How to get rid of weeds before arranging a lawn? How to replace an old lawn with a new one

Sooner or later, everything in our world dies. Unfortunately, the lawn is also subject to destruction. Over time, it can lose its attractiveness, become dull, patchy, overgrown with weeds or subject to disease. In such a situation, it is necessary to delete it in order to create a new one. beautiful lawn. How to do it right?

Before starting work, you need to properly prepare and stock up necessary tools and materials. In total, there are several options for cleaning the lawn: purely mechanical (using garden tools), as well as herbicidal, which involves the use of chemicals.

For this case, you will need the following tools, materials:

• Garden tools;
• Work clothes and gloves;
• herbicides;
• Packages for the removal of the old lawn;
• Also a cultivator.

It is better to involve several people in this work, so you can do everything much faster and easier. Be prepared for the fact that this work will be quite dirty, so wear what you do not mind.

Mechanical removal of sod with a shovel

Dismantling the old lawn with a shovel, without the use of herbicides, is the most economical way.

To effectively remove the lawn, it is necessary to remove a layer of sod to a depth of about 10-15 cm. When the area is cleared, old lawn must be placed in sealed bags, removed from the site. This is a must, as the turf contains seeds that can spread across your yard and germinate.

herbicidal dismantling

Herbicides are chemical substances that destroy plants. Removing the lawn with herbicides is a more reliable method. When working with them, it is worth remembering that these are chemicals that can harm human health, so do not forget about safety rules. Use a respiratory mask and protective rubber gloves. The results of exposure may be allergic reactions, skin burns or poisoning.

These substances can be sold in both liquid and powder form. In addition, they differ in the type of impact:

Non-selective herbicides of general action. They are used to destroy all plants on the site, which is why they are used either before planting plants or after harvesting.

Selective herbicides (selective action) - are used to control a certain type of plant, most often weeds. They can be used even during active growth plants.

By the nature of the impact, herbicides are:

1. contact impact. The substance gets on the stems and leaves and destroys them. This species is effective against annual plants.
2. systemic impact. The substance gets on the stems and leaves and penetrates into the structure of the plant, which makes it possible to destroy weeds and plants with a developed root system.

I use herbicide to remove an old lawn. universal action, which will also destroy weeds growing nearby.

The substance is distributed evenly over the entire surface of the site. This must be done very carefully so that no sprouts or lawn seeds remain. Otherwise, they may sprout again and spoil appearance your future lawn.

After that, the area is covered with plastic wrap and left for a while. The film helps to dry and burn plants under the influence of sunlight. The most effective will be the destruction of the lawn with herbicides on hot summer days. This will speed up the processes of decay and ensure the formation good soil rich in nutrients.

Another useful tool to remove the lawn is a cultivator. It allows you to cope with this work quickly and easily, recycle layers of turf and old lawn grass, which provides a good springboard for sowing a new one.

0 19766

Related posts:

Let's start with a simple question: why is ordinary grass not suitable? At first glance, there is nothing complicated here, you just need to let ordinary grass grow and it will turn out ...

0 2675

In our Everyday life it has become customary to see the lawn. Lawns are divided into sports, parterre and decorative. They are all different, but they all have one thing in common...

The lawn brings satisfaction to the owners of the site only when it is an ideal green lawn. But no matter how hard you try, over time the lawn loses its attractiveness: it turns yellow, bald spots appear, or the grass is affected by various diseases that are not so easy to get rid of. So sooner or later the moment will come when the old lawn will have to be completely replaced. In this article, we will talk about how to get rid of an old lawn, what technologies exist, and also give a couple of important tips.

How to clean up an old lawn sown in open ground

There are two options for arranging a green lawn - sowing a grass mixture in open ground and rolled lawns. The sowing lawn is more popular among summer residents and many country residents. It is more durable, requires less attention, as it feeds on moisture from the deep layers of the soil, but it is much more difficult to remove such a lawn than a rolled lawn. After all, the roots of the grass mixture penetrate deep into the soil layers and form a strong strong turf saturated with soil and moisture.

