The Lawn: How To Make It And How To Take Care Of It
from Amateur Gardencraft
The owner of the average small home seldom goes to the expense of
employing the professional gardener to do the work of lawn-making.
Sometimes he cannot afford to do so. Sometimes skilled labor is not
obtainable. The consequence is, in the majority of cases, the lawn,--or
what, by courtesy, is called by that name,--is a sort of evolution which
is an improvement on the original conditions surrounding the home, but
which never reaches a satisfactory stage. We see such lawns
everywhere--rough, uneven, bare in spots, anything but attractive in a
general way, and but little better than the yard which has been given no
attention, were it not for the shrubs and plants that have been set out
in them. The probabilities are that if you ask the owner of such a place
why he has no lawn worth the name, he will give one or the other of the
reasons I have made mention of above as his excuse for the existing
condition of things about the home. If you ask him why he has not
undertaken the work himself, he will most likely answer that he lacks
the knowledge necessary to the making of a fine lawn, and rather than
experiment with it he has chosen to let it alone.
Now the fact is--lawn-making has nothing mysterious about it, as so many
seem to think. It does not call for skilled labor. It need not be an
expensive undertaking. Any man who owns a home that he desires to make
the most of can make himself a lawn that will be quite as satisfactory,
in nearly every instance, as the one made by the professional
gardener--more so, in fact, since what we make for ourselves we
appreciate much more than that which we hire made for us. The object of
this paper is to assist home-makers in doing just this kind of work. I
shall endeavor to make it so plain and practical that anyone so inclined
can do all that needs doing in a satisfactory manner. It may not have
that nicety of finish, when completed, that characterizes the work of
the professional, but it will harmonize with its surroundings more
perfectly, perhaps, and will afford us quite as much pleasure as the
work of the expert.
If the house has just been built, very likely everything about it is in
a more or less chaotic condition. Odds and ends of lumber, mortar,
brick, and all kinds of miscellaneous building material scattered all
over the place, the ground uneven, treeless, shrubless, and utterly
lacking in all the elements that go to make a place pleasing and
attractive. Out of this chaos order must be evolved, and the evolution
may be satisfactory in every way--if we only begin right.
The first thing to do is to clear away all the rubbish that clutters up
the place. Do not make the mistake of dumping bits of wood into hollows
with the idea that you are making a good foundation for a lawn-surface.
This wood will decay in a year or two, and there will be a depression
there. Fill into the low places only such matter as will retain its
original proportions, like brick and stone. Make kindling-wood of the
rubbish from lumber, or burn it. Get rid of it in some way before you
begin operations. What you want, at this stage of the proceedings, is a
ground entirely free from anything that will interfere with grading the
surface of it.
If the lot upon which the house stands is a comparatively level one--or
rather, was, before the house was built--it is generally easy to secure
a slope from the house on all sides, by filling in about the building
with the soil thrown up from the cellar or in making excavation for the
walls. If no excavation of any kind has been made--and quite often,
nowadays, foundation walls are built _on_ the ground instead of starting
a foot or two below the surface,--a method never to be advised because
of the risk of injury to the building from the action of frost in the
soil,--it may be necessary to make the lot evenly level, unless one goes
to the expense of filling in. A slight slope away from the house-walls
is always desirable, as it adds vastly to the general effect. Enough
soil to secure this slope will not cost a great deal, if it does not
happen to be at hand, and one will never regret the outlay.
If the ground is very uneven, it is well to have it ploughed, and
afterward harrowed to pulverize the soil and secure a comparatively
level surface. Do not be satisfied with one harrowing. Go over it again
and again until not a lump or clod remains in it. The finer the soil is
before seed is sown the better will be the sward you grow on it.
If the surface of the yard is _not_ uneven, all the grading necessary
can be done by spading up the soil to the depth of a foot, and then
working it over thoroughly with, first, a heavy hoe to break apart the
lumps, and then an iron rake to pulverize it.
