The lawn is the carpet of a garden and if carefully rolled out enhances the landscaped beauty of a home. To display beautiful green baize, a few basics need careful attention. Broadly, these are local climate, the choice of grass, methodology, soil type and maintenance thereafter.

1. Temperature - Colder winters with lukewarm summers would support hardy varieties like ryegrass, bluegrass and tall fescue. The planting season here would be fall or early spring. Gardens in warmer places could opt for zoysia grass, St. Augustine grass or buffalo grass. These types grow thick and lush during the hot summer months but fade out in winter. Planting time would be late spring or early summer for a compact turf.

2. Methodology - The area should be prepared by getting down about 8 inches into the ground and enriching the land with organic compost or a booster fertilizer. Reinforce with nutrients like potassium or phosphate if these are lacking. The area then needs to be watered well for about a day or two, so that the ground is soft, not soggy, and ready to receive the grass that is due for laying.

There are three methods by which a lawn can get put down: -

1. Seeding - Since first germination and then growth takes a while, this option will not give you a lawn very quickly. The up side is that this is the most cost-effective way and for the area in question, the amount of seed needed, would be indicated on the store packet itself. Use a drop spreader to seed using half the amount first. Walk in a north-south direction and sprinkle seeds as you go. Fill in the balance seeds and walk up and down in a west-east direction. Water very slightly and roll over a top layer of mulch. This keeps the seeds moist and safe. In the summer season, water at least twice a day till the young shoots come up an inch or two.

The second method is called either plugging or sprigging with stolons. The cost goes up with this option but it is slightly faster than seeding a lawn and a lot more backbreaking. The third and most popular choice is called sodding and though this will give you a prepared and manicured lawn in a couple of days, this costs the maximum.

A fully souped-up mower that costs a packet is not really required but you can opt for one that makes your job easier. The reel variety helps in manicuring warm grasses that are less soft and pliant. To keep a lawn always looking green, plants cool season seeds in late fall over the warm summer varieties of grasses that would be quite ready to die out.

Here is another great article about fertilizing your Lawn & Garden

If you like lawn care....These pages might also interest you:

All About Weeds, Common Lawn Problems, Controlling Lawn Diseases, Four Steps to a Great Lawn, How to Water Your Lawn, Inexpensive Lawn Fertilizer, Lawns in Shady Areas, Thatching, Turf Secrets, Types of Lawn Recreation, Care Free Lawns, Creating a Perfect Lawn, Earth Friendly Golf Courses, Feeding Your Lawn, Fertilizing Basics, Mowers and Pollution, Natural Ways to Fertilize, The Right Time To Fertilize, Types of Lawn Fertilizers