the carefully “whipped” base begins to settle in waves, similar to small ripples on the water, and then dips and gullies form on such a lawn. To make the lawn even, the soil must not be loosened, but compacted. Ideally, there should be no distinct shoe marks left on the surface prepared for sowing.

Leveling and compacting the lawn is no less important than preparing the foundation. Plowed and pliable soil is leveled with a long (about 2 m) board, and the best sealant There will be old sandals or boots, to the soles of which 30–50 cm scraps of thin and light boards are attached. The main thing is that these homemade “skis” do not fall off your feet and are not too heavy, otherwise “dancing” in them will quickly tire you.

So, after compaction, we got a flat, trampled area. Now it is advisable to take a break in order to observe its condition (we level out and compact the unevenness that appears) and the weeds (we pull them out). If sowing lawn grass produced in early summer, the soil should be kept fallow for at least a month; if it’s in the middle or at the end, time is already running out, but you need to wait at least a week. The main thing is to remember that right now you can easily get rid of the first enemies of a decent lawn - hummocks and depressions. Then, when the shoots appear, it will be much more difficult to do this.

Step four: sowing grass

The best time to sow is when the surface is slightly dry after a good rain. Seize the moment. After all, before the emergence of seedlings, the area should be watered only in case of emergency (if there is a drought), with great caution and only after sunset. But not with a stream from a hose (it will wash away the seeds), but with the help of a sprinkler attachment with small streams. If there is no rain, we water the future lawn generously (with a hose while you can), correct the resulting unevenness and gullies, compact the loose areas with “skis,” then lightly scratch the surface with a fan rake, 1–2 cm (after all, not asphalt).

Now you can sow. There is no special wisdom here. Be sure to mix the contents of the package thoroughly. The seeds should be distributed over the surface as evenly as possible, the approximate consumption is 2–3 tablespoons per square meter. Try not to make any gaps and don't be afraid to sprinkle the seeds too thickly. Nature will take its toll: it will grow exactly as much as needed.

Now all that remains is to be patient, stick up a sign “The lawn is seeded” and fence off the area of ​​the future lawn with a rope stretched over pegs. In spring, seedlings appear within two to three weeks, but if you sow closer to autumn, the grass sprouts faster. When the grass rises 8–10 cm and becomes slightly stronger, you can try trimming it with using easy electric mower with sharp blades. If you have not yet purchased a mower, hold off on purchasing it until next year, in the meantime, mow the grass with a trimmer (which every novice landowner probably has), maintaining a height of 5–6 cm, but try to do it carefully. To avoid the formation of bald spots, be sure to remove cut grass from the lawn: a compacted cover of dry grass prevents seedlings from emerging.

How not to overstrain yourself: proper organization of work

So, the process of gas construction is very, very labor-intensive. We promised to tell you about the lawn for the lazy. How to make your life easier? Only by proper organization of work.

Firstly, complex and problem areas should be cultivated in small fragments - 5–10 square meters. m, no more. But in the average area there are usually few of them.

Secondly, “call a friend” and “help from the audience” are always available. TO hard work(moving earth masses, uprooting, clearing, removing, removing and burning garbage) you can attract hired workers (relatives, neighbors). Your actions in this case boil down to proper organization work and monitoring its implementation.

Thirdly, no one says that you should turn all six (ten, twenty...) acres into a lawn in one season. First, you need to draw up an action plan, that is, determine which parts of the site need priority “greening”, and which parts can be postponed. First of all, with the help of a technical lawn, you need to get rid of the overgrowth of weeds from buildings (houses, gazebos, bathhouses, barns...). Around the blind area and perimeter paths wooden house It is advisable to provide a three- to four-meter strip of shade-tolerant grass that is resistant to trampling. Forming a dense grass cover around the path leading from the gate to the house -

also from the category of priority tasks. Further options are possible: one will prefer to expand the property, cutting new pieces to the already cultivated lawn, the other will begin to develop the outer perimeter of the site (along the fences and drainage ditches). Let's consider standard version: plot of 10 acres. with a new house 6 x 8 m, the soil around which needs to be cultivated by 4 m, and a 7 m long road leading to the house, along which stripes need to be formed on both sides grass cover 1.5 m wide. I won’t give the arithmetic calculation, but you will need about 200 sq. m. m (that is, two hundred square meters) of lawn. This is the volume that the right approach easy to keep in order, remaining in good shape. But don’t forget that these two hundred square meters will have to be mowed, weeded, removed weeds, fed nitrogen fertilizers. In addition, they need to eliminate unevenness, bumps and bald spots. But more about this in the following publications.

