Choosing the best type of lawn grass for a velvety and beautiful lawn. Moorish lawn in the country - a fragrant and flowering meadow of wild flowers Creating a meadow lawn
In most cases, the lawn in the country house plays a major role in the landscaping of your site. The presence of only one bright emerald, soft, well-kept and beautiful lawn gives the site a sophisticated, simple and, at the same time, rich style. Regardless of the area and function of the lawn, there is a certain sequence of its creation and maintenance. By following the correct sequence described in this article, you can significantly reduce the cost and time for maintenance when creating a lawn on your own, and most importantly, always achieve an even, whole and fresh lawn.
A well-groomed lawn in the country is already a reason to be proud of your site. Source pineshop.ru
About types of lawns
In the absence of a ready-made lawn, when planning, first of all, it is worth deciding on its function: will the lawn serve only as an element of decor, or be a field for various types of activities. There are several types: parterre, Mauritanian, natural, landscape gardening, sports and special.
Parterre lawn
This type, also called the English lawn, has a purely decorative function. Its height in the summer is 3 - 3.5 cm, it consists of expensive and delicate herbs that need sunlight, are afraid of shady places, moving along it, picnicking and any other physical activity.
The soil must be well prepared, devoid of weeds, professional and timely care.
Despite all the costs, it is this lawn that is the most beautiful and richest, emphasizing the high economic and cultural status of its owner.
moorish lawn
Mostly, this lawn on the site also performs a decorative function, the grasses used reach a height of more than 10 cm and are flowering (meadow chamomile, field cornflower, poppy, large-flowered flax). Afraid of kneading, a certain frequency of haircuts is necessary.
Such a lawn is also not for playing football - it differs from others in the presence of different wildflowers Source dreempics.com
A well-chosen bouquet of flowers in a herbal mixture will give the owner a wonderful palette of colors, but it is worth keeping in mind that the larger such a lawn in area, the less exclusive and premium it will look.
natural lawn
By ridding the planned area filled with grasses of weeds and tall plants, any area densely occupied by grasses can be covered with a natural lawn. Such a lawn does not require special soil and grass mixtures.
Natural "lawns" do not require special care, and there are no problems with them when planting Source gazeta-butyrsky.ru
On sale there are special meadow mixtures that allow you to give any lawn a certain look. Maintenance of such a lawn is minimal, as are economic costs, but in appearance, this type loses to everyone else.
Landscape gardening
Due to the greatest prevalence, it is often referred to as an ordinary lawn. Garden lawn consists of tough, rough grasses, 5-6 cm high. Such a lawn can grow on poor soils, it is slightly subject to changes in shady areas and excessive sunlight.
It is a compromise of aesthetics and functionality, it is possible to arrange picnics and recreation areas on it without harm, to have inflatable pools, temporary paraphernalia.
Sports
This lawn is used for intensive impact on the soil, near playgrounds and sports grounds, areas for walking areas. Growing cereals have good resistance to trampling and abrasion.
Lawn for a family with children and animals - it is difficult to “scare” it with an intense load Source taxpolice.spb.ru
As a rule, mixtures for sports turf are more expensive and their creation requires additional costs.
On our site you can find contacts of construction companies that offer the service of drafting projects and performing landscape works of any complexity. You can directly communicate with representatives by visiting the exhibition of houses "Low-Rise Country".
Special
This type can be bought ready-made in the form of rolls. Rolls are sold already with turf, easily adapt to the applied soil.
Grasses are tough, not having special aesthetic qualities, however, in terms of their properties of resistance to any influences, they are no worse than landscape gardening.
About the herbs used
Cereal mixtures for parterre lawn for summer cottages contain seeds of bluegrass meadow, red fescue and thin bent grass. Moorish blends contain flax, cornflower, marigold, chamomile, nemesia, bluegrass, and fescue seeds. Lawn landscaping mixes have ryegrass, sheep's fescue and bluegrass seeds.
The sports turf consists of pasture ryegrass, red fescue and bentgrass.
Each individual species has different weather resistance. Mixes with 3 or more types allow you to hide the weakest qualities of cereal crops, so that the lawn can be evenly contrasted, both under the sun and in the shade.
Video description
About the types of lawns clearly in the video:
About the necessary tools
Having decided on the type of lawn, having purchased the necessary seeds, it is necessary to prepare a site for sowing, for which you will need the following tools:
-
Ramming device
irrigation hose
On our site you can get acquainted with the most - from the construction companies presented at the exhibition of houses "Low-Rise Country".
