Lawns

A lawn is defined as a living green carpet of spreading turf, which is a product of intensive husbandry and management. Lawns are used to create pleasant views for homes as they link the house to the garden. To produce a good lawn you are required to;

1. Eradicate species that are not grass or the wrong grass

2. Requires application of fertilizers and irrigation

3. Frequent mowing to control strong growth of the grass.

The resultant effect of the aforementioned activities is a stripped green carpet. Having a great lawn is public expectation. Only one type of grass should be grown.

Establishment of lawns

The following are considerations for establishment of lawn

1. Grass species should be suitable to produce a good lawn in the local climatic regime.

2. The method of propagation- lawns can be established from seed or vegetative material; Seed is more agronomic

3. During actual planting of lawns, the land is treated just like agricultural land; this means all activities associated with land preparation for good production are done. This includes plowing, harrowing and application of manure or fertilizer, however land preparation of the seed bed may require grading while removing foreign objects like stones.

4. Never try to bury objects in a lawn area. Ideally top soil should be removed. Remove as shallow as 3 cm and deep as 15 cm; scoop it and pile it on the side or along the paths, establish a gradient.

5. In every 3 to 5 meters, a drop of 6-10 cm should be created away from walks and buildings, sometimes from plants like trees to aid in drainage of water from objects.

6. The center of the lawn should be slightly raised. Fill back the top soil ensure that paths roads are 3-5 cm higher than lawn in general level. This also helps in preventing water logging on the paths. Secondly top soil; helps in smothering the area thus helps in avoiding small depressions or low spots which become a source of drainage problems.

A lawn is expected to be fairly flat. Where this is the case, during land preparation consider a heavy duty rotary cultivator. Afterwards you can do seeding, making sure you have fine seedbed. Cover grass seeds with 0.5 cm of very fine soil by raking the soil with dry branches.

On certain occasions, the land may require grading which is a process of leveling uneven land using machinery. During grading, the original land may be altered depending on the owners’ capability. During certain instances, large trees may be encountered that need to be preserved.

Two approaches have been instituted; when grading involves removing of soil and you encounter a large tree; carefully remove soil from the tree area, leaving a slope from the tree that acts as a mound around the tree covering the main roots.

If grading involves raising the level of the slope; and you encounter a tree use the well. Construct a well around the tree with loose stones. Fill the area up to the walls leaving a depression. If you are in a high rainfall area use aggregate materials to increase drainage.

Steep slopes present great challenges in establishing a lawn on them because they dry fast and the danger of surface run off. At times machinery is not able to move on the surface.

If your land has steep slopes, think of retaining a series walls. Do some cutting and filing to form terraces. If this is being done by machine, there might be some compaction and you may require sub-soiling to enhance drainage.