Tips for planting a lawn in hot summer: how to ensure the germination of grass in a dry season?

The green lawn on the site is an excellent place for relaxation, and almost every owner tries to take at least a couple of meters under the green zone. But it happens that the arrangement of the site began to be dealt with in the summer, when the hot days came and the time for planting the grass had passed. In this case, there are two options: either wait for autumn, when the temperature drops and a more favorable time for sowing comes, or at your own peril and risk, sow the lawn with heat.

Naturally, not every housewife will have enough patience to wait until a cold snap, because weeds will instantly take over the empty land. Yes, it is not necessary. If sowing is carried out with certain precautions and tricks, then even the most terrible heat will not spoil the seedlings. How best to plant a lawn in the summer – consider in detail.

Correction of soil composition

Despite the fact that all lawn grasses have a good survival rate on any soil, it is still worth correcting the composition of the soil. If the soil is clay, then when digging it, add peat, sand and humus (in equal proportions), and if sandy, then add a denser soil, for example, forest.

Focus on your feelings: take a lump of soil in your hand and try to form a ball out of it. If it turns out to be very dense – the earth is heavy, it must be made lighter (diluted with sand or peat). If the ball is rolling, but loose and ready to disintegrate, the soil is normal. If it is impossible to roll it at all, it means that the soil is too crumbly and will not hold moisture.

Soil preparation

If the soil is infertile, remove it half a meter in depth and dilute it with useful components – peat, humus, sand, etc., or fill it with ready-made soil

It will not hurt to apply a complex fertilizer, which will accelerate the germination of seeds and give them additional nutrition.

Otherwise, the preparation of the soil is usual: they remove debris, stones, plant roots, level the site, mark the boundaries.

Creation of protection against soil drying

So the soil is loosened, cleaned out, and ready to receive the seeds. But don’t be in a hurry. In summer, under the scorching sunlight, the earth dries up instantly, and this is harmful to good germination. Therefore, the first step is to create a protection in the ground itself from its rapid drying. To do this, remove all the soil by 30 centimeters, tamp the bottom and line it with cardboard. It can be all kinds of boxes, newspapers in several layers, etc.

Such an interlayer does not interfere with air circulation in the soil, but it will retain water in the outer layers, without letting it pass deeply. And the blades of grass will not lack moisture. By the way, cardboard itself perfectly absorbs moisture, and then gradually gives it away. So the soil will be more moist than usual. By autumn, the paper layer will rot, and this is where its function ends.

Surface leveling

Spread the removed soil on top of the cardboard and tamp it with a roller, and in narrow areas – with an ordinary short board. Lay out the board, starting from the edge of the lot, and jump on it. The ground is leveled by the force of the weight. You can involve children in this activity. They will gladly ride the boards.

To level the surface of the ground as much as possible after ramming, walk over it with the back of the rake. They will pull off the excess, and the soil will become smooth as a knee. If small pebbles are picked out under the rake, it is better to remove them immediately, since the blades of grass at these points will not germinate anyway, and the sod will turn out to be uneven.

Lawn tamping

Trampling with a board is convenient for those areas where a bulky roller cannot turn: between paths, on flower beds and winding ridges

Now you can proceed to the most crucial moment – planting seeds. Summer sowing is sufficient to produce according to the rates indicated on the package with the herbal mixture. An unexpected advantage of planting in the heat is the weak germination of weeds. If in spring they pour out practically in the same quantity with blades of grass, then in summer (starting from the second half of July) their activity sharply decreases. And while the so-called autumn weeds hatch, the lawn has time to enter in full force and suppress them.

Sowing time and density

It is better to plant the grass in the evening, so that the summer sun does not immediately begin to fry it. Sprinkle the soil well before planting.

Watering the soil

The hotter the weather is, the longer it takes to water the prepared soil so that it is saturated with moisture at least 5 cm deep

Watering the soil for the lawn

If there are still puddles on the ground (photo 1), it is too early to sow, you have to wait until the surface absorbs all the water and slightly cools (photo 2)

Wait until completely absorbed and scatter the seeds. If the area of ​​the site is small, it is better to spill the edges first, and then the rest of the area. This will ensure that the grass is evenly distributed.

Lawn sowing

Thoroughly spilling the edges of the site, proceed to sowing the entire site, focusing on the consumption rates indicated on the package with the herbal mixture

After sowing, be sure to mulch the area with a layer of dry soil or peat. The grass must hide from the sun. After sprinkling the mulch, do not spill it, but leave it dry. This makes it easier to roll over the seeds and press them into the wet ground. To press down the mixture, use the same board or roller.

Sun protection

In spring or autumn, these activities would be enough for the grass to give good shoots. But in summer, the temperature of the upper layers of the soil warms up so much that hatching seeds can easily burn out. And if they manage to germinate, then all the power of the sun’s rays will fall on the delicate blades of grass. To save seedlings, immediately after sowing, cover the entire area with a non-woven white material. It will reflect the rays and lower the soil temperature. And moisture will evaporate less.

At the edges of the lawn, the material is fixed with boards, fittings or any other heavy objects, and if the area is large, then it is better to press down the middle. To do this, drive in the pegs in the corners and pull the twine from the edges of the site (crosswise) so that it passes through the center, dropping the thread flush with the soil. The twine will press the material and prevent it from rising from the wind.

Lawn shelter

Lightweight non-woven material does not interfere with the passage of oxygen into the soil at all, but reflects a significant part of the harmful sun rays that incinerate tender seedlings

The finished lawn should be spilled daily (morning and evening) by sprinkling water over the non-woven fabric in a fine rain. It perfectly permeates moisture inside and does not allow it to quickly evaporate. By the way, on uneven areas, where there is a slope in one direction, such a shelter will avoid the erosion of seeds and pulling them into a low place by streams of water. Therefore, the seedlings will be more uniform and friendly.

The first shoots of grass

The first thin blades of grass will begin to break through about a week after planting, and if the site is not covered, the germination time will drag on for another week

With careful watering, the first blades of grass will appear in a week. Wait until the grass grows up to 3-4 cm and only then remove the cover. Then, use your hands to pull out all the weeds and mow the lawn. The first blades of grass will be thin, so it is advisable not to walk on the lawn until it gets stronger. You will see it on the powerful turf and juicy, thick greenery.

Another nuance of summer planting – do not feed young seedlings with fertilizers, especially nitrogen fertilizers. At high temperatures, they can burn out the root system. Better to wait until the rainy season, or do nothing at all, especially if you added fertilizer while preparing the soil. The grass supply on fresh soil is more than enough, and the extra distillation of growth weakens the fragile roots and leads to freezing of certain areas in winter.

Summer lawn

This is how a summer lawn looks like at the beginning of October – with a powerful sod, a healthy juicy color, and its chances of wintering well are high.

The grass, planted in July, looks fully formed in the beginning of autumn. She winters well, freezes less often than during autumn planting. In addition, if the mixture does not grow well (and this also depends on the quality of the seeds!), You will have time to sow the bald spots before the onset of cold weather. But in this case, you will have to cover each restored place with non-woven material in order to ensure a normal climate for the crops, or again cover the entire area, as you did in the case of the first planting.

As you can see, with some care, a beautiful lawn can be grown even in the heat. Roses grow in Siberia, so why can’t grass grow in summer ?! It all depends on the efforts of the owners …

Anna Evans

Author-editor

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