HOME GARDENS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 14, Issue 30, 26 August 1949, Page 6

HOME GARDENS

By the Horticultural Department Massey Agricultural College.

This is a time of the year when it is most appropriate to take the lawn in hand.

The turf aimed at is a mixture of fine-leaved grasses, usually brown top and Chewings’ fescue. Anything else but these two grasses is a weed—including even white clover, because white clover when in' flower in the summer is most unsightly in a lawn. Some people like white clover in a lawn because it is likely to remain green in dry periods when the lawn might otherwise be brown. The great principle in establishing a lawn of the two fine grasses is to create acid soil conditions which favour these particular grasses, but almost entirely prevent the growth of coarse grasses like ryegrass, or of weeds or clovers. Under these acid soil conditions the soil bacteria do not destiny old roots of the grasses, and in a matter of years these roots form a tough springy mat on top of the soil—a mat which is very different from the muddy soil that is all too obvious on most lawns at present. To reach the desired soil acidity, the method of general use' is repeated dressing with ammonium sulphate and iron sulphate. A good programme for the average lawn with weeds, moss, clover and ryegrass is as follows: Broadcast powdered iron sulphate at the rate of about one ounce per square yard. This will have the immediate effect of blackening and killing the moss. Use the iron sulphate now, to kill moss early enough for grass to fill up the gaps. Follow on, as soon as possible, with a dressing of about two ounces of ammonium sulphate per square yard, and with a lighter dressing (£ to 1 ounce per yard) of superphosphate. The phosphate is necessary to get ,the best growth, even when ammonium sulphate is used. The dressing of ammonium sulphate and iron sulphate should be repeated in late October, before dryconditions have set in. A third dressing should be given in the autumn after moist conditions have again set in. Unles moisture is still in evidence, the iron sulphate can be omitted in subsequent years, otherwise the same programme should be maintained. The time and method of applying these materials needs care. It is safer to apply them' shortly before rain so that they are washed off the foliage without risk of burning. In broadcasting, do not try to throw downwards at the lawn; instead, throw it slightly upwards and preferably against a light breeze. This results in its being scattered fairly evenly on the ground. Hormone Weed Killers Now to kill the weeds which are in the lawn already. Hormone weed killers will kill all the common flatweeds found in our lawns, but usually have no effect on moss. My advice *in using hormone weed killers on a lawn is to make the following purchase: A quart of 10 per cent hormone solutipn; an empty 1 gallon kerosene tin' for a bucket; a watering can with a fine rose; and, finally, a Plunket baby feeding bottle which costs a few pence at a chain store. The’ baby’s bottle is marked in ounces up to eight ounces and is. the cheapest ounce measure I know. Each fluid ounce of the concentrated hormone solution is enough to spray about 20 square yards of lawn i.e., a strip two yards wide and 10 yards long. A simple way is to measure out six ounces in your baby’s bottle, rinse it thoroughly in the bucket about threequarters full of water, and then apply this mix over about 120 square yards of lawn. The watering can with a rose is the easiest way to apply the mixture. * The aim should "be to - moisten everything, grass and weeds, as evenly and thoroughly as possible. In refiilling the watering can,, be careful to work off the lawn, or you may spill enough to do harm to the grass. The time to do all this can quite well be in September. Let the lawn recover from the iron sulphate and begin to grow as a result of the ammonium sulphate and superphosphate. Then apply the hormone after mowing with a catcher (the clippings might cover some weeds), and on a fine day so that the hormone will not be washed off until it has had a few hours to do its work.

The hormone works slowly. After a few days the flat weeds will show twisting of their leaves, and perhaps a month later you will find only the bare patches in the lawns where weeds have been. •

Any isolated weeds which may be left can be cleaned up more conveniently by using the hormone dust preparations (containing from one to five per cent hormone), which are sold in small cartons. A good pinch of this powder sprinkled on each weed, preferably while wet with dew, will do the job very easily.