Created: 12/11/2018 12:54

Preparing the soil for a lawn requires a number of measures, regardless of whether the lawn is seeded or artificial, in the form of a roll. For specific cases, some steps can be omitted.

When clearing the area, you need to free it completely from stones, branches, fragments of boards, bricks and other debris.

Some plants are usually left on the lawn, otherwise it will be boring. You can leave the stumps as they may be useful. You can plant mycelium on them or make a seat, table, or stand. Some stumps are very difficult to remove. When there are many of them, the landscape becomes like deforestation.

Weed removal begins with hand weeding. First, the largest ones are pulled out along with the roots. They dig up the area and again select the remaining roots; there will be a lot of them. You can use herbicides that are sprayed on the area. After some time, the grass dries to the roots, then the ground is also dug up and dry roots and stems are selected. Do not forget that herbicides destroy everything and it takes at least two weeks to remove them from the soil.

Creating drainage is a very important stage in laying a lawn. The fertile layer is removed, it must be removed to the side and not mixed with regular soil. The resulting ditch is filled with large stones. The thickness of the backfill is 15cm. You can use gravel, brick, pieces of concrete, large pebbles. Then they make a layer of small stones and its thickness is already smaller - 10 cm. Each layer must be compacted. The resulting structure is covered with a fertile layer, i.e. return the fertile layer to its place.

In order for the seed lawn to be best quality, the soil is improved before sowing. If it is heavy and clayey, sand is added to it and the area is dug up. If the soil is sandy and crumbly, then peat is added to it.

The thickness of the fertile layer should be more than 10 cm. It is often increased by bringing in additional soil, because It is necessary to make a slope from it, along which the water does not stagnate and flows down. As a result, excess water does not form and the lawn does not rot.

The grass on the lawn should not dry out; it should be watered with a hose. It is very important where the hose is attached. Along the lawn, at a depth of 50 cm, lay plastic pipes, the trench to dig for them is very narrow and it won’t take much time. Only the fitting with the tap comes out of the ground, and the pipes are filled up. A short hose is connected to the tap and watering is carried out.

in autumn and in early spring When the ground thaws, the lawn is fertilized. Mulch with organic fertilizers and add mineral fertilizers.

It is better to prepare the soil for the lawn at the end of summer, and to sow it with grass in early spring, as soon as the snow melts. This area is covered with a film, the soil quickly warms up in the sun and is ready to receive the seeds. After sowing, the soil must be compacted and covered again with film for a while until green grass appears, after which the film is removed.

The lawn should be as shown on the plan. It should be corrected by sowing seeds in those places where the grass has not sprouted, trimmed with a rake and you can enjoy the emerald greenery.

​Similar articles​

​. As for the cost of services, depending on the organization and the equipment used, prices will vary.​

The alignment process itself goes like this:

Cleaning the area and preparing the area for a lawn

​The place where the soil was removed should​ ​If the soil is clayey, then sand should be used to fill the area.​

​The first method - manually - is usually used when leveling small areas of land to​

How to properly dig up soil for a lawn

​, and it is desirable that the weather during this period be sunny and dry.​

​Mineral fertilizers, which at this stage can be best distributed throughout the area, are an integral component in preparing the soil for a lawn. So that the soil does not sag after rain, and the lawn grass takes root better, the soil after applying organic feeding compacted with a special roller.​

​The grass can be mowed for the first time 4-6 weeks after germination. After about 8 weeks, a uniform, thick cover should form on the lawn.​

