The lawn in the garden is often heavily used by an active lifestyle or children playing. We show when it makes sense to use a more robust lawn seed mixture and how best to proceed when creating playing and sports turf.
Sports and play turf means the resilient all-rounder among the turf-seed mixtures, which is intended for intensive private use. It is designed for really frequent use, because a sports and play turf forms a fairly resilient scar and regenerates damage that has occurred in a very short time.
Sports and play turf: what is it?
Lawn seed mixes for sports and playgrounds represent a very popular category within lawn seed mixes. They can adapt to many conditions and are very good at being walked around, romping around and being left with an object or two. Lawn seeds for sports and games grow a lawn that, under normal conditions and with a moderate level of maintenance, developed good resilience - so it is ideally suited for the lawn in the home garden, on which it is sometimes walked, laid and played will.
A playing and sports lawn reaches its limits when it has to cope with nutrient-poor, very compacted, very wet and/or extremely dry soil. It also doesn't forgive deep shadows very well. We therefore recommend special lawn mixtures such as ours for shady locations Plantura shade lawn. Even those who drive the car over the sports and play turf are exhausting its resilience too much.
When does a sports and playing field make sense?
Sowing a sports and play lawn is worthwhile if you plan to use your lawn regularly. Playing children, garden parties and other activities can be carried out without any problems on the robust all-rounder. Do you have a “normal”, i.e. neither a very light, sandy, nor a very heavy clayey soil and enough sun on your future lawn, this location is made for a sports and play turf. In addition, a hard-wearing lawn is a good choice if you don't want to invest a lot of time in maintaining it, as it is quite undemanding compared to an ornamental lawn.
A high-quality play and sports lawn is perfect for new plants in the garden of families and is a source of joy for both children and parents.
What are the advantages of playing and sports turf?
The advantages of sports and play turf are its good ability to regenerate and tolerate cuts, as well as its relatively high tread resistance. In addition, the seed contained sprout very quickly, so that the lawn can be used soon after sowing. With regular mowing, the lawn for playing and sports will also become very dense.
Lawn seed for sports and play areas germinates quickly, after just a few days the first young stalks are visible. In addition, the grasses contained regenerate minor injuries to the turf particularly quickly, as they immediately begin to close the gaps that have arisen with numerous foothills. This is also necessary, because the playing and sports turf is not quite as hard-wearing as a real sports field turf, which also endures frequent use of cleated shoes. On the other hand, a sports and play lawn can cope well with frequent mowing and, as a result, quickly becomes as thick as a carpet.
Buying lawns for playing and sports: Which lawn seed mix is suitable?
Seed mixtures are suitable for a sports and play lawn that contain a high proportion of regenerative perennial ryegrass and the hardy grasses tall fescue and Contain bluegrass. Anyone who uses RSM-certified seeds can be sure of their high quality. In addition, the manufacturer should provide you with comprehensive information about the correct, promising use of the lawn seed.
If you want to buy a good seed mix for a playing and sports lawn, there are a few things you can look out for in order to obtain a high-quality lawn. Of course, the grass genera and species contained in the lawn seed mixtures are particularly important. Different species of the genera should be included lolium(ryegrass), Festuca (tall fescue) and Poa (bluegrass), with the ryegrass about half and the other two genera together the other half should make up - this is the good regenerative capacity of the grass mixture achieved.
In our Plantura game and sport mixture cares Lolium perenne due to its rapid germination, persistent growth and tolerance to cutting for good regeneration. Festuca rubra rubra brings in its drought tolerance and Poa pratensisas a runner-driving undergrass ensures a dense carpet of lawn and a high level of adaptability to different soils and climates.
Apart from the varieties included, the seed itself should of course be of high quality, so that targeted sowing in the right amount also leads to the desired result. Standard seed mix (RSM) certification promises higher standards of quality control, careful production and storage - as a result, the germination of certified lawn seed mixtures elevated. Our Plantura play and sports turf It goes without saying that it consists of RSM-certified seeds.
Creating a playing field: our professional tips
A few important steps will lead you to your dream lawn: Thorough loosening, cleaning and fertilizing create the best conditions before the seed is evenly distributed, pressed and thoroughly watered. So before you can enjoy the benefits of your sports and playing turf, there is a bit of work to be done: you don't need to be an expert to lay a good lawn. Nevertheless, there are a few basic points to consider, which we will cover in our article on lawn seeding ready for you and briefly summarized here:
- Lay out your play and sports lawn between April and October, but preferably not during the hot summer months. The floor should also be permanently warmer than 12 °C at night.
- First, loosen the soil to a depth of 20 to 30 cm, remove weeds and large stones and work in a primarily organic long-term fertilizer such as our Plantura Organic Lawn Fertilizer a. Very low humus soils should also be treated with something ripe compost or ours Plantura organic lawn soil be improved.
- Now level the ground and then sow the lawn seed at about 25 g/m2 a. A spreader is the best choice for large areas. Both when using a spreader and when sowing by hand, you should cross the area lengthways and Walk across once and distribute half of the required amount of seed at a time - this way you get an even seed Sowing.
- Now work the seed no more than 0.5 cm deep into the soil or cover it thinly with our Plantura organic lawn soil. The surface is then lightly pressed down with footboards or a light roller.
- Last but not least, do not forget to water. The seedlings emerge after 10 to 24 days and must not dry out in the first month. Therefore, water daily, but not continuously for many hours at a time. Even after germination, lawns need regular watering to thrive.
Tip: The young grasses are cut for the first time when the stalks are six to ten centimeters high. Then shorten the grasses to a minimum of four centimetres.
Maintain play and sports turf
Even a resilient sports and play turf needs a minimum of attention in order to remain green, dense, hard-wearing and healthy. Three important elements ensure this: Regular fertilization with a primarily organic lawn fertilizer, regular mowing and adequate watering during dry periods. A cutting height of 3 to 4 cm is ideal for sports and play lawns and should be done regularly between spring and autumn. Particularly critical phases with regard to Weeds and moss in the lawn are autumn and spring. Therefore you should Preparing the lawn for winter not pass over and the lawn after winter wake up from its slumber so that it starts the new year stronger. That way, you'll rarely come across that scarify or one lawn reseeding fall back and have an enviably beautiful carpet of grass for a long time.