Part 1 (1/2)
Making a Lawn.
by Luke Joseph Doogue.
_THE HOUSE & GARDEN MAKING BOOKS_
It is the intention of the publishers to make this series of little volumes, of which _Making a Lawn_ is one, a complete library of authoritative and well ill.u.s.trated handbooks dealing with the activities of the home-maker and amateur gardener. Text, pictures and diagrams will, in each respective book, aim to make perfectly clear the possibility of having, and the means of having, some of the more important features of a modern country or suburban home. Among the t.i.tles already issued or planned for early publication are the following: _Making a Rose Garden_; _Making a Tennis Court_; _Making a Garden Bloom This Year_; _Making a Fireplace_; _Making Roads and Paths_; _Making a Poultry House_; _Making a Hotbed and Coldframe_; _Making Built-in Bookcases, Shelves and Seats_; _Making a Rock Garden_; _Making a Water Garden_; _Making a Perennial Border_; _Making a Shrubbery Group_; _Making a Naturalized Bulb Garden_; with others to be announced later.
Making a Lawn
THE SMALL LAWN, OLD AND NEW
To the thousands of anxious inquirers, seeking solution of lawn difficulties, it would be more than delightful to say that a fine lawn could be had by very hard wis.h.i.+ng, but honesty compels one to change the words ”hard wis.h.i.+ng” to ”hard work,” in order to keep strictly within the truth. A well-made lawn is a testimonial to a hustler, whether the area is small or large.
The majority of inquiries about lawn needs come from people having small places, from a few hundred to a few thousand feet, and the symptoms described can be divided into two cla.s.ses: one where they want to make gra.s.s grow where it has never grown before, and the other where the call is for information to a.s.sist in restoring old lawns that have petered out. Let us take up the last condition first.
Where gra.s.s has grown for some years it is conclusive evidence that there must be soil beneath, which, perhaps because of neglect, has ceased to supply the nourishment necessary to maintain the vigor of the sod growing upon it. As a consequence, weeds gradually creep in and finally crowd out every blade of gra.s.s.
A condition like this is easily remedied and an improvement brought about in short order and at very small expense.
In the first place make a general clearing up of the weeds and do it as thoroughly as possible. Take them out with a strong knife, cutting deep into the ground. An asparagus knife is the best for this purpose.
If the place under treatment were to be spaded up, this weed-cleaning with the knife would not be necessary, but the object in this instance is to disturb the soil as little as possible.
With the weeds out of the way, go over the whole place with a sharp rake and scratch the earth to the depth of half an inch. In doing this remember to be not too severe on spots where there is any gra.s.s growing, applying the rake lightly here. After the raking, sow gra.s.s seed thickly and evenly, raking it in, and finish by watering and rolling. Be sure to roll heavily, water regularly, and good results will surely come.
This, in brief, is the most practical way to treat the conditions described.
If, however, you should find that the ground shows patches of moss and sorrel, the treatment just suggested will not apply. The land is probably sour, and should be plowed up, limed, and allowed to lay rough all winter. Use about a bushel and a half of air-slaked lime to every thousand square feet.
When the object is to make a lawn where there never has been one, the plow or the spade is the most effective weapon.
It must be kept in mind that gra.s.s on a lawn is a great feeder, and no soil can be made too rich to supply its food requirements. A lawn is a permanent planting, not something that is to last merely for a season.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Here is an interesting and ingenious scheme of getting a path over the lawn without increasing the labor of cutting. The stepping-stones are set flush with the ground]
Start this work of preparation for a new lawn in the fall. Spade the land to the depth of two feet, or, better still, run a plow through it, if the size of the place warrants. Work in plenty of well-rotted manure, and during the winter the frost and snow will greatly improve conditions, killing the weeds, and mellowing the soil as nothing else can.
In the spring, harrow and cross-harrow the plot, smooth out the surface, rake fine, and sow your seed. If, however, the soil is gravelly, there is no use trying to doctor it up with the expectation of getting good results.
As has been said, you need a good loam in which to grow gra.s.s, so that if it is not good you must dig out what is there to the depth of two feet and replace it with suitable soil.
There is no short-cut for reaching results with the aid of fertilizers, for all the chemicals in the land will amount to but little if the soil conditions are not proper to receive them.