Farmers have come up with the following environmentally friendly way of fighting. A film is taken (it can be thin, it can be dirty, it can be uneven, it can be torn...), perforations are made in it (there is room for imagination: cut with scissors or stretch and shoot with a pneumatic gun :-)), it is spread on the bed, and the seeds/seedlings planted in perforations. All. There is nowhere for weeds to grow!
There is a composition that, when sprayed on a plant, the plant gradually withers and everything dries out, even the root. This composition is good for combating weeds that have deep tap roots (for example, dandelion or sow thistle). Be careful not to drip on the planted seedlings, otherwise the same thing will happen to them. This composition is called ROUNDUP and is sold in various packaging from 100 ml (bottle) to several liters (canister). It's important not to get caught here useful plants. You can walk between the beds with a brush dipped in the composition; the weeds on the paths are removed well. It’s better to weed the garden bed by hand. The main advantage of this composition is that it is harmless to the soil. Dead plants simply turn into compost and gradually rot naturally.
The easiest way is to buy a lawn mower and mow the grass once every two weeks, without straining. Because if weeds grow in places around the beds, then you won’t get rid of them in the beds - their seeds will still fly in, their roots will reach your beds.
On our site we passed
1) spraying the grass with a special composition - it helps very little, and you won’t get sprayed, but on next year everything is still growing again;
2) mowing with a scythe - the scythe does not reach everywhere, for example, under bushes, around flowers and beds it will not be possible to mow, you will have to go through it with a sickle, and it often leaves stems that are too tall;
3) digging individual parts plots in the spring and sowing them with lawn grass. You can’t dig up the entire area, and the lawn grass grows, but this doesn’t make the weeds smaller; they grow interspersed with it.
But now we bought a lawn mower, which we carry in our hands (under no circumstances should we carry it across the grass - if the terrain is uneven, then such a lawn mower will be of no use) and mowed all the grass on a plot of 6 acres in 1.5 days, with breaks for lunch , dinner, afternoon tea, tea, etc. Without any physical stress, everything was bent down almost to the ground. Moreover, she mows all the most difficult areas, under bushes and near beds and around flowers. Then just monitor the grass using the same lawn mower and that’s it.
For large areas, I used a large red sprayer that hangs on my shoulder and a long spray gun in my hand (Quasar, I think?). If you pass near the “necessary” plants, make a thin stream so that God forbid you don’t hit them.
Just yesterday, I found some information about where to put a pound of salt. There were a lot of tips and one of them was to dilute 1 kg. salt in 10 liters of water and spray the places where weeds grow. Must disappear. If necessary, you can repeat several times.
You can, of course, try to stretch a dark film, but judging by the garden of my neighbors in the country, this is, to put it mildly, useless. And it took them much longer. First buy fabric, then cut holes, then plant these potatoes and watch them so that each one grows into its own hole. And the weeds climb ahead of her. So they live in one hole - a little bit of potatoes and a bunch of quinoa and other weeds. Personally, I act in the old Russian way - I try to weed once, but well, with the roots, the main thing is that the weeds do not have time to ripen and “scatter” their seeds! And, of course, the grass around the beds - it also shouldn’t be allowed to grow and bloom much! And deprived of seeds and roots, it does not grow anymore.
Manual weeding. It is better to weed little by little, but often, than to wait for a mass of weeds to appear in order to declare a merciless war on everyone at once. Be sure to cut weeds with a hoe before the heading and flowering phase - this measure is extremely effective against annual plants. Weeded weeds are recommended to be removed from the site immediately. Never use them to make compost. Chemicals against weeds Manual removal of deep-rooted or too densely seated weeds is hard and pointless work. Chemical treatment is not as harmful as is commonly believed.
I have been fighting weeds in my dacha for many years. And the most best way, provided that you do not have the entire plot in beds, this is to plant lawn grass, preferably sports grass. Periodically replanting and compacting. And mow, mow...
