ORNAMENTAL HORTICULTURE (2+1)

Maintenance of lawn

Having raised a lawn by one of the methods described above, the question of maintenance comes next. If the lawn is not properly maintained, it will become useless within no time. The various aspects of maintenance are discussed below.

Weeding
One of the main aspects of maintenance is the control of weeds. Without close attention or care a time will come when weeds will overcome the lawn grass, the soil will become sick. Weed is common in both new and old lawns. Therefore, as soon as a lawn is established weeding should start and continue at regular intervals or whenever the weeds come out. The frequency of weeding obviously will be more during the rains than in the colder months. The nut grass (Cyperus rotundus) is the most difficult weed to eradicate, because of its deep root system. This should be removed with the roots as deep as possible with a long narrow-bladed (1-1.5 cm) Khurpi. All weeds should be removed with the roots and these should never be allowed to seed.

Rolling, mowing and sweeping
The object of rolling is to help the grass anchor itself securely and also to keep the surface leveled. Rolling should be avoided when the soil is wet. Mowing is another important operation. The first thing is to obtain a good machine, which will cut evenly at a correct height. The frequency of mowing is determined by the amount of growth and will vary from season to season. But grass should not be allowed to grow more than 5-6 cm in length during any season.





Sweeping the lawn thoroughly after each mowing is essential to clean the cut grasses, which might have fallen from the mower box. Sweeping is also done every morning to clean the fallen leaves and other debris. Sweeping may have to be repeated two or three times in a day during the season when the deciduous trees shed their leaves.

(c) Irrigation
Doob grass is shallow-rooted and, therefore, frequent light irrigation is better than copious flooding after long intervals. Here again some people prefer flooding at long intervals as this saves labour. Labour as well as water can be saved to a considerable extent if sprinkler irrigation is used. The frequency of irrigation varies with the climate. Stagnation of water should not be allowed as it may kill the grass.

(d) Scraping and raking
Continuous rolling, treading, and mowing may result in the formation of a hard crust and the lower part of the lawn may get matted and woody. For such lawns, the grass is scraped at the ground level with the help of a khurpi in the months of April and May. Scraping is followed by raking to break the crust. Where the condition of the lawn is good, hard and thorough raking is done both ways to loosen the old runners and to aerate the soil. Then the mower blade is lowered and the grass mowed close to the ground.

(e) Top dressing with compost and fertilizer
After scraping or raking, a compost consisting of good garden soil, coarse sand, and leaf-mould in the proportion of 1:2:1 (in sandy soil the proportion of sand should be reduced or eliminated altogether) is spread over the lawn to a depth of 3-5 cm. To cover to such a depth a 100 kg of compost per 100 square meters will be needed. Bone meal is also applied at the rate of 1 kg per 10 square meters. The same compost is used as top dressing again during September to October. From October to April, ammonium sulphate is applied once every month at the rate of 1 kg per 50 square meters area followed by watering. Application of fermented compost in liquid form is also very beneficial for lawns. This is prepared by fermenting 20 kg of compost in 100 litres of water for a few days. During fermentation, ammonium sulphate and super phosphate at the rate of 1 kg and 2 kg are added to this mixture. The concentrated mixture is strained through gunny cloth and diluted to tea colour and added to the lawn with water cans or by siphoning. After the application, the lawn is soaked with water. This can be applied twice a year (October and May-June). Raw cow dung may be fermented and used in the same way.