I say nothing about drainage because not one lot-owner in a hundred can
be prevailed on to go to the trouble and expense of arranging for it. If
I were to devote a dozen pages to this phase of the work, urging that it
be given careful attention, my advice would be ignored. The matter of
drainage frightens the home-maker out of undertaking the improvement of
the yard, nine times out of ten, if you urge its importance upon him. If
the location is a rather low one, however, it is a matter that ought not
to be overlooked, but it is not so important if the lot is high enough
for water to run off speedily after a shower. If any system of drainage
_is_ arranged for, I would advise turning the work over to the
professionals, who thoroughly understand what ought to be done and how
to do it. This is a matter in which the amateur must work to a
disadvantage when he undertakes to do it for himself.
If there are hollows and depressions, fill them by levelling little
hummocks which may be found on other parts of the ground, or by having
soil drawn in from outside. In filling low places, beat the soil down
solidly as you add it. Unless this is done--and done well--the soil you
add will settle, after a little, and the result will be a
depression--not as deep as the original one, of course, but still a
depression that will make a low place that will be very noticeable. But
by packing and pounding down the earth as you fill it in, it can be made
as solid as the soil surrounding it, and in this way all present and
future unevenness of the soil can be done away with. It is attention to
such details as these that makes a success of the work, and I would urge
upon the amateur lawn-maker the absolute necessity of working slowly and
carefully, and slighting nothing. Undue haste and the lack of
thoroughness will result in a slovenly job that you will be ashamed of,
before it is done, and so disgusted with, on completion, that you will
not feel like doing the work over again for fear another effort may be
more unsatisfactory than the first one. Therefore do good work in every
respect as you go along, and the work you do will be its own reward when
done.
It is impossible to put too much work on the soil. That is--you cannot
make it too fine and mellow. The finer it is the finer the sward will
be. A coarse, lumpy soil will always make an unsatisfactory
lawn-surface.
Most soils will need the addition of considerable manure, and poor ones
will need a good deal. To secure a strong, luxuriant stand of grass it
is very essential that it should be fed well. While grass will grow
almost anywhere, it is only on rich soils that you see it in perfection,
and the ideal lawn demands a sward as nearly perfect as possible.
But I would not advise the use of barnyard manure, for this reason: It
contains the seeds of the very weeds you must keep out of your lawn if
you would have it what it ought to be,--weeds that will eventually ruin
everything if not got rid of, like Dandelion, Burdock, and Thistle, to
say nothing of the smaller plants that are harder to fight than those I
have made mention of. We cannot be too careful in guarding against these
trespassers which can be _kept_ out much easier than they can be put to
rout after they have secured a foothold. Therefore I would urge the
substitution of a commercial fertilizer for barnyard manure in every
instance. Scatter it liberally over the soil as soon as spaded, or
ploughed, and work it in with the harrow or the hoe or rake, when you
are doing the work of pulverization.
If you do not understand just what kind of fertilizer to make use of,
tell the dealer as nearly as you can the nature of the soil you propose
to use it on, and he will doubtless be able to supply you with the
article you require. It is always safe to trust to the judgment of the
man who knows just what a fertilizer will do, as to the kind and
quantity to make use of. Soils differ so widely that it is not possible
to advise a fertilizer that will give satisfaction everywhere. This
being the case, I advise you to consult local authorities who understand
the adaptation of fertilizers to soils before making a choice.
April is a good month in which to seed the lawn. So is May, for that
matter, but the sooner the grass gets a start the better, for early
starting will put it in better condition to withstand the effects of
midsummer heat because it will have more and stronger roots than
later-sown grass can have by the time a demand is made upon its
vitality.
Sowing lawn-grass seed evenly is an undertaking that most amateurs fail
in. The seed is light as chaff, and every puff of wind, no matter how
light, will carry it far and wide. Choose a still day, if possible, for
sowing, and cross-sow. That is--sow from north to south, and then from
east to west. In this way you will probably be able to get the seed
quite evenly distributed. Hold the hand close to the ground, filled
with seed, and then, as you make a circular motion from right to left,
and back again, let the seed slip from between your fingers as evenly as
possible. A little experimenting along this line will enable you to do
quite satisfactory work. You may use up a good deal of seed in
experimenting, but that will not matter. One common mistake in
lawn-making is to use too little seed. A thinly-seeded lawn will not
give you a good sward the first season, but a thickly-seeded one will.