Last year in the summer I decided to plant old seeds, I thought they would disappear. I just scattered it everywhere I could. This year there are much fewer weeds.
And on the beds there is only weeding. Many people place sawdust, cardboard, and dark film between the beds. In places where lawn grass cannot be planted, near fences, etc. treat with Roundup, but often and according to the instructions.
I propose a method of fighting weeds, calling on astrology to help.
No one has yet canceled the lunar rule. If you want something to take root and grow well, do the work for the growing Moon. And if you need to get rid of something, wait until the Moon begins to wane.
You need to pull out weeds regularly; 2 weeks of the waning moon are at your disposal every month. Try it, the number of weeds will noticeably decrease, they will grow poorly.
If you are trying to get rid of weeds on your lawn, be sure to sow grass during the waxing moon. Gradually achieve a perfect weed-free lawn.
First stack of June
Now let's take a closer look at mowing the grass on your site: at the dacha, in the Family Estate, in private household plots. The topic is important, because all creative agriculture rests on the mulch that we get from grass. Mulch is the basis of our natural agriculture - it is the skin of the earthly organism, its protection, its boundary. It is like our skin, protecting the inner world of the body from unwanted influences. environment. Let us remember that the skin in any living organism performs many important functions: protects from drying out, serves as an organ of excretion, respiration, partially nutrition, prevents the penetration of harmful microorganisms, being elastic, softens mechanical stress.
The same role in the earthly organism, or in the organism of the living earth, is played by the role of litter: fields, meadows, forests. A land deprived of its cover is a land that is sick and slowly dying. In extreme conditions, when the plant kingdom has no way to protect it from external influences, for example, in a desert, a salt marsh, the role of protection is taken on by the top layer of the earth itself, dead and lifeless, then life goes deeper, and on the surface we see a dead or almost dead surface.
DIY mulch
In our case of artificial cultivation of agricultural crops, the role of cover should be played by mulch, a litter layer of dying organic matter (leaf, dry grass) or the one with which we cover the ground artificially. That’s why we need to mow the grass a lot - this is almost our main job, at least at the first stage of returning to nature, when the role of mulch over the years will be taken over by ground cover plants, like white clover, those natural employees who will help us reduce labor costs and increase the result, while simultaneously increasing the quality of the harvest itself.
When to mow the grass
When should you mow the grass for the first time? My experience says that the most convenient time for mowing is June, when the grass has already grown sufficiently (and June is the month of rapid biomass growth), but has not yet set seeds, which we usually do not need. We usually mow tall grass, which is not very suitable as ground cover. Therefore, it is advisable for us to quickly get rid of tall plants, replacing them with more squat ones. Therefore, the time for the first mowing is the first ten days of June. If you start later, you can already get hay with seeds.
The fact is that in mown grass, active seed maturation continues for some time. When field grains are mowed, for example, at the stage of milky ripeness of the ear, while the grass is drying, the seeds are ripe and can be seeded in your beds after you spread mulch on them. Therefore, it is better not to mix grass mowed closer to July with that from early June, but send it for processing, for example compost heap instant cooking. There, at a temperature of 50-60 degrees, young seeds will quickly lose their viability and will no longer be dangerous.
If you have a lot of grass with ripe seeds and you decide to compost it, remember that it will take you three years for the seeds in this pile to lose their viability.
By the way, the traditional timing of haymaking - in the middle zone usually in the month of July - is due precisely to the fact that, firstly, the main frenzy of urgent June planting and watering tasks has subsided, the plants have already grown, become stronger and require less care, and secondly, that By this time, the seeds of field herbs have ripened and mowing wouldn't hurt reproduction of the main field grass species. Otherwise, by mowing the grass before the seeds ripen, we gradually remove some species from circulation, usually taller ones, and replace them with others, more stocky ones, which until then were oppressed by their tall counterparts, but have now received freedom of development. Therefore, when mowing in June, be sure to sow new seeds of those plants that you want in this particular place. If we mow areas adjacent to a vegetable garden, we sow low-growing ground cover: white clover, bentgrass, agrimony, budru, bluegrass, low-growing lawn mixtures that do not require pruning. White clover here, of course, the best is both short and legume, that is, a nitrogen fixer, and unpretentious. No wonder its species name creeping clover.