Cleaning up an old lawn takes a lot of work. Below we describe three common ways to remove old lawn from the site.

mechanical way

When asked how to clean a lawn sown in open ground, the first thing that comes to mind is to cut the lawn turf with a sharp garden tools. This can be a bayonet shovel, a shovel with a pointed edge, or a cultivator.

• The first step is to undermine the edge of the lawn closest to the curb or other obstacle.
• Then we drive a sharp shovel to a depth of 10 - 15 cm.
• We translate the shovel into horizontal position making, as it were, cutting movements.

• For convenience, this procedure can be done together: one person pushes the shovel away from himself, the second pulls the handle towards himself, holding on to a thick rope tied near the turn of the shovel.
• Having cut off part of the lawn in this way, the entire turf must be packed in sealed bags and taken out of the site.

Important! If you leave lawn grass sod on the site, there is a chance that old seeds will germinate, which are probably preserved in the sod.

Sod can be taken into the woods, planted and poured out, but it can also be made into wonderful compost. To do this, the cut sod along with the soil must be poured into compost pit or a bunch. To speed up the transformation of plant residues into humus, you can treat a bunch of biological products.

The area that remains after cutting and removing the old turf is 10 - 12 cm lower than the old level. To return to its former height, fresh soil or black soil must be poured on top. From above, you can sow a new lawn or use the site for other purposes.

Treatment of the site with biological products

It is not always possible to completely remove the sod from the site, and it is not always necessary. Therefore, there is another way to remove the old lawn, combining mechanical way and the use of biological products.

First option:

• you can remove the sod in exactly the same way as described above. With the help of a sharp bayonet shovel, a layer of 10 - 15 cm thick is cut off. At the same time, the surface of the soil remains flat. Cut sod can not be removed from the site, but simply turned upside down.
• Then we pour the turf from above with a solution of biological products that accelerate the decomposition of organic residues. For example, "Baikal 1", "Emochki", "EM-1" and other preparations with microorganisms. This procedure can be performed in the warm season, when the air temperature has risen above +16 ° C.
• A solution of biological products can be sprayed on the turf, pouring the solution into garden sprayer. So finely dispersed drops will cover the maximum area of ​​organic matter. Or you can just water the turf with a watering can.
• After processing the turf, it is desirable to cover it with mulch. It may be a black film, it is easier to remove it from the site.

Important! Remember that for better processing of organic matter by microorganisms, the soil must be moist. Also undesirable direct Sun rays That's what mulch is for.

• After just a week, you can already sow a new lawn grass. After removing the mulching material, loose humus remains under it. This means that the microorganisms have successfully processed the organic matter.

Please note that biological products with microorganisms process any damaged organic matter. For example, cut off by glanders, a shovel. No matter how hard you try, small grass roots will remain in the depths of the soil. Biological products successfully process the remains of roots in the ground and cut turf, leaving only nutritious humus. At the same time, mind you, without harming either the soil or environment like herbicides do. The fact is that the composition of biological products includes soil microorganisms, the main task of which in their natural habitat is the processing of organic matter into compounds available to plants. That is why the use of biological products on cut turf is the most organic and environmentally friendly way to remove the old lawn.

Second option:

• It will be much less laborious to plow a lawn area with a cultivator.
• Although the surface of the earth will not be smooth and even, as is the case with cutting the turf, but this method requires less time and effort.

• After the site is treated with a cultivator, it is shed with a solution of biological products in the same way as described in the first method.

It is advisable to cover the site with mulch, and after a week you can sow a new lawn.

Important! Please note that the processing of organic matter into humus takes more than one week. But a week after treatment with biological products, you can safely sow the seeds, since they will no longer decompose.

herbicides

Herbicides cause irreparable harm to soil inhabitants and other micro and macro organisms on your site. Moreover, they accumulate in the ground and then end up on your table with food. You should not think that I have a lawn there, and there is a vegetable garden and there are as many as 15 m between them, herbicides will not harm the crop. You are mistaken, herbicide residues and their degradation products can travel around your site along with rain and groundwater.

However, many are not afraid of any persuasion, and they continue to use herbicides to destroy green spaces. Well, we will tell them the technology of using these substances on the site.