About soil preparation and site selection features
Work related to soil preparation and sowing seeds can be divided into several stages.
The first step is to determine the type of soil. To do this, it is enough to dig on a clear day, take a handful of earth in the palm of your hand, examine the color, rumple and determine the type of soil by the following factors:
sandy soil characterized by a large amount of sand, it is coarse and grainy, water is quickly carried away from the surface of the sand, removing useful substances. This soil needs to be fertilized and watered regularly.
clayey the soil holds water too much, it is fertile, but there may be problems with drainage. The clay is sticky, has a gray color, and forms a lump when compressed.
Peat the soil is dark, loose and soft. It is poor in nutrients, it is very wet, as it is found in marshy places. It is worth providing an additional layer to drain excess water
lime the soil does not form a company, crumbly and granular to the touch. This type is fertile and passes water well.
Loam is a mixture of sand and clay, such soil is soft to the touch, the shade varies from gray to brownish brown. Average in fertility, passes water moderately.
Regardless of the type of soil, it is important to maintain the correct soil acidity. The most favorable acidity for most types of cereals is 6.0 - 7.0 pH units. To determine the acidity, you can use litmus paper and determine the acidity on a scale.
If the earth has an acidity of less than 6, you can sprinkle the earth with lime, chalk. If the soil has a slightly alkaline environment, you can use special solutions or crushed peat.
On our site you can familiarize yourself with the most. In the filters, you can set the desired direction, the presence of gas, water, electricity and other communications.
Soil preparation
So that nothing prevents the grass from growing, and it is homogeneous, the ground should be cleaned of weeds, stones, sticks and possible debris. Places that have irregularities should be leveled with a rake, pronounced hills will have to be demolished with a shovel. Herbicides can be used for thorough weed control. If the cultivated area has a large number of shrubs, small trees, weeds, and is also not level, it is best to simply dig up the entire area, and then start sorting out the roots of unwanted plants.
Soils with poor drainage (clay, peat) need to create a layer through which water will easily leave. To do this, remove 20-25 cm from the soil and put a drainage layer in the form of geotextiles, broken bricks or gravel.
Schematically, the drainage area looks like this Source warecoz.saporehus.ru.net
It will not be superfluous to use additional fertile land, place it in a uniform layer 5-10 cm thick on the territory.
Sometimes a small layer of fertile soil is laid on the drainage. Source besplatka.ua
Regardless of the fertility of your soil, an extra layer will not adversely affect your green lawn, but will only improve its quality.
Video description
Preparing the site for planting lawn grass in this video:
About sowing and cultivation
Before sowing, the soil should be loosened with a rake with small teeth, so that it would be easier for the seeds to enter the ground.
After the rake, small grooves are formed, into which the seeds fall. Source zagorodnaya-zhizn.moscow
Knowing the size of the planned lawn, the number of seeds for sowing can be calculated according to the proportion, where at least 50 grams are required per 1 m 2. seeds, or for 1 weave at least 5 kg. It is not rational to spend more than 7 kg per 1 acre of land with any soil fertility and grass type. The sowing depth should not exceed 1 cm.
A certain amount of seeds is required for each meter of the plot - it makes no sense to sow more Source thestar.com
For sowing, you can use an ordinary 2 liter plastic bottle, making holes in it for seeds.
For a larger area, you can use a special device where the amount of seeds will be dosed.
Seeding devices can be different Source greenland.ee
At the beginning and most intensively, the edges of the lawn are sown, then along the entire territory. Seeds can be mixed with dry fertilizer, which can speed up their germination.
After sowing, the ground must be tamped for additional compaction, getting rid of bumps and protection from birds.
It is necessary to water the earth with a wide spray of water, whatever to prevent the displacement of seeds on the surface of the earth, the appearance of pits and hills. The soil must be moist, too much water deprives the roots of access to oxygen, which leads to the withering of the plant.
The first shoots appear after 7-10 days, and after 20 days most of the herbage reaches 10 cm. When the grass reaches a height of more than 15 cm, the first mowing can be carried out. This usually happens 30-40 days after sowing.
About care
Lawn care and shaping consists of moisture control, periodic mowing and weeding.