In places where beds are not planned yet, we sow taller ones that increase fertility. These are all types of traditional legume green manure: vetch, alfalfa different varieties, sweet clover, red and pink clover, annual lupine. Very a good decision there will be sowing goat's rue . It can grow in one place for up to 15 years, it is tall, produces large biomass, and is an excellent honey plant. Bruise, phacelia, and Echinops are also good. These are also excellent honey plants.
Moreover, to avoid seeds, you can do this. We also mow them before flowering, getting a decent amount of biomass (they are all quite tall), but we only mow them once. By the end of summer the grass will rise and bloom again. And if you also keep bees on the site, thereby prolonging the flowering of the main non-productive honey plants for them, postpone the flowering time to the end of summer, when usually the main honey plants have faded. As a result, your families have an additional food supply during the time of intensive preparation for winter, when the bulk of young bees are growing, which go into winter and form the basis of the future colony in the spring. So we kill two birds with one stone: we get grass, we don’t destroy the plants, and we help the bees.
And I will repeat it again. My recommendations relate to central Russia, to a climate similar in characteristics to the Moscow region. My village is in the wilderness of Vladimir province. It’s a little harsher here than in the Moscow region and not as harsh as, for example, in the Tver, Vologda or Kirov provinces. If you live far south of Moscow, or, on the contrary, further north, make adjustments for the climate and timing, shifting them in one direction or another. But the general patterns will be the same, only with a slight shift in timing, since the sequence of natural seasonal rhythms in both the north and south is approximately the same, the sequence of germination and flowering, fruiting is the same, only the timing and speed of change of developing and flowering grasses change . This has been repeatedly tested and proven by many studies and can be taken as the basis for understanding the rhythms of plant development.
General conclusion. We mow the spring grass as soon as it has risen 20-30 cm. Below there is a lot of work - there is little use, and if it has grown to the waist, then it is just right not to be late - start before the ovaries appear. You will have to mow for more than one day, and at this time the plants ripen very quickly, so if we set aside a week for mowing, then take into account that by the end of the week it may be too late. It's better not to be lazy and start early.
When is it better to mow: morning or evening?
The general rule is to mow wet grass that is swollen with moisture: dew or rain. This means either in the morning with dew, or in the evening with dew. It's good after rain too. This is if we mow en masse. Of course, you can mow here and there at any time of the day, especially, for example, thickets of nettles - it grows quite rarely and is always mowed equally well, until it becomes woody. Well, in a field where the grass stands in a dense wall, during the day you get wet with it - and it’s difficult to mow, and it’s difficult to cut - it lays down a lot, and the mowing doesn’t come out clean.
Another good thing about mowing in the dew is that if you mow barefoot, it is an excellent therapy - the body receives great help from natural biocurrents. It comes to life and receives such a charge of vigor that cannot be compared with any artificial procedures. And if you use a scythe, and not a trimmer or a lawn mower, you are performing an excellent health practice. It is a known fact that the respiratory tract is best developed in swimmers and mowers. In other words, mowing is good for your health. Mowing in dew is an excellent means of rejuvenating the body. Therefore, do not be fooled by the temptations of our century - mechanical substitutes (trimmers and lawn mowers), master our old assistant, the scythe. And you will have a harvest and health. Moreover, the scythe helps the body strengthen, and its surrogates deprive one of the last health with their harmful vibrations. Tested many times. Their fatigue is depressing. The fatigue from the scythe is healthy and mild - useful.
The choice is yours
And once again I draw your attention: all the details about mowing, mowing, drying hay and mulch are in my full-length film.
Lawn mowing- this is the very technique that allows you to maintain it in the form of a thick, perfectly even green carpet. Mowing the top of the plants stimulates their branching, new shoots grow fluffy and bright, making it more difficult for weeds to break through them.
