Weeds in an aged lawn, or in a new one, can perfectly be combated with chemical weed-killers such as 2.4-D compounds. Using a granulated chemical with a spreader is occasionally preferable to a fluid spray. Spray should be used on a day when there is no wind as drifting spray kills and harms vegetables, flowers and shrubs. Provide your lawn after spraying against weeds, so that the grass can become thicker and fill in the bare spots before long.

Yet, one should keep in mind that an excellent choice to prevent weeds in the first place is to have a healthy lawn, with good soil providing sufficient nutrient for the grass you plant. Weeds come in after, when the lawn is wrongly thinned for one motive or another. For instance, a lawn may be thinned by diseases which are overlooked in our haste to lay the blame on weeds. It is true for diseases that occasionally assault turf, too, that prevention steps are the best, and that a healthy turf will be better able to ward off the disorders that come after.

As earlier stated, a mixture of seeds is more resistant to disease. Maximum moisture in the soil seems to be a source of many diseases. Another origin is poor circulation of air for the grass roots, due to near-by trees, shrubs, and buildings. You can't do much about this by pruning.

Close mowing causes some diseases thereafter it weakens the grass and causes more succulent growth, which, in turn, brings about fungal attacks. If the mowing tallness is not below 1 1/2 inches, even though the lower leaves may be attacked, the newer leaves may not be.

Watering in the evening hours is a poor usage because if the grass remains wet at night, disease is invited. And if you practice fertilizer to energize turf grasses, do so in the early spring and fall when the grass is healthful, not during the summer when the leaf is succulent and tender and readily attacked by disease.

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If you have been struggling for nothing with a poor lawn, you might just as well do slightly drastic with it, such as spade it up and revive it. If you do, still, be careful not to build in the same mistakes twice. If there are puddles or pools on your lawn for a long time following the rain, you may want to lay drain tile or create a good layer of gravel under the topsoil.

If your case is due to a hard-baked soil and the grass is thin and anaemic, spading up or ploughing followed by soil arrangement and re-seeding, is very likely the best method. If limited areas (such as paths or low spots or areas below the trees) get too packed, they can be loosened and cultivated, or opened up by aerating to a deepness of 6 or 8 inches. You can do this with an regular spading fork, driven deep and worked back and forth to increase the openings. Brush sharp sand or compost into the holes to reach better motion of air and humidity through the soil.

Numerous poor lawns are due to poor soil provisions and can be improving by a better feeding program. Employ 4 pounds of plant food for each 100 square feet of lawn. If the grass is very thin, try out plant food along with another seed.

If your old lawn is bumpy, position it down, raking top-dressing into the hollows, or peel back the sod, filling in the hollow with fine soil and replacing the sod.

A mossy grass is typically due to poor drainage, not to acidity in the soil, as is extensively believed. A mossy lawn may require an adjustment in grading for improved drainage, or raking and liberal fertilization.

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Annuals can be grown-up readily from seed in the majority of cases. The process of growing depends upon the delicacy or hardiness of the seed, and may need planting in frames or pots at first, transferring to the bed only when the weather is adequately mild and the plants well grown.

A lot of perennials and biennials may as well be propagated from seed. This system, though, is not suited to all perennials, and some of the methods already discussed will yield more productive results. Distinctive perennials which can be propagated from seed are:

The two most significant factors in outdoor sowing are soil quality and drainage. Texture is of greater significance in germinating seeds than soil fertility. A combination of equivalent parts of good soil, coarse sand and peat moss makes a fine bed. The underside of the seed pan should be filled with gravel or shards of old flowerpots.

The seed should be sown as evenly as possible. As soon as the sowing has been finished, and the soil lightly tamped down, the pan or flat should be engrossed in water until the surface shows dark and moist. Excess moisture is then allowed to drain off. This is far better to overhead watering.

The box should not be allowable to dry out until after the seeds have germinated. Germination will be hastened if the pan is placed in a warm, dark place. As soon as germination takes place, the seedlings should be located in full light. Shredded sphagnum moss is the best standard for seed germination. Use of it prevents any likelihood of "damping-off," which is a vital threat to all seeds.

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Depending on the diversity of seed, most annuals and perennials which can be grown by this technique can be planted in seedbeds out-of-doors. The moment for planting varies. Not many can be sown in autumn, but the majority, yet, should be sown in spring, and, to be safe, not before the last frost has passed. The big difficulty of open-air sowing is that one sacrifices control over the circumstances under which the seeds will germinate.

In an inside hotbed, or cold frame, the situation with moisture, heat, etc., can be regulated. Not so in the in the open air, where dryness or changing weather can demolish the weaker seeds rapidly. If an outside seedbed is planned, decide a spot with good soil. Then work in a fraction of your compost pile, pulverizing the soil to the depth of 3 inches. Adding up a few sand and peat moss increases the efficiency of the bed.

The greater part seed may be planted on the surface, and the deepest one should plant is 1/2 inch. The bed should be well-watered after the seed has been transmitting over the entire area. The bed can then be evenly tamped.

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