• ​Sow seeds in dry, windless weather. When sowing, ensure that the seeds are distributed evenly. To do this, measure the area, divide it into square meters and for each square meter weigh out as many seeds as recommended for the grass mixture. Scatter each part of the seeds first along the site, then across it. A large plot can also be divided into strips and sowed stripes first along and then across, covering approximately 8 cm of the adjacent strip. Plant the seeds into the soil with a fan rake to a depth of about 1 cm.​
• ​The last furrow is filled with the soil that was dug at the very beginning.​
• ​Preparing the soil for a lawn is comparable to laying a solid foundation for a house. The more responsibly you take this important stage, the smoother and neater the finished lawn will look, and the more less problems will arise with him later. Be prepared for the fact that it will take you a lot of time and effort, but the result is worth it!​
• ​For example, order alignment in winter time you can, on average, for
• ​10-15 centimeters​

​cover with sand

Leveling the site and top layer of soil

​To independently level an area with a slope you will need the following

​8 acres​

​Advice!​

Final preparation of the soil for the lawn

Next, the entire surface is processed using a rake, giving it the appearance of a dense shortbread cake sprinkled with fine crumbs. After this, the preparation of mail for the lawn can be considered complete. However, professional gardeners recommend leaving the area for 1-2 months and only then starting to sow grass. During this time, the freshly cultivated soil will inevitably acquire several defects (it will shrink and become covered with a new wave of weeds), which will have to be eliminated.​ ​Soil preparation is the first and one of the most important stages in creating a lawn, mistakes in which are quite difficult, and sometimes even impossible, to correct in the future. To carry out this labor-intensive process, it is necessary to clear the area of ​​weeds and debris, dig and level the soil, apply fertilizer, compact and re-level the top layer of soil.​

​It is better to cover the crops with light non-woven material to protect against birds and to retain moisture. If the weather is dry after sowing, the area will have to be watered regularly. Tip: never water with a hose with strong pressure - the stream of water will wash the seeds to the surface, and gullies and bald spots will appear on the lawn. It is best to water your lawn using a fine mist sprinkler. Shoots usually appear after 2-3 weeks. When the grass grows to 5-6 cm, the surface of the lawn should be rolled with a light roller so that the soil raised by the seedlings is compacted. After a few days, the crushed shoots will straighten out and it will be possible to carry out the first haircut. Mow the lawn grass for the first time when it reaches a height of 8-10 cm, leaving at least 5 cm. Then cut the grass every 7-10 days, without allowing it to outgrow.​

Well-rotted manure or compost can be added to the soil. With poor drainage and clay soil Preparing the soil for a lawn also includes creating a drainage layer - during two-tier digging, crushed stone or gravel is poured onto the lower level.​

orchardo.ru

HOW TO CORRECTLY PREPARATE THE LAND BEFORE SEEDING THE LAWN | Do it yourself - How to do it yourself

​You will need to clear the selected area of ​​debris, remove weeds and uproot stumps, dig up the soil, level the surface, apply fertilizer, compact the top layer of soil, and then loosen and level again. You will have to work especially hard if the area has not been developed before. It doesn’t matter whether you plan to sow the area with grass yourself or lay rolled lawn- soil preparation for the lawn will be the same.​ ​200 rub. for 1 square meter

Careful leveling

​The top soil is removed and piled up at the edge of the site (all this must be done using a fork and a shovel).​

Compact the area under the lawn

​layer​

Uniform sowing

​materials​

Before the first mowing

​. This requires virtually no cash outlay - just time and effort. From necessary tools You will need a pitchfork, shovel or rake. Manual leveling occurs as follows: you need to remove the top layer of soil (​

Preparing a lawn site step by step

​The best time to prepare for leveling a plot of land is the beginning of spring, since after the snow melts there is more debris on the plot.​

​C​

​Preparing the soil for a lawn, like laying a reliable foundation for a house, will require not only responsibility from the performer, but also a considerable amount of time and effort. A site that has never been developed before will require special efforts. In this case, it absolutely does not matter what type of green covering we are talking about - the preparation of the soil for both the artificial and the classic living version will be the same.​

​It is very important from the very beginning of laying a lawn to avoid mistakes and complete the work carefully.​

​In the photo preparatory work to arranging a lawn

​. Leveling the ground with a bulldozer will cost approximately

​10-15 cm​

​10-15 centimeters​

​Having cleared the area, you can begin to perform the following actions:​

​specially​

kak-svoimi-rukami.com

Preparing the soil for the lawn

​Preparation of a site for a lawn should begin with a thorough cleaning of the designated area, which must be cleared not only of household and construction waste, but also such natural materials, like branches, stones, chips, etc. It is not recommended to bury any foreign objects in the ground, since in the future they will interfere with the full development of the root system of lawn grass, and can also damage garden equipment.​