Naturally, with the goal of creating a natural lawn with a predominance of low-growing species, on moist soil, all care can be reduced to only a haircut. However, in this case, there is a high probability of obtaining an uneven lawn pattern. Somewhere the grass will be greener, somewhere on the contrary withered and rare. Depending on the type of lawn, the cutting height varies, but it is not recommended to cut any lawn less than 3 cm.
| Lawn type | Cut to, see: | |
| Summer | Autumn-spring | |
| Parterre | 3 | 4 |
| Sports | 3 | 4 |
| Landscape gardening | 5 | 6 |
As a rule, no more than 1/3 of the height is cut, when the grass growth is 1.5 - 2 cm more than normal. Overgrown grass is mowed in 2-3 stages. In summer, the frequency is 10-15 days, in autumn and spring 7-10 days. Do not leave cut grass on the lawn.
Watering is best done by sprinkling. To do this, a spray device can be used at the end of the hose. You can either buy it at any garden store or make it yourself from a plastic bottle. Watering is recommended to be carried out in the early morning, or in the evening, when the sun is far from the zenith. If the lawn grows in small paths, it can be watered from a watering can.
Video description
The irrigation system is often equipped even before the sowing of the lawn, about this in the video:
It is necessary to water the lawn periodically, during the dry season, the interval can be 3 days. Constant watering of low intensity is not recommended. The average amount of water for a temperate latitude per 1 m 2 is 30 liters. Do not allow the appearance of puddles covering the grass.
Photo gallery of lawn design examples
Children on the playground, parents in sun loungers - everyone has their own rest Source ahbanya.ru
Decorative lawn design is a great place for walking Source deal.by
The tennis court also requires a strong turf that will recover quickly after exertion. Source www.erfolgplast.ru
Most of all, children's knees will be grateful to the arrangement of a soft lawn, with which we will fall softer on the grass source seattlehelpers.org
Video description
And a few more examples of beautiful lawns, see the following video:
Conclusion
A beautiful and well-groomed lawn makes the house not only more attractive, but also significantly increases its value if you are thinking about moving. This is an investment that will pay off over time. The main thing is to do all the work correctly and follow all the recommendations for care.
Moorish lawn is a flowering meadow, it is sown not only with grass, but also with flowers. Imagine a green meadow overgrown with yellow dandelions. It can also be considered a Moorish lawn. In just a few days, it will look completely ugly!
For a garden lawn, a mixture of flowers with herbs is selected so that flowering continues all summer. Moorish lawn grass mixture can be bought at the store. In addition to cereal seeds, its composition includes seeds of perennial and annual flowers: poppy, cornflowers, daisies,.
Moorish or flower lawn has been known since ancient times, it was grown over a thousand years ago. With the flourishing of the era of regular gardens with geometrically regular flower beds against the background of short-cut green grass, its popularity has decreased. Nowadays, more and more people are discovering this miracle of garden art.
There are also varieties with flowers of the same, but long-blooming species, as well as lawns with bulbous flowers - daffodils or.
Advantages of the Mauritanian lawn
- The decorative flower lawn has an amazing variety - it changes every week. Some flowers fade, others bloom. It is worth taking a step to the side - and the lawn looks completely different.
- Moorish lawn does not require regular mowing. It is usually trimmed once or twice throughout the summer, when there are many faded flower stalks on the lawn. But sometimes the flowers are chosen in such a way that this is not necessary.
- Flower lawn is easy to fix if there are bald spots. In problem areas, they simply plant seedlings of annuals and it all looks like it was intended that way.
Disadvantages of Mauritanian lawn
- Moorish lawn is not intended for games and sports - the flowers do not tolerate regular trampling. It is rather a flower garden, where you can sometimes walk.
- An improperly selected flower mixture (for example, flowers that cannot withstand cold frosty winters or are not self-sowing) will require a new sowing next year.
Moorish paddock mixes
Moorish lawn grass is usually fescue and ryegrass. Seeds of different types of annual and perennial flowers are added to it. Most often these are: tagetes, annual chrysanthemum, cornflowers, calendula, godetia, nemesia, phacelia, summer carnation, dimorphoteka, mattiola, viscaria, clover, field chamomile, nigella, iberis, annual poppies, flax, undersized delphinium, gypsophila.
Perennial flowers are usually low and unpretentious, and annuals are chosen based on ensuring that the lawn blooms all summer until late autumn. Most Moorish lawn annuals bloom from June to the end of August.