Firstly, herbicide treatment must be carried out in protective equipment: in a respirator and gloves. In the process of processing the site, it is necessary to ensure that the drug does not get on open areas skin. After treatment, you must take a shower.

Contact with herbicides on the skin can cause burns, poisoning and allergic reactions.

Herbicides are sold in liquid and dry powder form. They also differ by type of impact:

• Non-selective(solid action). These herbicides are unable to distinguish different kinds plants and destroy absolutely everything in a row. They can only be used after harvest. Because no matter how hard you try, drops of the drug during processing will scatter throughout the area.
• selective(selective action). Herbicides of this type are capable of destroying only certain types of plants. Such preparations can be used throughout the season to kill weeds.

Herbicides are also by way of influence:

• contact action. Drops of the drug fall on the leaves and stem of the plant, it dries up and dies. In this way, annual plants can be removed.
• continuous action or systemic herbicides. After the drug enters the plants, it is absorbed into the structure, not only the aerial part (leaves and stem), but also the roots die. Such preparations can be used to eliminate perennial plants.

So, to remove the old lawn, it is necessary to treat the entire area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe lawn with a universal systemic herbicide. If it is a powder, then it must be scattered evenly over the entire area, according to the instructions.

After treatment with herbicides, the area must be covered with plastic wrap to improve the reaction between the drug and the herb. Cleaning an old lawn with herbicides is best on hot summer days, when direct sunlight can burn the grass through the film.

It is possible to sow a new lawn not earlier than in a month, but better for the next season.

How to remove an old rolled lawn

A completely separate category of lawns - rolled lawns. They are a sheet of green grass, the basis for which is a dense turf - the interweaving of grass roots. It spreads out on a flat prepared area. Sometimes crushed stone and sand are added under the rolled lawn, and a film or agrofiber is spread on top so that other plants cannot sprout from the soil. This is the main difference between rolled lawns - their base is separated from the general ground, so it is easy to remove it.

Lawn removal can be done at any time of the year. For several years that the rolled lawn lay on the site, its roots intertwined, forming a continuous canvas. There are no more clearly lined rolls, there is a solid carpet of grass.

That is why before removing the lawn, it is necessary to cut it again into even rolls. This will greatly simplify the task of dismantling.

• First, we mark the area.

• Via sharp knife we cut the old rolled lawn again into rolls.
• We hook the canvas on one side, adjacent to the curb or other obstacle.
• Then carefully pry or cut the turf from below.
• Even taking into account the fact that under the rolled lawn there is a substrate that does not allow the roots to cling to the main soil, all the same, over the years of using the lawn, the turf seems to have stuck to the base.
• To pry the turf, you will need a sharp tool.
• Then we roll the lawn into rolls and remove it from the site.

It is only necessary to remove the old lawn from the site when you are going to lay a new rolled lawn. If you no longer intend to use rolled lawns, then after dismantling the old lawn, it is necessary to remove the backing film and completely remove the bedding. The site is covered with fertile soil, after which it is possible to sow a sowing lawn or use the site for other purposes - to plant a garden or vegetable garden.

If you are going to start a construction site on the site of an old lawn, then you do not need to fill in the fertile soil, it is enough to remove all the bedding.

Dismantling an old lawn is always troublesome, as you have to carefully remove large area green spaces. To make things go faster, it is better to invite a couple of friends or relatives to help.

Today, many are thinking about how to qualitatively update the backyard. Replacing the lawn with a fresh one is the best way. However, if you think that it is enough just to lay a new rolled lawn on the old one and at the same time everything under it will rot and take root normally, then you are deeply mistaken. Before laying a new rolled lawn, it is necessary to remove the turf in a quality manner. You shouldn't throw it away. It can turn out to be very high quality. fertile land. For it there will always be a use in the garden.

Laying of a rolled lawn is carried out only after large-scale surface preparation. How to prepare and will be described in the publication below.

It is always necessary to start with a total cleaning of the site. If there are stones, bricks on the ground, concrete blocks etc., they must be disposed of immediately. Of course, after the removal of stones, pits form. Do not worry - this aspect can be corrected very simply.