​1. PREPARE THE SOIL​

Cleaning the area

So that the grass on small hills does not look cut short, and in the lowlands it does not look too long, you need to take care in advance of how to level the area for the lawn. To do this, walk with a rake over the dug up area, at the same time removing old roots and stones that are on the surface. From time to time, carefully inspect the area from the side so that its level is the same from different points. Move the soil from the hillocks to the lowlands for leveling, but keep in mind: all unevenness will reappear after the ground settles.​

​The first thing to do is to clear the area of ​​construction and household debris, wood chips, stones, branches, etc. Just do not bury small debris in the ground, otherwise problems may arise later when using equipment, and foreign objects will interfere with the development of the plant root system. If you had concrete or stone paths where you plan to place the lawn, you will have to completely remove them down to the very base.​

​50 rub. for 1 square meter

• ​clean up the ground

Digging up soil

1. ​pegs​
2. ​) and fold it at the edge of the plot (using a shovel and pitchfork). After this, move the earth from hills to holes (usually there are many such places). And the last step will be to return the top layer of soil to its place and level it (here you will need a rake). After carrying out the above actions, let the area stand (​
3. ​First, you need to divide the area into
4. ​for stranamasterov.net​

Leveling the area

The area for the lawn must be completely cleared of old flower beds, unnecessary concrete or stone paths, as well as trees, shrubs and young growth. Particular attention should be paid to the issue of weed destruction. You can get rid of it manually, for example, by removing thin layer turf with a bayonet shovel or using special chemicals - herbicides. The second option for weed control is more effective and allows you to completely destroy unwanted vegetation in a few days.​

​Before sowing seeds, the soil must be thoroughly loosened. After digging with a walk-behind tractor, it is enough to loosen the soil with a cultivator. The top layer of soil must be dry before sowing.​

Final works

​When leveling the area, try not to mix the top layer of soil with the bottom. If you need to level out hummocks and depressions, it is better to temporarily remove the fertile layer and put it aside, carry out all leveling work at the level of the lower layer, and then pour the fertile soil back. If there is a lack of fertile soil on the site (the layer must be at least 20 cm), you can purchase it and mix it with the existing soil - this will ensure uniform drainage.​

​Video about preparing soil for a lawn​

​. Consultation and visit of a specialist can cost from​​from hills to holes, and at the end return the top layer of soil to its place and level it with a rake.​ ​After these steps, it is worth visually determining the point at which you need to level the territory, and drive into this place​with a mark of 10 cm​

stranamasterov.net

Leveling a plot of land with your own hands - instructions for performing the work. Press!

Preparing the area for leveling

​two weeks is enough​ ​9 equal parts​ mirabilis

​Read also:​ ​2. IMPROVE SOIL QUALITY​Before you prepare the soil for the lawn, you need to add mineral fertilizers to it, because in any case the soil will not have enough useful substances, and fertilizing at this stage will allow the best distribution of fertilizers in the ground. Organic fertilizers are applied in spring and autumn.​

The land for the lawn should also be completely cleared of trees, shrubs, young growth, and former flower beds. Special attention is devoted to the destruction of weeds. You can remove a thin layer of turf with a bayonet shovel and subsequently use it as fertile soil (put the turf in a stack with its roots up in the far corner of the garden, and within six months it will turn out to be excellent fertile soil). Another option is to get rid of weeds using chemicals (Reglon or Roundup), which penetrate through the stems and leaves of plants into root system, in a few days they completely destroy all the grass. After using herbicides, it is recommended to sow lawn grass seeds only after six weeks, carefully weeding out the weeds that appear during this period.​ ​500 to 1400 rubles​​A slight drawback is the wait, because after all the above steps you need to wait a couple of weeks for the ground to settle down. If there is no desire or opportunity to wait, then you can crush the earth with the help of