A mixture of seeds for such a flower lawn can contain up to 40 species of a wide variety of annuals. The best option would be a mixture where annual plants reproduce by self-sowing and tolerate winter well. Otherwise, the next year, the Moorish lawn will lose some of its colors and be faded.
Depending on the location of the lawn, you can independently add seeds of shade-loving or drought-resistant flowers to the purchased mixture of flowering annuals.
Moorish lawn planting
The plot of land selected for the lawn is dug up in the same way as for a conventional sowing lawn. At the same time, organic fertilizers are applied to the soil, and if it is too heavy, sand and peat can be added. The soil is leveled and compacted with a garden roller, watered well so that it settles a little.
Moorish lawn differs from other types in that care for it excludes a haircut. It is not like other evergreen and perfectly smooth lawns, but is a beautiful meadow of flowers and plants.
A motley flowering lawn can decorate absolutely any site. A bright carpet of lawn flowers is usually the perfect element for decorating a garden, and if desired, it can be supplemented by planting interesting trees or shrubs.
Moorish lawn photo and selection of plants
Plants for it are recommended to use extremely simple and do not require special care. Most of them are well known to everyone, they can be found in forests and fields. To equip a Moorish lawn on your site, you can choose the composition yourself or buy a ready-made mixture of herbs. The following selection criteria are used:
- bright inflorescences;
- long flowering period;
- unpretentiousness in care;
- resistance to physical impact;
- suitable weather conditions and soil for varieties.
Lawn flowers are very diverse and include more than a hundred species. Most often they are separated when selling according to color schemes.
Chamomile meadow
A wonderful perennial that looks so natural in natural landscapes. Chamomile is absolutely unpretentious, perfectly tolerates a dry climate, and retains its decorative effect for a long time. The height of the flower reaches 90 cm, due to the length and large flower it stands out well and looks great on the lawn.
Cornflower field
It is valued in the Moorish lawn for its decorative effect, bright saturated shade. It blooms for a long time, is able to independently renew itself due to seeds.
Oriental poppy
The flowering period of poppy is not very long, but within 2-3 weeks it will delight the eye with amazing color. The flowers are quite large, after flowering, boxes are formed, due to which re-sowing occurs.
Echinacea
The flowers of this medicinal plant of the aster family are not only very useful, but also decorative. The variety of colors and the size of the inflorescence perfectly distinguish it from the components of the Mauritanian lawn. In addition, the flower is well preserved in the cut form.
Nemesia
This plant can easily become the basis for a flowering lawn. It blooms almost the entire season - from early summer to late autumn. Pleasing to the eye with diversity and variety of colors. Nemesia is resistant to diseases, drought and temperature fluctuations.
Calendula officinalis
Another flower that can delight you with beautiful flowering in the composition of the lawn. Stems of different heights - from 25 to 70 cm, perfectly stand out due to dense, multi-layered yellow or orange flowers. Marigolds bloom until November, making the flowering lawn photo of which you see bright and catchy. In addition to decorative, it also has medicinal properties, due to which it is in special demand.
Onion-anzur (mountain onion)
It blooms one of the first in flowerbeds and lawns, tolerates frosts well. Spherical inflorescences of delicate shades will look great cut and dried.
large-flowered flax
A light-loving plant that perfectly tolerates drought, temperature fluctuations, continuing to bloom until the end of October. Juicy, green stems of the plant are not very tall, but perfectly complement the blooming lawn due to the abundance of bright flowers.
Blooming lawn photos and reviews: sowing features
Any part of your garden is suitable for sowing Moorish lawn. You can use the place of the former beds and plantings to resume the crop rotation, or any unoccupied corner to create a beautiful field bed.
If the soil at the planting site has not been previously cultivated, you need to carefully remove the sod. The sowing area must be cleared of debris, weeds and carefully leveled. If necessary, renew the soil layer with black soil and apply fertilizer. It is best to use organic - manure, humus.
It is necessary to dig up a plot for a Moorish lawn to a depth of 15-20 cm, loosen the ground well so that it is easier for the seeds to germinate. If there is time before sowing, it is best to leave the land after tillage for a few weeks to remove weeds.
After that, you can start planting seeds. Planting rates are usually indicated on the packaging with the grass mixture. If you picked the plants yourself, then stick to the proportion of 30 g per 5 sq.m.