The technology of laying a rolled lawn involves going through the following steps:

• turf removal;
• leveling the surface of the earth with a rake;
• tamping with a specialized lawn roller;
• reinforcement (the geogrid is not always used);
• the flooring of a rolled lawn is carried out;
• the lawn is well watered.

Sod can be removed different ways. The easiest way to remove the sod is with a motor cultivator. The technique will practically do all the work for you. It just needs to be directed properly.

Although, if you plan to plant a new lawn only in the spring, then late autumn in order not to bother yourself with work, you can simply spray the entire area with modern herbicides. You can be sure that literally everything will die out within a few days (lawn, weeds, weed seeds, etc.).

However, it should be remembered that the planting of the lawn in this case can only be carried out after 8-9 weeks from the moment of spraying.

Of course, the quality of the new lawn is also affected by the planted material. The Gorgazon company provides rolled lawns of any grade. You can buy rolls ready for planting at an affordable cost without leaving your home.

Do not forget that the lawn will always be fresh, green and juicy only if two parameters are observed:

• natural sunlight;
• enough water.

Watering your lawn is a tedious task. Do you think that it is enough to throw a hose on the lawn and it will pour by itself? Perhaps this is the reason why you are thinking today about a complete change of the lawn to a new one?

Watering is recommended to be carried out at a certain time. At the same time, it is extremely important that water is sprayed onto the grass as well, and not only nourishes the roots. Root rot is the most common cause of partial bald spots on the lawn.

Automatic irrigation system is organized with the help of polypropylene pipes. They can be laid under the lawn so as not to interfere with the overall attractiveness of the site.

In this case, the control of irrigation is carried out using a computer. The program can be synchronized with time. Although today, systems that adapt to daylight hours are more common. Naturally, the system is equipped with a light sensor. Based on his testimony, the irrigation logic is carried out.

The advantage of such a system is the possibility of watering the lawn, even when the owners are absent. Few can afford permanent residence summer cottage. Meanwhile, if the visit is carried out on short visits, then the quality of the lawn will be peculiar.

To sum up, it should be noted that the lawn must have a drainage system. After all, if you have achieved an ideal plane during alignment, then at the first rain the water will stand on top of the lawn (observed during heavy rains). To avoid similar phenomenon storm sewer is installed on the site.

It is also organized through plastic pipes, which remove water into the deep layers of the soil, and also partially discharge water into a ditch, which is located on the side of the site. If all the above recommendations have been followed, you can be sure that the quality of the turf will be at its best.

Equally important is systematic care. Lawn mowing for renewal should be done at least once every two weeks. Moreover, it is necessary to mow the lawn in hard-to-reach places. For example, near a hedge, it is better to use a trimmer than a lawn mower. As a mowing, you can be sure. The trimmer easily cuts even the branches of shrubs, to say nothing of the grass.

The video will demonstrate all the stages of organizing a lawn on a personal plot:

There are two best way to replace the old lawn with a new one, which boil down to either sowing a new lawn from seeds or laying strips of turf. At the same time, the rolled lawn significantly reduces the time that you have to wait to get a full-fledged young lawn. Growing a lawn from seed will cost less, but the process isn't always without problems. In any case, with the recommendations in this article, you will be able to successfully replace the old thinning lawn with new grass.

Steps

Part 1

Cover the old lawn with a light-tight material to destroy the grass. This step will block the sunlight and thereby stop photosynthesis, which will kill the plants. In addition, the use of opaque material for weed control is not so dependent on weather conditions like application of herbicides or solarization method.

Use the solarization method to get rid of your old lawn. The solarization method uses solar heat to destroy the old grass by baking it. This destroys grass, weeds and pathogens. You will need to cover the entire lawn with a transparent film.

• Leave the lawn under the film for about 7 weeks.
• Cloudy weather will slow down the process of grass destruction. For the solarization method, the hottest cloudless weather is optimal.
• Remove the film when the grass dies.
• Dead grass can also be removed, or it can be left as compost.
• It is preferable to use a transparent rather than an opaque film, since in this case more penetrates to the grass sunlight and warmth.
• dense polyethylene film will be more durable, as it is stronger and better resists damage.