​peg​​construction level​​) and use as intended

• ​and for greater convenience, mark them with pegs (insert pegs approximately every three meters)​ ​Before you begin the leveling itself, it is necessary to remove all​How to properly plant a lawn on your property​
• Add sand to heavy soil and compost to sandy soil. Then level the surface with a board. 7-10 days before sowing, apply a complex mineral fertilizer, carefully raking it into the surface layer of soil.​ ​Video about the lawn, preparing the land for sowing​​Further preparation of the soil for the lawn involves carefully digging it up. This stage cannot be skipped, even if it seems very difficult. good soil(after a garden or flower bed) it is enough to dig to the depth of one bayonet of a shovel, turning over and breaking pieces of earth. A simple single-tier digging is only suitable for soil that was previously cultivated, since only the top layer of soil is prepared, and the bottom layer remains unchanged.​

Methods for leveling land

​ramming roller​​. From this point, the leveled earth is divided into a grid (squares), and a peg is also driven into each corner of this grid (it should be equal in height to the very first peg - which holds the maximum height)​ ​not less than 30 cm​

1. ​The second method is to level the area using​ ​At some distance from the ground (​​garbage​​After cleaning the area, the soil for the lawn is dug up. If earlier this area land has been cultivated, you can use a simple single-tier digging, allowing you to work to the depth of one shovel bayonet. If we are talking about soil, which for a long time has not been processed, will require two-tier digging. To do this, you must perform the following steps:​ ​3. ROLL THE SURFACE The leveled ground should be trampled down in small steps or compacted with a lawn roller so that it does not sag after rain. In addition, grass will take root better in compacted soil. When the soil under the lawn is thoroughly compacted, walk along its surface with a rake again, leveling any uneven areas and removing stones. As a result, the surface of the earth should look like a pie sprinkled with sand crumbs, while remaining quite dense inside.​ ​Photo of digging up soil for a lawn​
2. ​You can see how to level a plot of land with your own hands in this video:​ ​. ​ ​In principle, the last action is the​
3. ​bar​ ​cultivator, walk-behind tractor​about 10 centimeters​ ​.​ ​Dig a furrow across the entire area with one bayonet of a shovel.​

   Leveling an area with a slope

   ​For germination, seeds must be in as close contact with the soil as possible. Therefore, immediately before sowing, the soil must be compacted using a roller. In small areas, the soil can be compacted using planks attached to the sole of the shoe. This will allow you to almost perfectly level the soil surface.​​This completes the preparation of the soil for the lawn. It is recommended, if time permits, to leave the area fallow for one and a half to two months - the land will settle a little more, and you will be able to eliminate the defects that have appeared, as well as destroy the wave of weeds that will inevitably grow on freshly cultivated land. After this, all that remains is to loosen the surface of the area again with a rake and sow the seeds of lawn grass. If the area has not been treated for a long time or the soil is too light or heavy, a two-tier digging will be required:

   • ​If it’s a tractor, then it’s probably very big square. I have a 1.5 acre lawn. It depends on what kind of land and what slope. It seems to me that the slope is not as bad as unleveled holes and mounds. It will be inconvenient to cut your hair. The optimal time for sowing, it seems to me, and they write about this in the literature, is the end of August-September, the beginning of the rainy season. I prepared the surface for my lawn in the spring and summer. All summer I removed the weeds that had sprung from the seeds, so as not to crawl and pluck with tweezers) I did not bring in any soil. Although the soil is poor, nothing grows. I fertilize with Fertika and other cheaper ones, and sometimes just with urea​ If the area
   • ​alignment​​at least 2 meters long​
   • ​. Suitable for areas with a slight slope. A cultivator is a device for cultivating and leveling land. A walk-behind tractor is a so-called “pedestrian tractor”. When driving a walk-behind tractor, a person follows the machine and regulates the process using the control knobs. In this case, there is no need to remove the top layer of soil. Leveling with a walk-behind tractor occurs as follows: first, a flat board is attached to the back of the device (it must be screwed to a universal mount). After this, you can begin the process of leveling the ground. The walk-behind tractor initially loosens the ground, and then levels it with the help of an attached board) you should pull the rope over the pegs. This is necessary to make it easier to control the alignment (it can be done as manually, and with the help of technology, more about this below)​

