All About The New Lawn | Sowing New Lawns
Seven steps of preparation for a new lawn:
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1. The ground should be dug up – spade deep. Turning the soil and the green manure plant by digging will lead to humus enrichment and biological fertilization. For additional ground improvement another 4-5 bags /100 sq meters of garden humus can be distributed evenly and raked well. At the same time the ground is also broken up with this action. |
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2. Rake the seed bed, remove any coarse stones etc and level at the same time. | |
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3. Now the surface should rest from 14 -21 days so the ground will settle and weeds will germinate and accumulate in the soil. | |
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4. After the weeds have established apply a suitable (glyphosphate type) weed killer at own specified application rate. After 7-10 days and the weeds have died, break up the surface again with a rake 3-4 cm deep this will finally remove the weed content. Insure the ground is not too loose, roll the area or tread down with boards. |
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5. If the surface is not too humid, sow a suitable Greenfield lawn seed mixture using the correct sowing rate steadily from the hand, bucket or mechanical spreader. Lawns can be sown from spring to the end of autumn. Pick a day where there is no rain and very little wind. Gently rake in the lawn seed and fertilizer, roll if necessary. To create the optimum start for the new seeding a special fertilizer (starter fertilizer) should be applied. Gently rake in the lawn seed and fertilizer, roll and if necessary lightly sprinkle with water so that the seeds are protected against dehydration. | |
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6. During the following 3-4 weeks the new sown surface must be protected against drying out. If necessary water. It is important that the sprinkler is set to a fine nozzle so that the seeds do not get washed away and the ground does not become encrusted and hard. The most favourable time for watering is early morning or late evening. |
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7. When a height of 8 -10cm (hand height) is achieved the young lawn is mowed for the first time. The lawn mower should have very sharp blades; remember the lawn plants are still very young and sensitive. Only the top (1-2cm) should be mowed with the first cut. The following cuts can be made to the desired height of the lawn. Frequent cutting, particularly in the young stage, leads to a thick strong lawn turf. |

