ON MAKING A LAWN

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 840, 7 December 1929, Page 34

ON MAKING A LAWN

I A well-kept lawn is the pride of ! every gardener. And nothing lends > j greater charm to a garden. In the moister and cooler districts this is easily enough attained; in very hot, dry districts, however, it is more difficult, and a good water-supply is ne- j cessary. The land should be well prepared by draining and by deep digging some : time before sowing the seed; if this is done the previous season and a crop of peas taken off, so much the better, as it sweetens the lands and kills out the weeds, which are a great drawback to a young lawn. j Before sowing the seed the land should be carefully levelled; this is ; best done by means of a long, well- j squared board and spirit level, driv- ; ing temporary pegs into the land, say ! 10ft apart, and levelling from peg to i | peg. If the soil is well firmed and i raked to these levels, it will give the \ even, flat surface required; when completed the pegs can be removed i and the holes carefully tilled in. ' Before finally raking we would recommend a dressing of bonedust, say four ounces to the square yard. To firm the land and break the smaller lumps, the soil should be well rolled while in a dry state with a heavy roller. The seed should be procured from a reliable source, or failure will be the probable result—many of the cheaper samples of lawn grass being full of weeds and coarse grasses. The best months to sow are March, April or May, and only in very cool, moist climates *is spring sowing advisable. Choose a calm day and sow the seed evenly, at the rate of 31bs for every 100 square yards of lawn (10yds by 10yds), afterward lightly rake the seed in, and then roll in opposite direction to the way it was raked. When the grass has germinated and well covered the land it should be rolled again, and cut with a scythe as soon as long enough. The after-treatment consists in continually rolling in damp weather, regular mowing and watering, if possible, in dry weather. All weeds should be pulled up. Most of these will, however, disappear when mown a few times. In no cases should the grass be allow’ed to seed. Lawns may also be made with turfs or sods of grass, but the difficulty in procuring good grass free from nut grass and weeds, and the great expense in cutting and laying, makes it a costly process. In places where lawns of buffalo grass are required, a good lawn may be made by planting the roots a few inches apart after preparing the land as directed. This is the only method' of planting buffalo grass, as it does not seed, and is one of the best ways of making a couch lawn, the grass soon grows and covers the surface. To keep a lawn in good order it should be top-dressed annually with good, loamy soil, and a sprinkling of bonedust or artificial manure. Weeds should be taken out as soon as they appear, and the grass should be regularly mown and rolled. This latter is always best done after rain. I