   ​You should start with​

   • ​Using a pickaxe, loosen the bottom layer of soil.​ ​4. SOWING​Are you planning to create a lawn in your garden or dacha?​
   • ​dig a furrow across the area with one bayonet of a shovel, moving the soil to the side for a while;​ ​drive the pegs into the level and level it​small​ ​– thanks to the driven pegs, it will be clearly visible how much soil needs to be added and in what places​​The sloped area should be leveled as follows:​
   • ​To the third type of leveling -​​And the last step is leveling the mounds and other hills and filling the holes with excess soil. It often happens that there is not enough land that is already on the site, so if necessary, additional land will need to be purchased. You can purchase soil from specialized companies for the delivery of soil​ ​area clearing​
   • ​Dig the next furrow and fill the previous one with the soil removed from it.​​Seeds can be scattered manually or using a seeder. The second method guarantees even seed distribution. The seeder can also be used to apply fertilizers. It is recommended to sow by hand only in calm weather. Scatter the seeds in two directions, crosswise. Depending on the type and variety seed material 1 mg consumes from 20 to 40 g of seeds.​ ​First of all, find a suitable sunny area for it. Buildings, trees and shrubs should not shade the future lawn for more than 4 hours a day. Thawed and rainwater. After this, clear the area of ​​debris and stones. Carefully level the soil surface and dig to a depth of 20-25 cm. If necessary, improve the quality of the soil during digging. Add sand to very heavy soil, and clay soil to sandy soil. If the soil on the site is not fertile enough, add compost to it. When digging, you also need to get rid of difficult-to-eradicate weeds, such as dandelion, clover, cornflower, and woodlice. This is much more difficult to do after sowing lawn grass. optimal time For laying a lawn, end of April - beginning of May, when the weather is moderately warm and the soil is still quite moist.​

   Leveling the area for a lawn

   ​With a pitchfork or a pick, thoroughly loosen the lower level of the soil;​​Depending on what kind of soil you got after the tractor worked - we had clay and we brought in black soil and already planned it.​ ​, then you can level it with your own hands without spending money.​

   ​ Leveling an area for a lawn occurs according to the same scheme as leveling for small areas -​ ​Need​​with the help of technology​

   ​There​​, removing stones, broken bricks, wire, contaminated soil, etc. It is important to know what to take out construction garbage should go to specially designated areas. There are specialized services that can help resolve this issue.​ ​The last furrow is filled with the same soil that was dug at the very beginning.​

   ​5. WATERING 7-10 days before sowing, complex mineral fertilizer should be applied to the soil, evenly distributing it over the area and incorporating it into the soil with a rake. After this, the area must be carefully leveled and large clods of earth must be broken up. On a small area this can be done with a shovel and rake, but when creating large lawns it is better to use a motor-cultivator or walk-behind tractor. The soil fractions after this operation should be no larger than a grain of wheat. Now the surface of the soil must be carefully leveled using a large board, dragging it along the surface of the area. During this operation, small depressions are filled in and the tubercles are cut off. Dig a second furrow and fill the first furrow with earth taken from it;

The house is built, the tree is planted, the son is growing up - but the program of a good life still cannot be considered completed until you sow a lawn: around the house, under the tree, for your son. This article tells you how to seed your lawn, when, and what to do before and after. The material contains recommendations from FORUMHOUSE experts and users!

DIY lawn

It is very important to do everything “according to science.” The fact is that the advanced achievements of agronomy, with which the consultants of our portal work, make it possible to obtain an excellent lawn on almost any plot of land. By properly preparing the soil and choosing the right lawn grass, you will be simply destined for a lush green lawn in your yard. You should prepare for the fact that you won’t be able to finish sowing your lawn in a day, or even a week!

Preparing an area for a lawn: what you need to do

By carrying out a number of measures to prepare (cultivation, if necessary - creating a normal pH of the soil, eliminating perennial weeds, ensuring a good air-water regime) and leveling (leveling) the soil, we will subsequently save ourselves from tedious alterations, finishing touches, and most importantly - disappointments and hassle .

But first, it would be wise to spend time on a few, so to speak, pre-launch matters. Think about how your irrigation system will be arranged, do a soil analysis in order to adjust it if necessary. the right side. You can determine the mechanical composition of the soil yourself by doing the “sausage test”. It is also important to understand how much the area under the lawn is illuminated by the sun - it will depend on this.

