Parents these days rightfully complain that their kids are spending too much time indoors and not enough time away from screens and in nature.
The fact of the matter is if you want your children to spend more time outdoors, you will have to work on providing them with a nice looking and exciting play area.
Follow this guide to discover how to create the perfect garden grass for your kids’ play area, even if you start from scratch.
Proper preparation matters
Before you get down to grass seeding or turfing, you have to prepare the soil.
This means you should use a garden tiller to even it out once you remove all of the weeds and unwanted things such as rocks or tree roots.
You can use a flat shovel to dig out the plants and weeds that ruin the look of your upcoming lawn or use a herbicide to kill all the unwanted plants and then take a sod cutter to remove the dead grass and roots.
After that, have experts test your soil to know what type of grass is the best for that specific area. Just this one simple step is enough to save you from a lot of unnecessary stress and hard work.
Another essential part of preparations is spreading a starter fertilizer onto the soil after breaking the ground down with the tiller or rototiller. The next thing you should use is a soil amendment, also known as a soil conditioner. Good homemade compost can also do the trick here, but you will have to head out to the store and buy some soil amendment if you don’t have any.
Once again, use the tiller to mix the soil with the nutrients. After that, rake the ground to even it out and remove any rocks and debris. With that out of the way, you are ready to move onto the next step.
Seeding and watering your new garden
Once all the prep work is complete, it is time to start seeding.
Check the seed bag for instructions on the recommended seeding rate. One more thing to know before you load up the seeder is that applying the seed should not be all done in one go.
Instead, divide the seed into four piles and spread it in four different directions – top to bottom, left to right, and vice versa. That way, you will ensure that all of your garden is evenly covered in grass with no empty spots.
The next thing you want to do is take another look at the instructions. For example, if they say that you should cover the seeds with a thin layer of dirt, take a rake and have another go at your developing garden.
Once you have planted the seeds, it is essential not to let your new grass dry in the upcoming week or two. That is how long it will take for the grass to start to sprout.
Use a hose to evenly water the entire garden, but be careful not to overdo it and turn the soil into mud.
This initial period is crucial for the proper development of your lawn, so make sure no people or animals step onto the germinating grass.
Care and maintenance
Congrats, you have made it. Now that your garden is out of the awkward initial stage, all you have to do is take good care of it and properly maintain it.
This means that you will still have to water your new lawn three times a day until it is tall enough to mow – for most grass kinds, this is roughly two inches.
When mowing the garden, do not be too aggressive – you want to stay with at least an inch of grass remaining, so do not cut off more than one-third of the overall height of the grass.
Continue watering the grass regularly until you have mowed it three times. Only then will you know that it has become strong and robust enough to make it independently.
After that, adjust your watering schedule to the type of grass and your local weather and environment. Lastly, don’t forget to remove new weeds as they are coming out.
And there you have it – you have created the perfect grass for your kids’ play area! All that is left to do is decide what to do with it, so it is more attractive for your children.
Setting up a kid-friendly garden
Now that all that hard work is behind you, it is time to create a garden that encourages active play so that your kid will want to spend time in it. Active play is an important part of a healthy lifestyle. While the focus might be on a kid friendly garden it is also important to have a place for the grown ups to chill when the kids play, what about a Hammock for you, isn’t that just the dream – pure relaxation and chill. Total luxury.
Back to the kids garden!! One thing you wont regret and I’m saying this from my own experience is getting Vinyl Playsets, literally hours of fun for the kids and while it might be an outlay at the start they do last a long time and essentially grow with the kids. We have a set for over 5 years and the kids even still find new ways of using it to play.
Why not think to create backyard “rooms” – areas where kids can feel like they have some privacy or where they can hide during a game of hide and seek. To make them, you can use natural elements such as tree stumps or rocks that you already have. You could also repurpose an old tent and turn it into a spot for controlled garden “camping.”
Just about anything that provides some sort of cover – artificial or natural – will do the trick. Just place an umbrella or a canopy in the garden, and your kid’s imagination will fill in the rest.
Next, you might want to build or buy a sandbox for your kids to play in. Add some shovels, scoops, molds, buckets, and construction vehicles, and you have created a perfect play area for your child.
Another essential sensory experience is playing with water. If your kid is small, just set up a water table for them to play safely. In case your kids are a bit older, all you have to do is get the sprinklers going in the warm weather and let your kids have the time of their lives on your perfect lawn.
Finally, let your kids express their inner artist by setting up a blackboard and giving them plenty of colorful chalk to draw with. Your best bet would be to get some sidewalk chalk, as kids can also use it for games such as tic tac toe and hopscotch.
Note: This is a collaborative post
