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Show Springtime Is Lawn Time By PIIIL DURT Many an otherwise attractive house looks lonely and uncared for because the ground around it is unplanted. A rich green lawn will do wonders for your new home, or, your not so new home. For a new lawn, an early spring start is the best lease on life you can give it. Hot weather is killing for both the new grass and the new grass grower. Begin preparing your lawn as soon as possible. Even poor soil will grow grass, and its roots are soil builders. However, in this day and age it is not at all necessary to complicate your life with poor soil. You will need a four to six inch layer of improved soil for the lawn. And of course the first step is' to remove all debris from, the lawn area. This means hauling rocks away, and of course boards, roots and branches. If your soil is very sandy, it will pay you several sev-eral times over to purchase some type of organic material to spread on the area and mix into the top four inches of soil. This could be rotted manure, compost if you can get it, or peat moss. If you can get it, spread the rotted manure two inches deep and mix thoroughly thorough-ly with the soil. Now apply three to four pounds of a balanced commercial plant food to every 100 square feet. It Is easiest to apply using a fertilizer spreader. If you care to, you can spread one-half of the commercial plant food over the soil and spade it under, adding the remaining half after the lawn has been smoothed down. Smoothing and leveling a lawn takes a lot of work, and it should not be slighted, but carefully done. In our area, Kentucky Blue Grass cannot be surpassed, and it is highly recommended for lawns. You can use a fertilizer spreader for seeding the grass, using one half of it walking one way, and the remaining half of the seed walking crosswise. -The seed should now either, be raked into the surface, or the .whole area can be rolled. It helps to spread a layer of peat moss over the lawn. To prevent drying out which is extremely injurious sprinkle the lawn area with a fine spray. Warmth and moisture will determine deter-mine the length of the germination germina-tion period. Cool weather will delay it. Once the seed has sprouted 'the soil should never be allowed to dry out until the seedling seed-ling plants have established considerable con-siderable root system. This may mean a twice a day sprinkling routine, but it will pay off in a rich, even lawn. If hot weather should arrive rapidly, as it often does in our valley, then the layer of peat moss that you spread out over the newly seeded lawn will serve its second purpose by protecting pro-tecting the roots from scorching sun rays. . |