The Right Soil and Site Preparation are the Key Ingredients of a Successful New Lawn

The best way to ensure you have a beautiful lawn is to prepare your soil and perform the proper site preparation before the lawn is seeded. If these two things are done properly lots of maintenance and money will be saved over the life of the lawn which can be decades.

For grass to grow properly it needs four things: air, water, sunlight and nutrients. The air water and nutrients all come from the soil. If there isn’t enough of any of these four things the grass will suffer. Proper preparation of the soil for these key ingredients will likely produce a beautiful lawn.

The best soil for a lawn is rarely found on any building site. Loams, sandy loams and loamy sands with a pH of 6.0 to 7.0 are the best soils for a lawn. Normally the soil needs to be improved by adding lime to acidic soils with a PH of 6 and below and sulfur or gypsum to alkaline soils with a pH of 7.5 and above. Test the soil PH with a soil test to determine what pH adjustments are needed.

The first step in preparing the site is removing all rocks, stumps and anything else larger than 3 inches. The site needs to be rough graded to eliminate any drainage issues, to slope the grade away from the foundation, to fill in any holes and make it as level as possible. The second step is to till the site at least a couple inches down to get rid of any existing weeds and to make it easier for new topsoil to mix properly with the existing soil. The third step is to apply the topsoil with a total depth of 4 to 6 inches after it is firmed. At this stage it’s good to add some fully decomposed organic matter into the soil.

Step 4 is where you perform the soil test and then apply what is needed to the soil. You then apply fertilizer high in phosphate to the soil and work it in so it is distributed throughout the soil. After this the final grading can be performed to even out any high or low spots and slopes. The final step is to use a lawn roller which is partly filled with water to firm up the surface which can reveal any low or trouble spots which can then be corrected. It’s best to let the site settle further by adding more water before seeding the lawn.

Dayelle Swensson is an avid writer for the web on a number of topics. Having gardened herself for many years,she is able to advise others about a variety of things including gardening tips, lawn and tree care, watering, water hose reel and keeping your home garden looking good and healthy.

Cool Season Grasses

There are a number of cool season grasses used throughout the United States. The three major cool season grasses are: Kentucky bluegrass, fescues and perennial ryegrass. Mixes which include different varieties of the different types are available and chosen based on the needs of the particular lawn. A detailed description of the cool season grasses follows.

Kentucky Bluegrass

Kentucky bluegrass is the most popular cool-season grass. It has a greenish-blue color and is identified by its canoe shaped blades. It is best suited for those climates with cold winters. This grass has a fine texture and creates beautiful lawns. It is known for its tolerance to extreme winter weather. It can also handle full sunlight with moderate amounts of moisture. It does not tolerate droughts well however, and needs to be watered in the hot summer months. It is slow to germinate and doesn’t like shaded areas and wet soils. Many people will mix Kentucky bluegrass with fescues to provide more tolerance to drought and high heat making the lawn more durable.

Fescue Grasses

Fescue grasses come in four varieties: Chewing, Creeping, Hard and Tall. Tall is the most common. Fescues are commonly found in the transitional zones where it is too hot of cool season grasses and too cool for warm season grasses. They are typically dark green and medium fine in texture. Fescues are very durable with a deep root system and are low maintenance. They usually stay green year round and are tolerant to moderate shade, heat and drought. The downside of fescue grasses are they aren’t as pretty as other cool season grasses and need to be properly maintained to ensure they don’t go dormant in extreme temperatures.

Bent Grass – Colonial

Bent Grass – Colonial is most often found in Pacific Northwest and Northwestern areas of Canada. It has a fine texture and is used for golf course fairways in these regions. It likes lots of rainfall and moderately cool weather but is also drought tolerant. It is a very attractive grass if properly maintained. The downside of bent grass – colonial is that it produces thatch requiring frequent dethatching and aerating and it has shallow root systems which need frequent watering. It also is susceptible to diseases and pests.

Bent Grass – Creeping

Creeping bent grass is a fine-textured grass commonly found in Pacific Northwest and Northwestern areas of Canada. It does really well in areas with a lot of rainfall and moderately cool weather. The creeping bent grass is often used for golf course putting greens. This grass likes sunlight, can tolerate shade and droughts and looks good if properly maintained. Like bent grass colonial its downside is it tends to produce thatch, requires frequent watering, isn’t very durable and is susceptible to disease and pests.

Annual Ryegrass

Annual ryegrass is only planted for one season and is used as a transitional grass. It is reseeded over warm season grasses in the fall to keep lawns green year round in the south and northern areas of the U.S. where warm season grasses are planted. It is cheap and germinates quickly. The downside is a low tolerance to heat, drought and shade and needs a lot of water.

Perennial Ryegrass

Perennial ryegrass is a tough grass that is deep green and fine textured. It is often mixed with other grasses, particularly Kentucky Bluegrass because it provides increased durability and faster growth. It does best in areas with mildly cool climates and damp summer conditions in the coastal west and northwest regions of the U.S. and Canada. The downside to perennial ryegrass is that it can delay growth of other grasses if seeded over them.

Dayelle Swensson is an avid writer for the web on a number of topics. Having gardened herself for many years,she is able to advise others about a variety of things including gardening tips, lawn and tree care, watering, hose reel and keeping your home garden looking good and healthy.