You need to distribute the seeds evenly so that there are no bald spots in the future lawn. After sowing, be sure to water the ground abundantly and cover with material (you can use fine-mesh agrofibre), which will protect the seeds from birds.
How to care for Mauritanian lawn
Due to the fact that the main components of the lawn grow well in natural conditions, maintenance is practically not required. Since many plants are flowering and accustomed to field, forest and marshy areas, almost all of them love moisture.
Mowing the lawn should be done several times: the first - after the greenery appears, but before the flowers have time to bloom. This is necessary so that the abundance of greenery does not drown out the inflorescences.
The second mowing of the lawn takes place after the end of the season - around the end of September. By this time, the bulk of the flowers will dry up, and the seeds for the next shoot will already be in the ground. The mowing height should be between 8 and 12 cm.
Many gardeners prefer Moorish lawn, reviews of which are only positive. It pleases not only with a beautiful view, but also with an unsurpassed aroma, especially on summer evenings.
Advantages
- simplicity in arrangement;
- minimum care;
- rich aroma;
- magnificent decorative look;
- long flowering period.
Disadvantages of Mauritanian lawn
Many people prefer a flowering lawn, but it has some disadvantages:
- Impracticality. If you have a small area, the Mauritanian lawn will have to be abandoned, as it is unsuitable for active games, walking. It can only be used for decorative purposes, and summer residents prefer small flower beds instead;
- Despite the fact that many people adore the aroma of wild flowers, the pollen of some herbs can cause allergic reactions, therefore, when choosing an herbal mixture, it is better to exclude some of them from it, despite their beauty (daisies, marigolds, fragrant tobacco);
- Among the plants of the Mauritanian lawn, there are many honey plants, which can attract bees, wasps and other insects. If their appearance on the site is undesirable, it is better to choose a different type of lawn.
Outcome
To bring lightness and naturalness to the territory of the site, you can embody the idea of a natural, bright meadow, saturated with wild flowers and bright natural colors. Having familiarized yourself with the concept of Moorish lawn, photo reviews of which are quite popular before starting work, you will certainly achieve the desired result.
Not all summer residents want their lawn to look like an ordinary green area. Many people want something brighter and more saturated against the backdrop of the lawn. To do this, it is recommended to decorate the lawn grass with meadow and bulbous flowers. Next, we will talk about which bulbous flowers are suitable for decorating the lawn, how to create a meadow lawn, as well as how to plant flowers on a "green carpet".
Planting bulbous flowers on the lawn
Bulbous flowers have such a name due to the fact that their organ of vegetative reproduction is presented in the form of a bulb, which is located underground. While the flower begins to fade and die off, the bulb quietly continues its life activity until the next season.
Planting bulbous flowers in your lawn, especially snowdrops and daffodils, is a smart move because flowers unobtrusively decorate and harmoniously fit into the overall landscape design of the territory.
It should be noted that bulbous flowers for lawns, like other plants, have their own characteristics of life. In other words, some flowers love moisture-saturated soils, others like shade, and others like a sunny area. Therefore, the choice of flowers for the lawn must be taken very seriously, having determined their location on the lawn in advance and consulting with the seller in the flower shop.
We draw your attention to the fact that planting bulbous flowers on the lawn should be carried out only if the area of the lawn is spacious, otherwise it will be inconvenient to care for the lawn (flowers will interfere).
Choosing bulbs for the lawn
When choosing bulbs for the lawn, it is necessary to give preference to simpler and less picky flowers in care. It is also recommended to create an evergreen lawn by choosing lawn flowers with different flowering times. In this case, some plants will bloom at the moment when others have already withered.
- tulips
- daffodils
- snowdrops
- crocuses
How to plant bulbs in the lawn?
Planting bulbs on the lawn is a fairly simple procedure that has several nuances:
- No need to plant flowers, like potatoes - in a row. Try to recreate the natural growth of bulbous groups on the lawn.
- Do not place the bulbs close to each other, otherwise the growth of flowers will slow down, or even stop at all, because. plants will be crowded. The distance between flower bulbs should be at least one bulb size.
- To satisfy requirement 1 and 2, simply take a few bulbs in your hand and throw them on the lawn where you would like to see flowers - the bulbs in this case will most naturally and comfortably fit on the site.