Why are lawns mowed?
Without maintenance, a lawn loses all its decorative value. , becomes coarser, duller, some of the leaves from old shoots fall off, exposing the stems. The grass stand is in decline. If you do not mow regularly, you can negate all the results of the work of sowing the lawn or laying turf.
Do not allow the grass to grow more than 10–12 cm from the required height. Otherwise, after cutting, the lighting in the thickness of the grass will change sharply, which will lead to withering, yellowing and even death of tender shoots that were previously hidden in the shadows.
Infrequent cuttings lead to great stress for plants. Recovery proceeds normally when per haircut, no more than a third of the height of the stem is cut off. If time is lost, but you want to avoid problems, it is best to carry out the procedure in the evening or in cloudy weather - then the probability negative consequences decreases.
IN THE PHOTO: It is better to shorten significantly overgrown grass on the lawn in the evening. sun rays plus the stress from cutting will lead to weakening of the plants and their wilting.
Before winter, the haircut is protective: large number Dead grass and rotting grass can lead to the death of roots, so the volume of green mass must be reduced.
How to properly mow the lawn for the first time?
Seedlings of lawn grasses appear during from the end of the 1st to the beginning of the 4th week after sowing. At the same time, in dry weather the seeds need to be careful.
When to mow the lawn for the first time and what precedes this procedure?
As soon as the height of the plants reaches 5–8 cm, they must be swept, removing debris and fallen tree leaves from the surface of the lawn. After this, the lawn should be rolled with a lightweight roller or the rear roller of a cylindrical lawn mower. This is done to compact the raised soil and form new shoots. The lawn is mowed when when the shoots rise again, no more than 1–2 cm is removed.
To ensure a successful first mowing of your lawn, your lawn mower blades must be sharp. To operate, the front roller of the device must be removed.
IN THE PHOTO: For the first cutting of lawn grass, an electric or mechanical lawn mower is suitable.
Lawn mowing in spring, autumn and summer + basic rules
Spring
- When mowing the lawn in spring: if the seeds are planted this season, prepare to carry out this procedure regularly, starting from May–June (the exact time depends on the weather outside). Start with a haircut once a week. Also see.
Autumn
- Lawn, autumn sown, requires a haircut only next year.
- After the summer season, the frequency of haircuts is gradually reduced to once a week.
Summer
- How often to mow the lawn in summer, depends on the speed of grass growth, which is influenced by the weather and varieties of cereals. During the period of active growth, you can cut the grass 2 times a week. At the same time a curly haircut requires more frequent updates than a simple one.
IN THE PHOTO: To create such a spiral-shaped lawn, just change the cutting height of the grass on the lawn mower. But only regular haircuts will allow you to maintain the given geometry in a decent form.
How high should I mow my lawn?
- For a parterre lawn, the optimal height is 3–3.5 cm;
- It is recommended to maintain gardening at a level of 4–4.5 cm;
- The height of the sports lawn is 5–5.5 cm.
When to mow the lawn after winter?
The same rule applies here as with the first haircut: as soon as the height outgrows 1-2 extra cm, you can cut it. In autumn, they stop cutting the grass when the temperature reaches +10°C (daytime). In conditions middle zone this period falls on the second week of October.
It doesn’t matter how large or small the lawn on your property is, after mowing, its entire surface must be cleared of cut grass, otherwise it can cause yellowing of the grass and the appearance of rotted areas.
How often should I cut my lawn grass?
The frequency of mowing is different for each type of lawn. Most often they mow (at least once a week), followed by. and are mowed only twice per season.
meadow lawn first processed with a mower after the plants produce seeds (in June). The cut bushes are allowed to lie in place for several days for natural reseeding, then they are removed. The second haircut takes place in September.
Moorish lawn care almost the same, only the first mowing occurs at the beginning of July (spring flowers by this time should already produce fully ripened seeds), and the second at the beginning of October, when summer and autumn flowers fade.
