What is minimum care and maintenance to my non grass lawn design

Lawncaretips - When your plants are establishing and covering all your back yard or front yard you will need to keep an eye on them to ensure that they take hold.

Simple thing to care and maintenance to your non grass lawn design is by weeding Any perennial weeds that were missed when the ground was being prepared should be carefully lifted as they grow, otherwise they will quickly establish themselves and smother the plants. The seeds of annual weeds will also appear between the plants and these should either be hoed off or pulled out by hand. In dry weather keep the young plants watered to prevent them from drying out and pinch out any upward growing shots to encourage bushy growth.

Colorful lawn with plants mixture if in good growing conditions should grow and spread quickly to form a solid mat within several weeks. This of course will depend on the vigour of the individual plants and the spaces between them when they were planted. Any weeds that do manage to grow through the plants should be removed by hand as soon as they are seen, although when the plants are established to form a thick ground cover it becomes difficult for most weeds to grow.

Mowing The amount of trimming needed on a non-grass area will depend on the type of plants being used, but generally no more than a couple of light trimmings per year are required. A spring trim tidies up the plants after winter and a late summer trim removes any taller shoots and old flower stems. This can be done with a rotary mower on a high setting, with a nylon cord strimmer or by hand shears. For small areas, hand shears give a neater finish.

Feeding Once established, feed the plants once a year in spring with a general fertilizer to start them into growth for the season. Remember that lawn weed and feed cannot be used on non-grass lawns, as the selective weedkiller in the product will kill broad-leaved plants.

When the best time you can plant non grass lawn in UK

Lawndesignidea - Planting The best time to establish a non-grass lawn is in early autumn or spring. Plants such as chamomile, thyme and alpines are usually available as established plants in small pots, although some nurseries will supply smaller plants in large plug trays.

Where established plants are being used it may be possible to divide the clump into several rooted sections. This not only saves money, but also the plants will go further.

When we planting the non grass lawn like thyme or other, give space the plants out in staggered rows and plant them approximately 15–20cm (6–8 in) apart. Wider spacing can be used, but it will take longer for the plants to grow together

Water the plants thoroughly to settle them in and keep the soil around them moist in dry weather until they are established.

Once established a non-grass lawn needs very little attention, but while the plants are establishing you will need to keep an eye on them to ensure that they take hold.

Important thing in soil site preparation for making non-grass lawn

Lawncare - Ground preparation is very important when laying an area of non-grass lawn in order to prevent invasion by perennial weeds at a later date. As the area being created is usually quite small, this should not present too much of a problem.

If you do not fancy the hard graft of forking out perennial roots, an alternative is to spray the weeds with a glyphosate-based weedkiller. This is absorbed into the plant, killing all parts including the roots. Once the weeds are dead, the ground can be forked over to loosen the soil. Glyphosate does not leave any harmful residues in the soil.

Preparing the soil Annual weeds can simply be lifted or, in sunny weather, dislodged with a hoe and left to dry out. With perennial weeds, it is vital to remove all pieces of root, as many will re-grow from even the tiniest fragment. The old-fashioned and totally organic way to do this is to fork over the soil and pick out the roots by hand.

Once the site is completely clear of weeds, rake down the soil to form a level surface and apply a base dressing of general fertilizer. This should be lightly raked into the soil surface. The site is now ready to plant or sow.

Sowing A few plants such as clover and thyme can be grown from seed, although thyme is often established from small plants. This is best done in spring when the soil is starting to warm up. 

The ground needs preparing thoroughly and raking down to form a firm seed bed. Broadcast the seeds evenly over the area and lightly rake them into the surface – just as you would with grass seed. Germination can be a little slow, especially in dry weather. If this is the case, water the area with a watering can or sprinkler to keep the soil moist.

Gardening tips and trick, How to creating a new lawn after new construction

Lawncaretips - Creating a new lawn from scratch is much easier than you might think and the end result will be very satisfying and rewarding. Lawns can be made from many different types of plants, but the most popular and practical lawn is one made from grass and usually mixtures of different grasses are used to create a thick sward.

Before embarking on a new lawn, some planning should be done first. As you are starting to make a lawn from bare earth you have the option to decide exactly what you want. It really is worth thinking about the options because once the lawn is laid and established, to change it can be difficult. When laid properly, a lawn will last a lifetime, so it pays to try and get it right from the onset with minimum effort.

How quickly do you want it? There is also the timescale to take into account. Growing a lawn from seed is much slower than establishing turf, so if you need a lawn in a hurry, grass seed will not be the best route to take.

Where is the lawn to be sited? You also need to think about the position of the lawn in the garden: what type of soil you need to work with, what level of drainage, whether the area is prone to drought, whether all or part of it will be in shade most of the time, whether it is next to over-hanging trees, and so on – all of these points are covered later on in this book.

What will the lawn be used for? The main thing to take into account is what the new lawn is mainly going to be used for. It is all too easy to buy the first box of grass seed you find in a garden centre or to order turf from the first supplier you find listed in the telephone book.

But before you get to that stage you need to ask yourself why do you want a lawn? Do you want a fine quality ‘show’ lawn that will rarely be walked upon or a lawn that needs to be able to withstand children and pets running and playing on it? 

These are completely different types of lawn, and to create each successfully you need different grass mixtures. If you were to use a fine lawn mix and subject it to heavy wear, it would soon be ruined. Likewise, by using a strong grown seed mixture you will never get a fine quality lawn. It is, however, possible to have a hardwearing lawn that also looks good all year round, as long as you use the correct mix of grasses.

Basic knowledge of lawn and garden landscape

Lawncaretips - Lawns come in all shapes and sizes, from manicured and striped lawns to tough hardwearing areas of grass. To many, looking after a lawn is a chore and is not considered very important. Yet from a garden design point of view, lawns are very important, and many people would not consider creating a garden without a lawn of some sort. Lawns can be used in many other ways such as for growing wild flowers, lawn sculptures and to create mown shapes to add interest and movement to the garden.

Although gardening trends come and go, the lawn is definitely here to stay. It provides not only an attractive feature but a surface for play and an area in which to relax in the garden. It also acts as a foil to plants and borders – take away the lawn and the garden would be much less interesting to look at. Even in the middle of winter when the garden can look a little bare, a lawn will always provide some colour.

Despite the importance of lawns, they are often taken for granted and only given the minimum of care. Part of the reason for this is because it is widely believed that to have a good quality lawn you need to spend a great deal of time and money on maintenance. In the case of a golf green or football pitch this may be the case, but for a garden lawn it is possible to create and maintain a lawn in good condition without being a slave to it. 

Lawn care is also thought to be difficult and a bit of a mystery, but with improved and new varieties of grass and an increasing range of lawn care products, lawn maintenance has never been as easy or enjoyable. A well kept lawn will involve some work, but the results far outweigh the effort and if you treat your lawn as being as important as the rest of the other features and plants in your garden, the whole area will appear to be more aesthetically pleasing to the eye.