Organic Vegetable Gardening

Property Decorating – Growing A Living Carpet

There is no perfect substitute for a well-kept lawn. It’s a living carpet of green, blending and delicately enhancing the beauty of nature’s innumerable creations. Every property owner wants a lawn and every property owner can have one if a little diligent effort is put into prepartion and up-keep.

Plan a large, sweeping, open lawn. Lay it out gracefully with curving lines, and a gentle slope from the house outward. A grade of 1/8 inch to the foot will successfully provide the right slope.

Lawns do best on loam soils.

The ideal lawn loam is made up of 60% sand, 20% clay, 20% organic matter. Such a loam is usually fertile, holds moisture well, drains well and is easily pulverized.

There is no such thing as a perfect turf grass, consequently, in most cases, it is advisable to use the best No. 1 mixture that can be purchased. In some cases one grass alone is desirable. In the Pacific Northwest often two are used ; Creeping Bent and Chewings Fescue for instance mixed in proportion of 20% and 80%. Solicit the advice of your local garden center or a county agent. He will prescribe the most suitable grass seed for your locality and soil condition.

Provided you water carefully you can plant a lawn any time in the growing season. The best time however is early in spring or in the autumn between late August and early October.

Do the rough grading first. Remove the weed growth and then fork over the area to be seeded. Go down at least 8 inches and break up all clogs as you dig. If the soil needs lime apply it evenly over the rough seed bed and mix it thoroughly with the soil. Let the soil stand about a week if lime is used before applying fertilizer. To cover 1000 sq. ft. 50 pounds of lime should be used.

Now spread 10 to 15 pounds of 6-7-6 fertilizer, or any other good complete fertilizer over a 1000 sq. ft. area. Broadcast it evenly and rake it into the soil. The seed bed preparation comes next. Thoroughly pulverize the soil with a rake, to the depth of the rake’s tines. Grade the area carefully. If you are working with a light loam that does not pack roll it evenly with a roller.

Rake again until you are sure that you have a level seed bed. Seeding the area comes next. Broadcast the seed evenly and cover the seed lightly with fine peat moss then roll again; or rake about 1/4 inch of the surface and broadcast the seed evenly. Cover the seed with a light raking and roll. Do not attempt to do the seeding on a windy day. About 1 pound is required for each 10 x 20 square feet. Some gardeners prefer to sow even heavier than this. One pound to each 10 x 10 sq. ft. is a heavy seeding.

The seed bed must now be kept continuously moist. Sprinkle with a fine spray to maintain this condition and on no account until the grass seedlings are well up let the seed bed dry out.

When the grass is 3 inches high mow it for the first time. Set the blades to cut at a height of 2 inches and let the first clippings remain where they fall, Later you will clip closer and the clippings can be raked away. Bent grass or boston fern if used alone thrives on close clippings. It is a good idea to clip the grass and boston fern plant often. The clippings consequently are shorter and can be left as a mulch.

To keep a lawn in good health it must be fertilized at least once a year, preferably twice. A Creeping Bent lawn should be punctured with a sharp instrument to let the air into the roots.

The best time to apply fertilizer is when the grass is dry. Turn the hose on or irrigate immediately after and wash the fertilizer off the leaves and into the soil. On growing lawns lime should be handled in the same manner. Broadcast it and wash under with the hose or sprinkler system.

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