By Ahmed Hajouj.
Everyone likes verdant lawns. The green looking lawns are a result of painstaking efforts and some real turf care. It is not very difficult to maintain the green turf as in golf courses or the horse races. Read all about it here
Easy and simple Real Turf Care Guidelines
A green looking turf that you see in the catalogues of golf clubs is not very difficult to maintain. You too can do this landscaping . All it takes is work and some common sense tips. You will be surprised if I were to tell you that you could have a good lawn if you follow the rule of 25 mm and the rule of third. Let me explain,
Watering of Lawn: You should water the lawn just enough so that the evaporation loss is replenished and the grass gets its due share. The rule of 25 gives the value of water loss through evaporation.
When watering the lawn. Take a dish and keep it in the area where watering is being done and allow about 25 mm height of water to get stored in the dish. After watering is complete, place the dish in the same where it was filled up and allow the water to evaporate. Note the time required for water to evaporate. You should water the lawn after this time interval.
The watering should be heavy and infrequent rather than frequent and shallow. When you water the lawn shallow, the root system starts looking for water and the root system does not penetrate deep in the ground. At the same time there should be no water logging in any area. The water logging would destroy the grass in that area.
Over-watering will not kill the grass but water logging will definitely do it. In fact over-watering is good. Infrequent over-watering coupled with generous use of nitrogen rich fertilizers will help in developing spongy grass on which you will feel elated when walking.
Watering of lawns should be done in the morning so that the water has time to penetrate to the ground. Water evaporation is highest during noontime. Watering at this time, would only allow higher evaporation. You do not want water to evaporate, you want it to reach the ground and penetrate the surface, so water in the morning or evening when evaporation rate is minimal.
Mowing The Lawns Second Real Turf Care
Mowing the lawns carefully and timely is the second care that you will give to the lawns. The rule for the real turf care is rule of third. When mowing the lawns, do not cut the grass more than the third of the existing blade length. A marine crew cut is not the best way to develop green grass. In fact, you are killing the grass if you give it a marine crew cut.
The root system does not develop properly when you give it a close shave and the growth of grass is reduced. Hence, the grass should never be cut close to ground. Depending on the type of grass the blade length could be between 20 to 40 mm. For example, the buffalo grass should be allowed to grow 30 to 40 mm in summer and winter before cutting. Follow the rule of third and the minimum blade length will be maintained.
When you cut the grass, you may leave the cut grass instead of removing it so that the grass gets its food from the cut grass. Care should be taken to see that thatching of soil should not occur; otherwise, grass growth could be restricted.
With two simple rules, you can get good-looking lawns.