- In order to plant large bulbs, use a special garden tool - a bulb planter. With the help of a seeder, you can create a hole in the soil up to 15 cm deep, which will be enough to place the bulb.
- For planting small bulbs, it is easier to “remove” a small piece of soil with a shovel and put it on the bottom of the bulb, covering them with earth.
How to feed bulbs on the lawn?
Feeding the bulbous flowers on the lawn is necessary with potash fertilizers, which will stimulate the growth of the flowers themselves and at the same time blunt the growth of the lawn grass, due to which the frequency of mowing will decrease.
Creating a meadow lawn with your own hands
So, first you need to figure out what a meadow lawn is. Unlike a full-fledged meadow, where grass and flowers are above the waist, a meadow lawn is just grass that is not cut as often and has a small number of flowers in its carpet.
Creating a meadow lawn with your own hands can be different, depending on what we have in the starting position.
If you are just going to create a meadow lawn and there is prepared soil on the site, then it is recommended to purchase ready-made grass mixtures of a meadow lawn, in which seeds of various colors are added.
You can also purchase a ready-made meadow, but only in this case the height of the grass and meadow flowers will be much higher than required for the landscape design of the summer cottage.
If you all decide to create a meadow lawn on an existing ordinary lawn, you must use seedlings, not meadow flower seeds. In this case, the seedlings just need to be planted in sunny areas of the lawn and watered. Seedlings can be purchased at specialized flower shops, where the consultant will select the most suitable flowers for the lawn, as well as tell you what care you should take.
Also, one of the options for creating a meadow lawn is a more time-consuming method. You just have to stop cutting the grass and then the meadow plants of your region will sprout themselves in the lawn grass. Of course, this procedure is lengthy, but still, it can be used as an option. We draw your attention to the fact that many weeds (for example, dandelion) are also elements of a meadow lawn, so if you stop the meadow lawn, it will sprout faster in your summer cottage.
Meadow lawn care
Caring for a meadow lawn is very simple and requires only the implementation of three important nuances from the summer resident.
- Under no circumstances should meadow flowers be fertilized, this will harm them. At the same time, lawn grass requires spring and autumn top dressing. If the grass on your lawn does not allow meadow flowers to germinate, stop fertilizing it, then it will weaken, and the flowers will be able to overcome the barrier.
- On the meadow lawn, it is forbidden to use chemical weed control agents - herbicides, because. they will kill meadow plants as well. If it becomes necessary to remove several weeds from the lawn, use a spot herbicide treatment or manually remove the plant.
- meadow lawn should be carried out to a height of at least 5 cm, so that the plants have a small reserve of strength for growth. When the meadow plants bloom, you can stop mowing for a while to enjoy the luxurious view of your meadow lawn!
That, in fact, is all that I wanted to tell you about planting flowers for the lawn. We also recommend decorating the lawn in combination with meadow and bulbous flowers!
During the long winter, sometimes you forget how beautiful it is in summer. Therefore, I so want to create a piece of paradise on the plot, blooming all season.
Not all gardeners know that not only flower beds, shrubs and trees can bloom, but also lawns near the house! This is exactly the Moorish lawn. Photos of landscapes already implemented by other gardeners will help you create your own flowering meadow.
Moorish lawn: what is it and how to create it?
Whoever finds the monotonous greens of the ordinary boring, and the obligatory weekly haircut is tiring, will like the idea of \u200b\u200ba flowering version. You can create on your site a piece of a meadow that blooms from early spring to late autumn. This task is not as difficult as it seems. But you'll have to work on it.
Advantages of a flowering lawn:
- Does not require regular haircuts;
- Does not require complex care;
- Easily renewable;
- Changes throughout the season due to different periods of flowering plants;
- With the right selection of seeds, it can settle on depleted and shaded soils.
Disadvantages:
- In home gardens, a small corner of the garden is usually chosen for a flowering lawn, since over large areas it is tiring to monitor the uniform distribution of plants and the removal of weeds;
- It is difficult to find the perfect mixture to achieve continuous flowering, taking into account the composition of the soil and light;
- It is difficult to distribute the seeds over the allotted area in order to get an even flowering "carpet".
Rules for planting and caring for Mauritanian lawn
Start by preparing the soil. It needs to be dug up, the roots of perennial weeds removed, complex mineral fertilizers or organic matter applied, and the surface carefully leveled with a rake.