1. Destroy the old lawn with herbicides. Herbicides will destroy grass, weeds and their roots. Before starting work, read the instructions for the herbicide and be sure to take all safety precautions, including the use protective equipment. Prepare the herbicide solution according to the instructions and apply it to the entire area of ​​the lawn, taking care not to affect the surrounding garden plants.

   • Choose a fast disintegrating herbicide. This will minimize the time that the chemical remains in the environment. Glyphosate-based herbicides are a smart choice.
   • Add a few drops of dishwashing detergent or other surfactant to the solution to help the herbicide cover the plants better.
   • Apply the herbicide to the lawn on a sunny day (15.5°C or higher) to allow the herbicide to dry quickly. Choose a day with minimal wind or complete calm so that the herbicide does not disperse beyond the desired area.
   • Re-treat with herbicide if the lawn is not completely dead. Wait approximately 4 weeks before repeating the procedure.
   • Wait another week after the last treatment. Dig up the dead sod.

2. Cut off the old sod. Sod cutting is best for grass with short roots. For example, such perennial herbs like bermuda grass and pasture ryegrass, the roots can deepen several tens of centimeters. It is difficult to completely get rid of them by removing the top layer of turf. In this case, the plants should first be destroyed by one of the above methods in order to simplify the process of removing the sod.

Part 2

Conduct a soil analysis. Do a soil analysis to find out how best to prepare your lawn soil. Soil analysis can involve laboratories providing such services. They can be found in advertisements. You can also purchase a special test kit to test the soil yourself.

• Take several soil samples at once from different places lawn area and different depth: closer to the surface (at a depth of 20–25 cm) and deeper. Sign each sample accordingly.

1. Loosen the soil and provide it with a proper slope. It is necessary to loosen the soil after removing the old lawn using one of the methods you have chosen. This gives you the opportunity to correct any existing slope problems.

   • The soil should slope away from the house in all directions. The slope should be about 2 cm per meter.
   • Use a rake if slope adjustment work is minimal.
   • Water the soil and cover puddle areas with soil from high places.
   • The prepared soil around the perimeter should be flush with the paved paths or yard.
   • If you are going to frame the lawn with any structural elements(e.g. patio), adjust the slope of the soil so that the lawn itself is about 5 cm below the fixed objects.

2. Enrich the soil before planting a new lawn. Since you are starting from scratch, you can use direct access to the soil to prepare it for planting grass seeds.

   Sow the lawn. The lawn is best planted early autumn or in the spring after the end of frost. Spread the seed over the lawn area with the planter, work in slow, measured steps, ensuring that each swath is overlapped by about 15–30 cm. reverse side) and fill them thin layer mulch to ensure good ground contact and moisture retention.

   Apply fertilizer. A garden store consultant can help you choose the best fertilizer for your lawn. Sprinkle the seeds with fertilizer, distribute it back side fan rake, and then cover everything with a thin layer organic mulch if hot and dry weather is expected.

   Water your freshly planted lawn thoroughly. Try not to wash out the seeds. Keep the lawn moist until emergence (within three weeks). Water your lawn little by little, but often. AT warm weather try to water four times a day or even more often.

   Mow the young lawn. Mow the lawn for the first time when the grass is a third of the recommended lawn height. Make sure the mower has sharp, straight, undamaged blades and mow the grass slowly so as not to damage the fragile roots.

   • Mow the lawn in a different direction each time to achieve a more uniform cut and growth.

3. Take good care of your lawn for the first 4-6 weeks. Do not walk on a young lawn for the first 4-6 weeks. If after 6 weeks there is still a problem such as weeds in the lawn, remove them. Targeted application of herbicides is more effective method than hand weeding, but avoid overuse of herbicides. When abused, most herbicides against broadleaf weeds can kill lawn grass.

Part 3

Conduct a soil analysis. You need to make sure that your soil is good foundation for laying the rolled lawn that you plan to order. For analysis, you can involve experts from a specialized laboratory or conduct an analysis yourself using a ready-made set of tests.

1. Provide the required soil slope for the lawn. While you are waiting for the ordered turf, you have the opportunity to correct existing problems with the slope of the soil.