In fact, it will have that velvety look which is one of the chief charms
of any lawn, after its first mowing. I would advise you to tell the
dealer of whom you purchase seed the size of your lot, and let him
decide on the quantity of seed required to make a good job of it.
In buying seed get only the very best on the market. But only of
reliable dealers. By "reliable dealers" I mean such firms as have
established a reputation for honesty and fair dealing all along the
line. Such dealers have to live up to their reputations, and they will
not work off upon you an inferior article as the dealer who has, as yet,
no reputation to live up to may, and often does, charging you for it a
price equal to, or beyond, that which the honest dealer would ask for
his superior grade of seed. In order to have a fine sward it is
absolutely necessary that you must have good seed. Cheap seed--and that
means _poor_ seed, _always_--does not contain the varieties of grasses
necessary to the making of a rich, deep, velvety sward, and it almost
always _does_ contain the seeds of noxious weeds which will make your
lawn a failure. Therefore patronize the dealers in whose honesty you
have ample reason to have entire confidence, and buy the very best seed
they have in stock.
After sowing, roll the surface of the lawn to imbed the seed in the
soil, and make the ground firm enough about it to retain sufficient
moisture to insure germination. In three or four days the tiny blades
ought to begin to show. In a week the surface will seem covered with a
green mist, and in a fortnight's time you will be able to see, with a
little exercise of the imagination, the kind of lawn you are going to
have. If the season is a dry one it may be well to sprinkle the soil
every day, after sundown. Use water liberally, and keep on doing so
until rain comes or the plants have taken hold of the moister soil below
with their delicate feeding-roots.
I would not advise mowing until the grass is at least three inches high.
Then clip lightly with a sharp-bladed mower. Just cut away the top of
the grass. To mow close, while the grass is getting a start, is the
worst thing you can do. When it begins to thicken up by stooling out,
then, and not _till_ then, will you be warranted in setting the mower so
that it will cut closely. But never _shear_ the sward, as some do. You
will never have a turf like velvet if you do that. Let there be an inch
and a half or two inches of the grass-blade left.
The importance of having good tools to work with, in taking care of the
lawn, ought not to be overlooked. A mower whose blades are dull will
_tear_ the grass off, and make it look ragged, as if gnawed away by
animals feeding on it, while the mower whose blades are of the proper
sharpness will cut it as evenly and as neatly as if a razor had been
applied to it. You cannot appreciate the difference until you have seen
a specimen of each, and compared them.
Some persons advocate raking the lawn after each mowing. Others advise
leaving the clippings to act as a sort of mulch. If the clippings are
allowed to remain, they wilt, and this will detract from the appearance
of the sward for a short time, but by the next day they will not be
noticeable. Raking as soon as mowed makes the lawn more immediately
presentable. I have never been able to see any great deal of difference
in the two methods, except as to appearance, therefore I would advise
the lawn-owner to try both methods and adopt the one that pleases him
most. If a rake is used, let it be one with blunt teeth that will not
tear the sward. There is such a rake on the market, its teeth being made
of bent wire. On no account use a sharp-toothed iron rake. That is sure
to injure the sward.
Be regular in your attention to the lawn. Do not let the grass get so
tall that the mower will not do a good job in cutting it. This
necessitates mowing at regular intervals. If you mow only once a week, I
would advise the use of the rake, as long grass-clippings are always
unsightly because they remain on top of the sward, while short clippings
from frequent mowing sink into it, and are soon out of sight.
In case the lawn is neglected for a week or more, once going over it
with the mower will not make it very presentable. Mow, and then rake,
and then go over it again, cutting _across_ the first swaths. The second
cutting will result in an even surface, but it will not be as
satisfactory as that secured by _regular_ mowings, at intervals of two
or three days.
It is a most excellent plan to scatter bonemeal over the surface of the
lawn in midsummer, and again in fall. Use the fine meal, as the coarse
article is not readily assimilated by the soil. There is little danger
of using enough to injure the sward. Injury generally results from not
using any.