Lawn mowing problems
Uneven surface
An uneven soil surface with hummocks can do a disservice when mowing the lawn, since bald spots form on the surface of the elevations, which are subsequently washed out and turn into holes. You can level the area by mulching low places and generally increasing the length of the grass stand. But it is advisable to take care in advance of leveling the area before.
When working with a lawn mower, you do not need to exert much force, press on it or sharply turn the handle.
IN THE PHOTO: The tussocks of grass are clearly visible. There were also hills on the bald spots that were beveled to zero. As a result, the soil was washed away and “holes” formed.
The grass is torn, not cut
A common occurrence in large gardens and parks, where cutting is carried out by not very qualified workers and gardeners. As a rule, they don't pay attention whether the mower blades are dull or not, namely, a dull mower/trimmer blade causes the grass to be torn rather than cut.
IN THE PHOTO:It is clearly visible that the ends of the grass are torn and not cut off. The whitish, torn lawn patches will eventually form large patches that will stand out on the lawn. In hot weather this will happen quite quickly.
To get rid of areas with torn grass, you need to wait for it to grow back 5-7 cm, and then go again with a high-quality lawn mower with sharpened blades.
Brown tips of grass
Browning of the tips of lawn grass can be a result of cutting in wet weather, over wet greenery. There is also a possibility that the lawn mower blades are dull or the cylindrical part of the device is damaged.
Uneven haircut
Narrow strips of long and short grass perpendicular to the movement of the mower are left due to the slow rotation speed of the mower blades. Reason: either wet grass or incorrectly selected cutting height.
IN THE PHOTO:Most often, narrow strips of unmown grass are left next to the wheels of the lawn mower.
Why do you need to mow your lawn? It turns out, not only to improve his appearance. If the grass is too tall, the lower parts do not get enough sunlight, begin to turn pale and wither, as a result, the vegetation as a whole grows worse, spots of withered grass or bald spots appear on. And regular mowing helps the lawn to form a thicker and denser grass cover.
How often should you mow the grass?
The first mowing of the lawn is recommended no earlier than the grass on the site after planting has grown to a height of 10 cm. It is recommended to trim the lawn no more than 2-3 cm. This will at the same time give it a neat appearance. appearance, but it will not harm vegetation that is still young and has not had time to take root so well. The lawn, which has been growing on the site for several years, is also trimmed only slightly to stimulate its uniform growth.
Further haircuts are recommended to be carried out approximately once a week under normal weather conditions, or once every two weeks in severe drought and heat. The main thing is to monitor the growth of the grass. If it grows beyond 10-12 cm, then even with ideal operation of the lawn mower, you may end up with an uneven surface.
The last haircut should be carried out when the average daily temperature begins to drop below 15-12 degrees for a long time. Under no circumstances should you wait for frost, otherwise after winter you may encounter noticeably thinned vegetation.
Regularity of mowing is very important; it is better to mow the grass more often and for a short length, rather than rarely, but much at once, because... this will severely injure the plants and may lead to baldness in certain areas of the lawn.
It is recommended to carry out a haircut early in the morning, or in the late afternoon, when there is no longer bright sun. It is not recommended to do this in hot weather and in bright sunshine; the plants may begin to dry out in the cut areas. Haircuts are also not recommended immediately after rain. Heavy drops of water usually crush the grass, and after drying it may appear unevenly cut. Ideally, already dried plants and slightly moist soil, so that there is less dust, and the mower does not pull out bunches of grass from the dry soil instead of cutting them, but also does not stir up dirt in puddles.
Lawn mowing rules
Before mowing, it is necessary to remove all debris from the lawn, as well as stones and branches, because... they may damage the lawnmower. If the soil is noticeably uneven, it is leveled with a rake and large clods of earth are broken up. Each cutting, the direction of movement must be changed to perpendicular, otherwise over time stripes will form on the lawn.
