Index

A wildlife meadow has the widest variety of plants and animals.(qv)

The bowling green lawn must be exactly flat, the grass must be very short and there must be no weeds.

Preparation is everything. Dig thoroughly, but not necessarily deeply. Incorporate plenty of sharp sand because this lawn must be well drained. Remove every last trace of weed roots. Use a rake to cultivate the surface to a fine tilth all over, and then roll it to compact the soil. There will be humps and hollows: fill in the hollows with a mixture of sharp sand and fine compost. Roll the whole thing again, and again.

Then sow the grass seed. Choose a fine grass, with no weeds or wildflowers. Scatter the seed at exactly the rate specified on the package (a proprietary seed or fertilizer spreader is useful) and then protect it from the birds. A thin layer of compost and fine netting might work. Roll again, and then keep the surface damp until the seeds germinate.

Then start mowing (qv). Use a very sharp-bladed cylinder mower with a roller (not any kind of rotary mower!) keeping the blades high for the first few weeks. Mow every two or three days, and roll again every week. Mow up and down today, and then across next time. Every time you mow watch out for weed seedlings and cut them out. Gather the mown grass and compost it.

In winter lift the blades an inch or two. In Summer drop them down again. Also in Summer you'll need to sprinkle the lawn to keep it green and growing. A reciprocating bar sprinkler is probably better then a rotating sprinkler.

Every couple of months scatter a proprietary lawn feed or fertilizer at the recommended rate and sprinkle it in. Toward the end of winter use a hollow-tine fork to make narrow deep holes every six inches or so for drainage (qv). Fill the holes with coarse sand. Sieve your compost (made from the grass clippings and weeds) very finely and spread it over the grass: again use the spreader.
Even in the USA they drill holes in their lawns (qv).

If you mow two or three times a week, roll it every fortnight, feed every month or two and keep the hollows filled level then you'll have a beautiful lawn, worthy of an Oxbridge College, in about 400 years.

Instead of sowing grass seed, you could lay turf(qv): you'd need to prepare the ground just as carefully (qv).

Most of us have a grassy sward instead of a lawn.

We don't worry too much about the kind of grass or about the weeds; the dandelions and daisies can look quite attractive. Carpets of tiny blue and yellow flowers will appear briefly in the Summer. Clover flowers glow softy in lilac and white and the clover roots fix nitrogen from the air. All these flowers, and more, will attract bees and hover flies: these in turn will attract songbirds. The deep taproots of dandelions, plantains and docks will draw nutrients to their leaves from deep in the soil, down from a yard or deeper.

Mow this sward regularly, but not too often; say once a week in Spring and Autumn, once a fortnight in Summer and Winter. This will keep it tidy and thicken the grass. Any kind of mower (cylinder, rotary or hover) will do, but don't cut it too short. Compost all the mowings and then, once a year, sieve the compost finely and spread it over the sward, especially in the hollows. Don't buy a spreader: a garden rake will do. The wickets and goalmouths will become worn and hollow: move them, spread some compost and let the sward grow back again. The dogs and cats (and some very young children) will mess on the sward: move the droppings to the compost heap.

You don't need to roll this sward: the cricketers will compact the soil. You don't need to aerate: the worms will do that. Don't worry about feeding it: the clover and the annual top dressing of compost will take care of that. Don't water it: it's a waste of expensive, potable water. The plants will grow again when it rains.

If the soil is clay it will crack when the ground dries in Summer. Just fill those cracks with coarse sand to aerate and drain the soil.

Some of us have Spring and Summer meadows.

Let the Spring meadow grow until the end of May. Plant it with aconites, snowdrops, daffodils, fritillaries: anything that flowers in Spring. At the end of May cut everything down, and let it dry for a week to let the seeds fall out. Then put all the mowings on the compost heap. From June, mow the Spring meadow until Christmas.

Mow the Summer meadow weekly from October to the end of May. Take away the mowings to the compost heap. Do not feed the Summer meadow at all: it will probably be too fertile anyway. When you start mowing in October scatter wildflower seeds (qv), or plant wild flowers.

A cylinder mower will be useless in the meadows. The first cuts (at the end of May and in October) are best done with a hand scythe or a mechanical scythe. Then use a rotary to keep it short and neat. Don't use a hover mower on the Summer meadow: the clippings must be taken away to reduce the fertility.

Your meadows will attract wildlife. The surface will be alive with bees, hover flies, butterflies, moths, lacewings. These will attract songbirds and bats. The birds will attract kestrels and hawks. A few days ago we watched a peregrine falcon miss a blackbird by only a few inches: right in front of us, in our own garden! The seeds will attract mice: you'll be amazed at the variety of small furry creatures. These will attract cats, foxes and owls. The ground will be full of worms, beetles and ants. The ants will make anthills which can be raked flat when you mow.

If you elect to use soil paths, which might be easier to maintain than grass paths, you'll need to stabilise the soil (qv).

Occasionally, any of these lawns will attract moles. Sorry.