The lawn in the garden is often heavily used by an active lifestyle or by children playing. We show when it makes sense to use a more robust lawn seed mixture and how best to proceed when laying out playing and sports turf.
Sports and play turf means the resilient all-rounder among the lawn 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?
Grass seed mixes for sports and playgrounds represent a very popular category within lawn seed mixes. They can adapt to a wide range of conditions and take very well to being walked, romped on and the odd one or two object is turned off. Lawn seeds for sports and games allow a lawn to grow that develops good resilience under normal conditions and with a moderate level of care - making it ideal for the lawn in the home garden, where people sometimes walk, lie and play.
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 our Plantura shade lawn for shady locations. Even those who drive the car over the sports and play turf are exhausting its resilience too much.
When does a sports and play turf make sense?
The sowing of 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. If you have a “normal”, i.e. neither a very light, sandy nor a very heavy clayey soil and also enough sun on your future lawn, this location is made for a sports and play lawn. Also, aHard-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 turf is perfect for new plants in family gardens 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 cut tolerance 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 become very dense.
Grass seed for sports and play turf 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 lawn for sports and play can cope well with frequent mowing and it quickly becomes as thick as a carpet.
Buy play and sports turf: Which grass seed mix is suitable?
Seed mixtures that contain a high percentage of regenerative perennial ryegrass and the hardy grasses tall fescue and bluegrass are suitable for a sports and play lawn. 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. It should contain different species of the genera Lolium (ryegrass), Festuca (tall fescue) and Poa (bluegrass). ), whereby the ryegrass should make up about half and the other two genera together the other half - this is how the good regenerative capacity of the grass mixture is achieved.
In our Plantura play and sport mixture, Lolium perenne makes the differenceits rapid germination, perennial growth and tolerance to cutting for good regeneration. Festuca rubra rubra brings in its tolerance to drought and Poa pratensis as a sucker-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. The certification as a standard seed mixture (RSM) promises higher standards in quality control, careful production and storage - as a result, the germination capacity of certified lawn seed mixtures is increased. Of course, our Plantura play and sports turf 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 have ready for you in our article on lawn seeding and have 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 above 12 °C at night.
- First loosen the soil 20 to 30 cm deep, remove weeds and large stones and work in a primarily organic long-term fertilizer such as our Plantura organic lawn fertilizer. Very low humus soils should also be improved with some mature compost or our Plantura organic lawn soil.
- Now level the ground and then sow the lawn seed at about 25 g/m2. A spreader is the best choice for this on large areas. Both when using a spreader and when sowing by hand, you should walk the area lengthwise and crosswise, distributing half of the required amount of seed each time - this will ensure even 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. Then the area withlightly pressed with running boards or a light roller.
- Finally, don't 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.
Care for playing and sports turf
Even a resilient sports and play turf requires a minimum of attention in order to stay green, dense, hard-wearing and he althy. Three important elements ensure this: regular fertilization with a primarily organic lawn fertilizer, regular mowing and sufficient watering in dry phases. A cutting height of 3 to 4 cm is ideal for sports and play lawns and should be done regularly between spring and autumn. Autumn and spring are particularly critical phases with regard to weeds and moss in the lawn. Therefore, you should not skip preparing the lawn for the winter and wake the lawn from its slumber after the winter in such a way that it starts the new year stronger. That way, you'll rarely need to scarify or reseed the lawn, and you'll have an enviably beautiful lawn for a long time.