For small lawns, you can limit yourself to a manual lawn mower, as it is cheaper and more compact; for large areas, you will have to buy powerful wheeled devices with an electric or gasoline engine.
Small amounts of mown grass can be left on the lawn for a day or two only in particularly dry weather, so that it reduces the evaporation of water from the soil, and at the same time serves as additional organic fertilizer. In normal weather, it is better to remove it immediately, otherwise it will lead to the active proliferation of slugs and earthworms, and deteriorating soil ventilation will lead to an increase in infection of the grass with fungal diseases.
To ensure a neat and even lawn, before starting work you need to make sure that the mower blades are sharp enough and set at the same level.
If you can’t take care of your lawn, you can turn to the services of special companies. If you compare their price and the cost of self-care for the lawn, then the second, of course, is cheaper, but the first can help save a lot of time and nerves.
Learn all about lawn mowing. We'll tell you when the first and last lawn mowing of the season is. Find out by How often is it necessary to mow the lawn, what to do with the cut grass. Learn the basic principles of proper lawn mowing.
Lawn mowing is one of the most important elements of lawn maintenance. Only frequently cut grass will create a thick, green garden carpet. Regular mowing promotes germination and growth of grass, limits development (sensitive to low cutting). Learn how and when to mow your lawn.
First and last lawn mowing of the season
A young lawn (just created) is mowed for the first time when the grass reaches approximately 8-10cm in height. Cut the grass to a height of approx. 5.5-6cm! Only the subsequent haircut is carried out to a height of 3.5 cm.
Next season We usually carry out the first spring mowing of the lawn in late March - early April, however, this period depends on the spring weather! It is necessary to monitor the grass and, when the stems reach 6-8cm, trim it.
The last one Autumn lawn mowing is usually carried out in mid-October. In some cases, this procedure can be done a little later when warm weather encourages grass growth.
We mow the grass to a height of approximately 4 cm; if higher, it will break and may rot under the snow. Mowing too low is unfavorable for the grass - it exposes the roots to freezing.
After mowing the grass, carefully rake up all the stems and other plant debris (sticks, leaves, etc.) located on the lawn.
How often to mow the lawn
To keep your lawn looking like a green carpet, you need to mow it once a week! Only such frequent grass cutting will ensure the ideal appearance of the lawn. If, however, the ideal appearance of the lawn is not required, we can mow the lawn less frequently, but we must not allow the grass to exceed 8 cm in height, and, of course, we must not allow the grass to bloom - in this case, after cutting the stems, only stubble will remain.
The taller the grass, the less resistant to cutting! It should also be remembered that at one time we can mow no more than half of its height, so if we want to radically reduce the height of the lawn, it is best to divide the mowing into two times - every 2-3 days. The optimal cutting height is to cut 1/3 and no more than half the height of the grass..
How often you need to mow your lawn depends on a number of factors, including:
- time of year and temperature- Grass grows faster in spring and late summer when it is warm and humid. In July, grass grows much slower due to high temperatures.
- fertilization - an intensively fertilized lawn grows quite quickly, especially when we supply too much nitrogen - then the grass becomes dark green and grows quite lushly.
- glaze– the lawn requires regular watering; when there is not enough moisture, the grass grows much more slowly.
- types of herbs, from which the lawn was created - lawn seeds are sold in the form of mixtures consisting of various types and varieties of grass that differ from each other in appearance, type and intensity of growth - for example, ryegrass (chaff) grows very quickly, so there should be as little of it as possible in the herbal mixture!
What to do with cut grass? Is it possible to leave grass clippings on the lawn?
Grass clippings can be left on the lawn only if the stems are no longer than 3-4cm. This grass decomposes quickly and will replenish the lawn. If the grass is longer or when we do the first and last cutting of the season, it should not remain on the lawn. Long stems and heads of grass decompose very slowly and promote turf decay, which has a negative impact on the growth and appearance of the lawn. They need to be raked or cut using a lawn mower with a grass container. Grass clippings are organic matter, perfect for