Many lawn-owners, with a mistaken idea of neatness, rake up the leaves
that scatter themselves over the sward in fall, thus removing the
protection that Nature has provided for the grass. Do not do this. Allow
them to remain all winter. They will be entirely hidden by the snow, if
any falls, and if there is none they are not unsightly, when you cease
to think of them as litter. You will appreciate the difference between a
fall-raked lawn and one on which leaves have been allowed to remain over
winter, when spring comes. The lawn without protection will have a
brown, scorched look, while the other will begin to show varying tints
of green as soon as the snow melts. Grass is hardy, and requires no
protection to prevent winter-killing, but a covering, though slight,
saves enough of its vitality to make it well worth while to provide it.
The ideal lawn is one in which no weeds are found. But I have never seen
such a lawn, and never expect to. It is possible to keep weeds from
showing much if one has a thick, fine sward, but keen eyes will discover
them without much trouble. Regular and careful mowings will keep them
within bounds, and when the leaves of large-foliaged plants like the
Burdock and Thistle are not allowed to develop they do not do a great
deal of harm except in the drain they make upon the soil. Generally,
after repeated discouragements of their efforts to assert themselves,
they pine away and finally disappear. But there will be others always
coming to take their places, especially in the country, and their
kindred growing in the pastures and by the roadside will ripen seed each
season to be scattered broadcast by the wind. This being the case, the
impossibility of entirely freeing a lawn from weeds by uprooting them or
cutting them off will be readily apparent. One would have to spend all
his time in warfare against them, on even a small lawn, if he were to
set out to keep them from growing there. Therefore about all one can do
to prevent large weeds from becoming unsightly is to constantly curb
their aspirations by mowing them down as soon as they reach a given
height.
The Dandelion and the Plantain are probably the worst pests of all,
because their seeds fill the air when they ripen, and settle here,
there, and everywhere, and wherever they come in contact with the ground
they germinate, and a colony of young plants establishes itself. Because
the Burdock and Thistle attempt to develop an up-reaching top it is an
easy matter to keep them down by mowing, but the Dandelion and Plantain
hug the soil so closely that the mower slips over them without coming in
contact with their crowns, and so they live on, and on, and spread by a
multiplication of their roots until they often gain entire possession of
the soil, in spots. When this happens, the best thing to do is to spade
up the patch, and rake every weed-root out of it, and then reseed it. If
this is done early in spring the newly-seeded place will not be
noticeable by midsummer.
We frequently see weed-killers advertised in the catalogues of the
florist. Most, if not all, of them will do all that is claimed for them,
but--they will do just as deadly work on the grass, if they get to it,
as they do on the weed, therefore they are of no practical use, as it is
impossible to apply them to weeds without their coming in contact with
the sward.
Ants often do great damage to the lawn by burrowing under the sward and
throwing up great hummocks of loose soil, thus killing out large
patches of grass where they come to the surface. It is a somewhat
difficult matter to dislodge them, but it can sometimes be done by
covering the places where they work with powdered borax to the depth of
half an inch, and then applying water to carry it down into the soil.
Repeat the operation if necessary. Florists advertise liquids which are
claimed to do this work effectively, but I have had no occasion to test
them, as the borax application has never failed to rout the ant on my
lawn, and when I find a remedy that does its work well I depend upon it,
rather than experiment with something of whose merits I know nothing.
"Prove all things and hold fast to that which is good."
Fighting the ant is an easier matter than exterminating weeds, as
ant-hills are generally localized, and it is possible to get at them
without injuring a large amount of sward as one cannot help doing when
he applies liquids to weeds. The probabilities are, however, that ants
cannot be entirely driven away from the lawn after they have taken
possession of it. They will shift their quarters and begin again
elsewhere. But you can keep them on the run by repeated applications of
whatever proves obnoxious to them, and in this way you can prevent
their doing a great deal of harm. To be successful in this you will have
to be constantly on the lookout for them, and so prompt in the use of
the weapons you employ against them that they are prevented from
becoming thoroughly established in new quarters.
Next: Planting The Lawn
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