Lawn soil: doing a test

This method allows you to accurately determine the mechanical composition of the soil. Try rolling a sausage from a moistened piece of soil. If it rolls, it means you have loam. Now roll the sausage into a ring. A high-quality ring without cracks means that you have heavy loam or clay. A ring in the cracks indicates medium-heavy loam. If the sausage breaks when rolling, the loam in your area is light or medium.

Sodmaster, consultant for the “Lawns” section at FORUMHOUSE, carries out preparatory work approximately in this order: rough levels the soil, cultivates, waits for the weeds to grow, kills them, and only then does the final leveling.

Preparing the soil for the lawn: leveling

The surface of a good lawn should be smooth and leveled, but this does not mean that it should be horizontal and flat.

Sodmaster Agronomist, consultant FORUMHOUSE, Moscow.

Leveling does not mean fitting everything into one plane, like a table. This means achieving the absence of microrelief - hummocks, holes, as well as a targeted layout that provides for water drainage.

That is, on a plot with a lawn there may be slopes, hills, and hollows. The area doesn't have to be level, but there shouldn't be anything on it that would interfere with the smooth movement of the lawn mower or anything that could cause your child to trip on it while running. Starting your lawn with a rough foundation plan, you will have to fill in all the holes and ditches, remove hummocks and tubercles, and level out all the uneven areas. The smoother the lawn, the more beautiful it is. And even if you sow the most best seeds, without high-quality preparation you will not get a good lawn.

Preparing the soil for the lawn: surface runoff

Stagnant water is harmful to your lawn. If your site is waterlogged, it may require drainage, but providing surface drainage may be sufficient.

Sodmaster

I'm ready to make a lawn on the asphalt if water drains from the surface. But I won’t undertake to do it even on clean sand if it lies in a hole.

The optimal fertile soil layer for a lawn is 25 cm, the minimum is 15 cm.

If the layer is smaller, it is brought in and evenly distributed over the site. Uniformity is especially important and is the key to a uniform lawn structure.

Sodmaster

“Fertile” soil, which is suitable for vegetables and flowers, is not the best for a lawn. Lawn better soil crumbly, sandy, with a small amount of organic matter.

A properly prepared fertile layer should be underlain with a dense layer - FORUMHOUSE even has an example of a lawn that people laid out concrete platform. That is, all this should look like a duvet, which is laid on a hard bed.

Preparing soil for a lawn: loosening

Here are the activities to prepare the soil for sowing at my dacha: FORUMHOUSE user gartenriger. The soil is dug up to a depth of 20-25 cm, small areas - manually, large ones - using machinery. There are increased demands on the quality of loosening the top layer into which the seeds will fall. Ideally, it should be completely homogeneous, without large lumps, consisting of soil segments the size of wheat grain. This is achieved by repeated raking; some even go so far as to crush the top layer with their hands.

gartenriger I plowed the ground three times with a cultivator. Physically, this is not so expensive, but the effect is excellent - repeated plowing allows you to extract all the roots from the soil perennial plants, and the most nutritious part of the soil remains in use. Next: a mixture of soil and fine sand was brought to the site. All this was leveled by hand, then rolled with a heavy roller.

Bonus from FORUMHOUSE: how to make a landscape rake with your own hands

The reference point should be the tool used by road workers to level the asphalt: this is a board measuring about 15 cm x 80 cm with a stick nailed to the center. Proper landscape rakes are made according to the same principle: a 20x100 cm duralumin plate has teeth 4-5 cm long and about 1 cm wide cut on one side, while the other side remains smooth. A cutting 1.8-2 meters long is attached to the center of the plate. That's all.

