And so our lawn was taken right up to the high wall. I was grudgingly allowed a narrow bed in which to plant a few perennials and the climbers that were to clothe the wall, but I was warned that it was not to encroach too much on the precious green grass.
We were lucky in having one tree in the garden, a variegated sycamore. That was the tree we saw through the open door the day we decided to buy the house, and today it is the only thing that remains in the garden from those days. It is in the lawn, rather near the house, and the aspect would be very bleak without it. It is one of the tragedies of a new garden that all the trees must necessarily be very small, and I think we were extremely lucky to find one ready grown for us.
It took us several weeks to make our lawn. Making a lawn isn’t just a matter of raking the surface and sowing grass seed. Certainly it wasn’t for us. First of all the ground was by no means level and had to be levelled by driving in pegs at intervals. A long strip of wood with a spirit level strapped to it is placed on top of the pegs to get the right level.
We made all the mistakes imaginable because we were in such a hurry to get the job done. Our worst mistake was not to put in drainage. In light sandy or gravel soils this is not necessary but heavy clay like ours needs draining. A simple way of doing it is to dig a diagonal trench across the lawn, with a slight drop of an inch in a yard, to a corner where a pit is made filled with clinker (our brickbats could have been used). Agricultural pipes are put in the trench, covered with clinker, then gravel and lastly with earth. Tributary drains run into the main drain on each side, filled with clinker, gravel and earth. I have often considered draining our lawn but there never seems to be an opportunity for such a big operation, and we continue to have soggy patches where moss grows luxuriantly.
Another mistake we made was not to remove all the top soil before we started levelling. Walter thought it was sufficient to put some good sifted soil on top of the levelled ground, but I am sure one reason why we have such a poor lawn is because a lot of the infertile subsoil came to the top during the levelling process, and the precious bacteria and humus-laden top soil got buried underneath. I admit we grow excellent daisies and plaintain in our lawn but I am sure there is not sufficient depth of good soil under it to produce grass of velvety texture that is the hall-mark of a good lawn.
Sowing should be done in April or September. We chose September, and late September at that, but we should have done better to allow the soil to settle until the spring. We had to wait several days before the weather was right. It is no good sowing grass seed in a high wind, nor after heavy rain. The ideal moment is when the ground is not too dry and when a soft gentle rain is going to start after the sowing is done!
The levelled top soil should really be allowed to settle before it is raked to a fine tilth. Next the surface has to be firmed. We used a light roller, and this is quite satisfactory if the soil is not wet enough to stick to it. I have heard of people putting a sack of sand on a flat board and dragging that over the surface, and I believe in the old days gardeners had large flat wooden boards which they fastened to their feet with leather straps, rather like snow shoes.
It is most important to sow the seed evenly, and for this a double sowing is best. The lawn is divided by lines into sections a yard square. An ounce of grass seed is allowed for each square yard, and the first sowing is done walking up and down the lawn. Then the process is repeated walking across the lawn. We found the easiest way to get the right amount of seed was to measure it and for this we found a wineglass that just held an ounce.
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