   • Avoid too much slope for new turf. The maximum slope should be no more than 25 cm per meter. If the slope of the soil is greater than this parameter, you probably need to build a retaining wall for the slope.
   • Water the soil under the lawn with a hose. Pay attention to those places where puddles have formed.
   • Rake the soil from high places to low places to fill them.
   • Make sure the prepared soil is level with the surrounding area.
   • If, according to the results of soil analysis, it needs to be enriched with something, foresee the possible rise of the soil up to 5 cm due to additives.

Who will dispute the assertion that a neat emerald lawn is a wonderful decoration for a personal plot? This is true, but it is only one side of the coin. And here is its flip side: the lawn is one of the most problematic and difficult to maintain components of the garden, especially in our northern latitudes.

The truth about the lawn

There are really a lot of problems: aging, soaking, winter freezing. Attacks of moles, ants, fungal diseases, but you never know what other misfortunes fall on the lawn. But its owner is also not easier. The need for constant maintenance: Frequent mowing, occasional watering, regular fertilizing, combing, digging, aerating, desperate weed control and many other necessary lawn maintenance operations all greatly overshadow the joy of owning a mowed lawn.

To the greatest extent, this applies to large areas, where exemplary maintenance of the lawn turns into a burdensome duty. And in cases where the lawn is arranged on forest areas, under the shady canopy of trees, one should be especially stubborn in the struggle for its survival.

What to do if there is not enough time, effort and money to care for the lawn, is it really possible to completely abandon it? In no case! The advantages of a lawn are so obvious that they outweigh all the problems that will be experienced in the way of its creation, and the difficulties that are constantly overcome in caring for it. However, even at the garden design stage, it is necessary to seriously think about where, what and how much large sizes you can afford to have a lawn. And how can it be replaced on the remaining area of ​​​​the site.

Green satin or cheerful chintz?

It is not at all necessary to occupy the entire space of the backyard with a luxurious, but capricious and demanding parterre lawn. It will look quite appropriate in the front-ceremonial part, at the entrance, and on the lawn behind the house it can be replaced by a much easier-to-care garden lawn.

For a site designed in the popular naturgarden style ( natural garden), as it is impossible better fit meadow lawn. Effective compositions made up of different types cereals, harmoniously combined in height, color shades, texture of leaves and inflorescences, make an indelible impression. To create such original pieces of prairie, you can use species and varieties veynikov (Calamagrostis), lightning(Molinia)Bukharnikov (Holcus, fescue(Festuca, miscanthus (miscanthus), as well as grate, or elimus (Elymus).

In the natural garden fits perfectly and motley moorish lawn with an abundance of bright wildflowers ( poppies, daisies, flax, cornflowers, calendula, escholzia, chamomile). Such a lawn is usually located in the far corners of the site: there it successfully imitates natural glades lushly overgrown with flowers, naturally surrounding the more settled parts of the garden.

These types of lawns require minimal maintenance. The meadow lawn needs to be mowed only a few times per season, and the Moorish lawn generally only needs to be mowed once at the end of summer, after the seeds of flowering annuals have ripened.

Under a canopy in the shade

The vast majority of grasses used to create lawns are very light demanding. Even the most shade-tolerant species, such as shoot-forming bent grass (Agrostisstolonifera) and some varieties red fescue (Festucarubra), cannot grow in dense shade. Therefore, in those places of the garden where the lighting is clearly not enough (under the canopy of trees and shrubs, with north side buildings), a grass layer should be specially formed from shade-tolerant plants.

Depending on the design solution it can be either a dense, closed carpet of ground cover plants (such as periwinkle, navel, liverwort, tiarella, tenacious, hoof, lily of the valley and many others), or brighter and decorative option- shady flower garden (suitable here bergenia, anemones, a range of varieties hosts, astilbe, geranium, ostrich and other ferns). Shaded places will look attractive from the very early spring, if you plant clumps of bulbous and small bulbous plants right among the ground cover grasses.

Pillows and "Persian" carpets

The use of ground cover plants is certainly not limited shady places. They are also planted in open spaces, and first of all in places that are not quite suitable for growth. lawn grasses: on rocky slopes, in waterlogged depressions.