Preparing the lawn for sowing: removing weeds

The absence of weeds is one of the signs perfect lawn. It is often recommended to start a lawn by treating the area for weeds. The treatment is carried out on green leaves, using a proven and well-known herbicide - Roundup. However, consultants in the lawn section of our portal have emphasized many times that sowing a lawn is always an individual process, which largely depends on the characteristics of the site. Therefore, it would be more correct to organize it like this at the first stage (below is a list of necessary work):

1. Dig up the area;
2. Wait for the weeds to come out;
3. Treat with Roundup;
4. Shallowly loosen the soil.

After the death of the weeds, FORUMHOUSE consultant Sodmaster recommends only fine processing (3-5 cm). According to agronomists, deep processing should not be carried out for two reasons:

Sodmaster

1. To avoid bringing to the surface weed seeds buried under a thick layer of soil and therefore safe.
2. In order not to disturb the settled soil and not return to the beginning of planning work.

The point of treating with herbicides is to give the lawn an advantage over weeds at the initial stage, and then it will cope with them on its own, or, in extreme cases, with your help. And if you first treat the area and then dig it up, it may seem to you that there are even more weeds than there were.

Preparing the soil for sowing grass: leveling

You can think as much as you like about how to properly sow a lawn, but without leveled soil nothing good will come of it. The surface of the soil is leveled several times, because after each time it settles, and we should strive for an even fertile layer.

A prerequisite: before sowing, it will be necessary to compact the soil, roll it with a roller - in this way we can avoid unevenness, which will be difficult to eliminate later.

User FORUMHOUSE Ivanpost I leveled the area with a piece of thick-walled pipe 500 on the handle, a piece of metal I-beam (120 mm) 1.2 m long on a rope loop and a wide rake with blunt round teeth.

Ivanpost User FORUMHOUSE

The procedure is like this - you roll everything, go in two directions with an I-beam (you pull it behind you), roll it again, rob the tubercles. Then you roll it up and plunder it completely for sowing. After sowing and loosening, I rolled it again.

Getting ready to plant a lawn: fertilizing

When the soil has been repeatedly leveled, loosened and rolled, all that remains is to add pre-sowing soil to the surface layer. It contains some nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus; phosphorus is the main thing in pre-sowing fertilizer, because it stimulates the development of the root system in seedlings.

It is worth noting here that preparing the soil for a rolled lawn is many times easier than for sowing: it is often enough to kill weeds with herbicides, level the area without digging (fill in holes, cut off tubercles). If the height of the fertile layer is more than 10 centimeters, add very little loose soil to good contact with roll. The surface layer is filled with fertilizer. That's it, you can lay the roll.

Preparation for planting a lawn: immediately and to the maximum

An important point at which we will end the conversation about preparing the soil for planting grass: many of us have been sowing our lawn for years, gradually winning half a hundred spaces from the beds. This is a bad approach. You can sow some seeds into a bald spot, but level the areas different years will be almost impossible. Neighboring planes may subside by different sizes and fall into different planes, and the lawn should be perfectly flat. Our experts recommend sowing the lawn immediately in the maximum possible space, and then making paths on it, high decorative beds, flower beds and all that stuff. In Canada, a country whose lawns can serve as an example for the green lawns of many other countries, cottages and houses in cottage communities are sold with the territory rolled into a lawn. Then paths are trampled and laid on the grass, flowers and shrubs are planted, etc.

Sowing the lawn

It is recommended to sow a lawn at the dacha in the spring, and the earlier the better, but this is if all the work to prepare the land for the lawn is completed in advance. And if nothing is ready, and you are struggling to get the soil ready for the lawn, then it is better to postpone sowing until late summer or next spring. The end of summer, starting in the second half of July, many experts believe optimal time to sow the lawn: there is time to lime the weeds and properly prepare the soil, and by the time frost sets in, the grass on the site has time to grow and get stronger and tolerate the winter well. A big plus is that you don’t depend on the weather at this time. In hot weather, the seeds lie quietly in the soil and wait for the rain; in the rain, lawn grass seeds germinate faster than weeds (in the spring, weeds always germinate faster).

Winter sowing also has its advantages: it often gives better results than spring sowing.

When sowing, it will be correct to assess weather risks and, if the climate is unstable, take this circumstance into account. It is definitely not recommended to sow the lawn after September 15 - the seedlings may be subject to severe frosts. Pre-winter sowing is not suitable for regions where a thaw of +10 or higher may occur in December. The timing of sowing also depends on what kind of grass you will sow your plot with: ryegrass sprouts quickly, and before winter you will have time to mow it, and bluegrass will just sprout by this time.