The Golden State: Where & How to Live, Secure, Visit, Enjoy and Thrive in California

15 Basic Ways To Landscape Your Homepage

Your nurseryman or county agricultural advisor can make the best suggestions for the lawn seed most suitable for your particular need and locality. Before sowing seed, divide the area in sections of approximately the number of square feet covered by one pound of seed. The amount of seed per square foot varies depending on the mixture you have purchased. It's best to sow on a calm day or early in the morning. Divide the seed in half, sowing half on each section in one direction and the remaining seed at right angles to the first sowing.

After the seed is sown, cover lightly to a depth of about 1/4 inch with peat moss or well rotted manure. Roll with a comparatively light lawn roller to provide the seeds with a firm contact to the soil.

Use a fine spray of water to slowly and gently soak the surface and avoid washing the seeds away. Keep the area moist throughout the germinating period, which is ordinarily a week or ten clays. When the lawn is well established, a watering schedule should provide for deep soalrings it needed intervals to maintain the young plants.

Before the first mowing, roll the newgrass with a moderately light lawn roller. 1 his rolling compacts the soil and prevents tender plants from being pulled out by the mower. Lawn mower blades should seldom be set to less than an inch cut, while an inch and a half is better for the grass in the warm weather dry season.

Groundcovers

GROUNDCOVERS, OTHER THAN traditional turfing grasses, are becoming increasingly popular in home landscapes. This is because you, as a home owner, have begun to appreciate their many virtues.

The primary use of groundcovers is as grass substitutes. They are usually grown in difficult locations where grass is either not practical or refuses to respond favorably.