Do-it-yourself moorish lawn
The Moorish lawn is a flowering meadow that is sown not only with green grass, but also with bright flowers. Such lawns were created many centuries ago in Spain and North Africa. Then the Moors and Arabs formed their own states and erected palaces with magnificent parks, which combined elements of culture of different nationalities. The Slavs living in Spain really missed their home, so they planted gardens with wildflowers to express their love for the motherland. Such colorful fields quickly became popular..
Content
- Advantages and disadvantages of a variegated garden
- Selection of a mixture for a Moorish lawn
- Soil preparation and care
When the era of geometrically regular flowerbeds and mowed lawns came, the Moorish gardens began to fade into the background and everyone forgot about them. But in our time, more and more people are discovering the charm of motley herbs in their area.
Moorish lawn is a flowering meadow
Advantages and disadvantages of a variegated garden
The colorful lawn, unlike the plain green, is surprisingly diverse. He changes his appearance about once a week and always pleases the eye with new inflorescences. It does not need to be mowed or cut regularly, because all the plants on the lawn will turn green all summer. If any flowers dropped their petals and dried, then it would be enough to walk and manually collect dead stems. To do this, you can use clippers or pruners.
Such a lawn does not need to be sown every spring. Moorish herbs grow and grow more and more beautiful every year. If bald spots appear in the lawn, you should not be upset, you can always fix this by planting annual seedlings in the problem area.
There are not many shortcomings in such a lawn, and those that are are not so significant as to compare them with the above advantages. But still: if you can drive a ball along the usual green grass, then the flowers on the Moorish lawn will not tolerate trampling. A walk through the flower garden is acceptable, you can put up a bench, but you yourself will not want to run and frolic.
Such a lawn does not need to be sown every spring, the Moorish forbs grow and every year they grow denser and more beautiful
The next minus is also fixable, it can most likely be attributed to the recommendations for the selection of plants. So: the lawn should bloom from late May to early October, so the varieties of flowers should be early, late and medium in one package of seeds. Otherwise, your garden will look like a field with dandelions – for one week it shines beautifully with yellow heads, for three days – with white balls, and the rest of the summer – with green uniformity. In general, correctly selected seeds are the key to a luxuriously flowering meadow.
If you choose the wrong plants for the Moorish meadow, then it will quickly fade and remain monophonic. A striking example is the field of dandelions
Selection of a mixture for a Moorish lawn
For Moorish lawn, the most commonly used seeds are grasses such as fescue and ryegrass. In simple words, these are decorative cereal plants that do not require special care, well survive frosts and droughts. They are mixed with seeds of different types of perennial and annual flowers.
Such mixtures sometimes contain up to forty species of different annuals. The best option would be the composition in which self-sowing plants will be included. Such flowers survive the winter well and spring on their own along with perennials. If, having bought the mixture, you find that there are no such plants in the composition, add them there yourself. Otherwise, your garden will lose some of its vibrant colors over time and become faded. Perennial flowering plants are usually unpretentious and short in growth. They also tolerate low temperatures and other extreme conditions..
Poppies look very bright among green grass and dull inflorescences
An interesting enough occupation is the independent selection of plants for such a lawn. And if you have been occupied with flowerbeds for more than a year and have a lot of seeds collected by yourself, then you will also save money.
To collect the grass mixture yourself, you need to take into account that it must consist of 20% cereal grasses and 80% flowers, which not only blend beautifully with spikelets, but you yourself like. To make a choice is from which, most importantly, to correctly combine plants according to flowering periods. Different bright flowers are suitable for the Moorish lawn. If you prefer pale and delicate inflorescences, then you still have to add contrast. Poppies, tulips and hazel grouse perfectly “dilute” the color of the lawn. Chamomiles, marigolds, forget-me-nots, chrysanthemums, daffodils and crocuses also look beautiful.
By collecting seeds yourself, you can significantly save the budget
Soil preparation and care
Planting a Moorish lawn with your own hands is not difficult. The main thing is to properly prepare the ground. To do this, you need to dig a plot as for a regular garden lawn. Peat and sand can be added to too knocked down and heavy land. Organic fertilizers are introduced at the same time. If the site was previously overgrown with weeds, then it must be treated with a continuous herbicide such as glyphosate or round.
Next, the soil must be leveled, compacted with a special garden roller and watered so that it sits slightly. It is advisable to leave the site in this form for several days, then loosen it a little and sow the seeds. In the first three to four weeks, the future Moorish lawn should be watered frequently, at least twice a day. To do this, it is better to install a small sprayer, as large drops can knock out seeds from the soil.
When the plants sprout, you need to make sure that there are no weeds among them. If a large number of them emerge, you can repeat the spraying with herbicides. In principle, this is the whole process of caring for a flowering lawn..
Lawn mowing is rare, but this must be done correctly. For example, in the first year, grass is mowed once at the end of the season. This can only be done after the annual flowers bloom and disperse their seeds. In the second year you need to look at the situation. It happens that the grass sprouts before flowering plants, because it has a vegetative system that is much better developed. In such cases, the May haircut can not be avoided, so as not to let the grass drown the flowers. It is necessary to cut the grass not less than 8 cm. If the lawnmower cannot be set in this position, then it is better to use a trimmer or a hand braid. Cut vegetation must be removed from the site.
You need to cut the grass before the flowers sprout and after they disperse their seeds
In general, cutting a Moorish lawn is a very individual matter. Only after seeing the riot of herbs can you say for sure whether to cut or not to cut. And no one can solve this problem more correctly than the owner of the site. If you still have the slightest doubt about the timing of mowing the grass, then it is better to leave everything as it is and clean the lawn once in late autumn. At least you definitely won’t upset the balance of flowering wild plants..
Now that you know how to create a Moorish lawn with your own hands and what flowers to choose for it, you can safely get to work. Let your work please family and neighbors. I wish you success and good luck.!