Sowing is done before winter or in early May on a calm day. The soil should not be dry, as well as waterlogged. 10 g of seed is enough for 1 m². To evenly distribute it and eliminate the thickening of plantings, add sand in a ratio of 1: 1.
Plant the seeds shallow into the soil with a rake. Compact the soil with a water roller. You can exclude this operation by sprinkling the seeds with a layer of peat 1.5 cm thick or covering them with spunbond. Then the seeds will not be blown away by the wind and birds will not peck them. The entire area must be well watered so that water penetrates 10 cm into the soil.
Some maintenance rules need to be followed
- In the first year after sowing, the first mowing of the lawn is carried out in early spring, when the grasses have begun to grow, and perennial and annual flowering plants have not yet awakened. Therefore, mowing will not harm them and they will not have time to drown out the grass. The second mowing is carried out in autumn, in October, so that the plants have time to shed their seeds. If you mow too early, then you will not see many crops in the next season, as they will not have time to produce seeds. The grass is not harvested for several days so that the remnants of seeds spill out of the seed pods.
- In subsequent years, the first mowing is carried out in June-July, after the spring-flowering plants have faded and seeded. The second mowing remains unchanged and falls in October. It is impossible to cut the grass short, you need to leave 8 cm of their height.
- Flowering lawns are needed for admiring. They don't walk on them. Their composition must be carefully monitored. Even with a fairly dense planting of desirable crops, you will soon begin to find unwanted ones - dandelion, quinoa, horsetail, wheatgrass and other easily propagating weeds. Therefore, novice gardeners should not dwell on complex lawn compositions, including up to 40 varieties of plant crops. Choose simple compositions of 5-10 types of herbs and flowers.
- Your lawn needs moderate watering in the morning or evening, especially during dry times. The depth of water penetration is 10-15 cm.
- Support is a must! The easiest way is to purchase specialized complex mineral fertilizers for lawns and fertilize according to the instructions. Distribute dry dressings evenly in the indicated amount to avoid burns in green pets. You can use organic fertilizers and ash, but they will have to be applied more often.
- Inevitably, there will be a need to sow some annuals from year to year, the seeds of which for some reason did not sprout.
Important! Keep in mind that many perennials will only flower in their second year. That's when you will enjoy the real Moorish lawn and make beautiful photos for your collection!
Choosing a ready-made mixture for a Mauritanian lawn
As this type of lawn is gaining popularity, garden centers are full of packages of formulations for every taste. Take the pack you like and study its composition. Choose a mix based on the environmental conditions you are willing to provide.
There are mixtures for:
- shaded places;
- dry areas;
- waterlogged areas;
- Universal.
Often a flowering lawn is sown along a fence or a small island is organized against the background of an ordinary lawn, where it creates a beautiful contrast. Also, a small cheerful clearing can be an accent near a group of ornamental trees, benches, recreation areas, baths.
How to independently choose plants and the optimal proportion of the mixture?
The basis of the mixture is always cereal grasses in the amount of 85-90%.
The most common are:
perennial ryegrass
Bluegrass meadow
Polevitsa
Timofeevka
You can choose other lawn grasses. They are supplemented with seeds of flowering annuals and perennials in the amount of 5-15% of the total volume of the mixture. You can bring their number up to 20%, but it is more difficult to care for such a meadow.
Check out the following suitable plants:
Oriental poppy and poppy
Lupine of different varieties
Cornflower field of different colors
Annual flax (blue) and large-flowered flax
kosmeya
Chamomile (any kind)
Echinacea
, daisy and other flowers.
Important! All representatives of the flora must be unpretentious, frost-resistant, drought-resistant, and annual crops successfully propagated by self-sowing.
When compiling your own mix, you will be sure that no one else has such a flowering carpet! For example, for spring flowering, be sure to plant early-flowering bulbous plants: muscari, crocuses, tulips, daffodils. When they have faded, it will be time for grasses and wildflowers.
In conclusion, we note that the history of this type of lawn dates back to the 7th century. It was popular in the Mauritanian and Arab states, located at that time in parts of the territories of northern Africa and Spain. They decorated luxurious palace gardens and parks.
Check out some more photos of attractive landscapes.
You will definitely be able to have a beautiful and bright Moorish lawn! Photos of such a lawn in the landscape will inspire you to create your own unique version to the delight of yourself, guests and others!