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Show Low Modern Homes Need Fine Lawns as Frame K" - ' 1 ft xm ' v , a I , : .." ' ' r - - , ' : : Lawns have become more important than ever In the home landscape. Modern home design has increased in-creased the importance of the lawn to the home landscape. The house with low spreading lines finds a harmonious frame and foreground in the flawless green carpet upon which it rests. Without care a fine lawn is impossible, wherever it is attempted. at-tempted. With care, there are se'jeral fine lawn grasses available avail-able to Americans, the most widely used being blue grass. Since the earliest days, Kentucky Ken-tucky blue grass has been the chief reliance for lawns in the northern states. Its rugged persistence in overcoming over-coming obstacles to its growth may sometimes encourage neglect. neg-lect. Its beauty, hardiness and quick response to favorable treatment have kept it in first place against many rivals for more than a century. Good treatment is much the same for all lawn grasses. I.i soil requirements they are similar sim-ilar to other plants. The soil should be porous, to provide I good drainage, and should contain con-tain organic matter to hold in ' storage water and plant food for the plants to use. These qualities should be checked, and if necessary improved, before any seed is sown. Though late summer or early 1 fall is the best time, most new ( lawns are made in the spring. As soon as the ground has I thawed out and is dry enough ' for working, seed for a new lawn may be sown. The first step is to apply plant food. Three or four pounds of balanced commercial plant food per 100 square feet is usually sufficient. Half of this may be spread evenly over the area and spaded undei. The lawn should then be raked smooth and leveled before seed is sown. The remaining half of the plant food may then be mixed with the seed and both spread together, preferably with a fertilizer fer-tilizer spreader, which will apply ap-ply it evenly at the rate recommended recom-mended by the supplier. The seed and plant food should be raked into the top soil. Then use a lawn roller or tamper to compact the soil. This will assist as-sist germination and the early growth of seedlings. The soil should not be allowed to dry out until the seed has germinated, even though this requires frequent sprinkling. If sowing is delayed until warm weather, it may be necessary to cover the surface with straw or similar material to shade the surface and check drying, while admitting both air and light. After the grass gets a good start sprinkling should be less frequent, with more water applied ap-plied at a time. Established lawns should be watered when they need it, with a thorough staking. Careful tests have shown that an adequate supply of nitrogen throughout the summer is necessary, nec-essary, to keep blue grass growing grow-ing vigorously. This may be supplied by using a plant food which releases its nitrogen slowly, slow-ly, such as is now availuble to amateurs. Otherwise frequent fre-quent applications of nitrogen in other forms should be made. |