So, for the design of dry elevated areas, for example, rockeries (rocky hills), spectacular creeping and cushion-shaped light-loving shrubs are used: Cotoneaster Dummer and cotoneaster horizontal, barberry Thunberg "GreenCarpet", cinquefoil shrub "Goldstar. Their low dense bushes-curtains can occupy considerable space - the lawn here "rests".

In addition, there are many herbaceous perennials suitable for dry and bright places that successfully compete with the lawn in their attractiveness. Wide colorful carpet woven from yaskolok, creeping carnation, numerous sedum(sedumov) and saxifrage, Phlox subulate, woolly chistetsa, creeping thyme, completely covers the soil.

In low places, on moist soils near water bodies, planting moisture-loving sprawling perennials, for example butterbur broad, elecampane magnificent, simplecarpus and major host, complemented by dense lower tier from loosestrife, Wallenstein trifoliate or canadian sanguine.

Creeping conifers

Of particular note important role ground cover conifers in decorating a personal plot. They also help reduce lawn area while making the garden more interesting.

Modern nurseries offer big choice species and varieties creeping junipers, pines, firs and other coniferous plants, extremely diverse in crown shape and shades of needles. This and widespread juniper Cossack "Tamariscifolia, scaly juniperBlueCarpet", mountain pine"gnome" and rarer ones such as juniper horizontal "wiltonii", tightly pressed to the ground, or a magnificent openwork microbiota cross-pair.

Decorative groups made up of such conifers (“evergreen modules”) can be monocultural or combine 2-3 species, can be single or repeated, for example, in a checkerboard pattern.

In addition to being used as independent elements ground cover conifers successfully act as "accompanists" next to soloist plants, decorate the bases of retaining walls and buildings, are used to fix slopes, to decorate the corners of paths and lawn edges.

ground cover roses

Luxurious "shawl" for the slope can serve ground cover roses, which, as a rule, bloom profusely and for a long time, and are also very unpretentious and frost-resistant. Among others, the variety has proven itself well « LavenderDream". Rose bushes of this variety are low, sprawling, with creeping fast-growing shoots and rather small, but numerous semi-double lilac-pink flowers with a strong aroma.

heather garden

The pinkish-purple haze of the heather garden is a good substitute for the emerald green of the lawn. Such a garden may well become the most stylish corner of your site.

Carpet plantings of heathers will greatly benefit if stunted plants are added to them. coniferous plants and rhododendrons that have similar requirements for habitat conditions. Additionally, to enrich the coloristic appeal of the heather garden, you can plant Erics. Unlike heathers, erica bloom in the spring, coloring the entire composition in bright colors.

A semblance of moorland is formed by combining the color spots of plantings with original stones, gravel and gravelly dumping, small pebbles. In addition, plantings are mulched with bark, nutshell or wood chips, and not only for the sake of decorative effect. Mulching also has other goals: it protects the soil from drying out, silting and erosion by precipitation, improves it physical characteristics, inhibits the growth of weeds, enriches the soil organic compounds and again reduces the area occupied by lawn grass.

plush mosses

Recently, moss and lichen gardens, decorated with boulders, snags and other inert materials. Such elements garden design, as well as other bold options (artificial swamps, dry gravel streams and scree), replacing lawn cover- additional unexpected solutions.

decorative coating

And finally, it is impossible not to mention this traditional way reducing the area of ​​lawns like paving. It is used in different parts of the garden: it can be a car park, an original summer kitchen-dining room (barbecue area), and a green living room (patio) - an open-air room where it is pleasant to relax in the fresh air.

Increasingly found in household plots device examples wood flooring: flooring for games on playgrounds, decks (decks) near pools and ponds, garden parquet in recreation areas. The sanded wood not only looks good - it is smooth and warm, it is unusually pleasant for bare feet.

Natural stone, stained wood with antiseptic impregnation and high quality modern materials(tile, decorative concrete) allow you to create beautiful, comfortable and durable coatings that require minimal maintenance.

Andrey Lysikov,
candidate of biological sciences
(According to the magazine " stylish garden”, No. 3, 2004)