Proper preparations must be made when landscaping yards with lawn to ensure the best lawn possible

Lawns make a beautiful addition to any landscaping yards plan. Well manicured evenly green grass doesn't just happen, it's carefully planned out with the proper soil preparations, lawn fertilizer and grass type.

The type of grass used really depends on where you live and the local climate.

When you decide to have a lawn, you can either use sod, plant plugs, or plant seeds. A lot of this depends on your budget. If you can afford a sod yard, do it. It's much easier. Part of landscaping yards involves a plan that's affordable, but sometimes buying sod may seem expensive. It is usually worth the money though.

Before we can start rolling out sod, we need to know a few things about the soil. The type of the soil is important to determine drainage.

The nutrients in the soil can be added when we first till the dirt to make it soft for planting.

The best place to find out what type of soil you have would be the local agricultural specialist.

Once we've determined the needs of the soil, we can till it to make it easy to work with.

Tilling the soil mixes it up really well. We like to have a good pH balance between 5.5 and 7.5. Adding lime makes the soil more alkaline, adding sulfur will make it more acidic.

Once the soil is tilled it will need to be leveled with a rake.

Being able to water a lawn efficiently saves time and water. We'll need to have a good sprinkler system installed before we put down the sod or plant the grass seeds.

Now with the soil slightly moist we can plant the seed using a seed spreader.

It's best to spread the seeds in the longitude direction, cover them slightly with a rake, then spread more seeds in a latitude direction.

If you can afford to buy sod, then it's much easier to work with and it's already grown. Sod comes rolled or folded.

Laying down sod is much more convenient than planting grass, but it also has to have the right conditions or it can die or even mold.

The sod will need time to grow and fill in. Eventually, the lines will disappear and the lawn will get fuller and greener.

Plugs are sometimes used when conditions permit. These grass plugs grow outward and eventually connect. Plugs are also great for bare spots in lawns.

Back to Landscaping