HOW TO BUILD 
AND MAINTAIN YOUR LAWN 
There are no short cuts to a good lawn. Even as the 
home is planned and built, so should the lawn be 
planned and built, if satisfactory results are to be ob- 
tained. The foundation of your lawn, the seed bed, and 
selection of proper seed are just as important as any 
other foundation. Skyscrapers, homes or lawns are all 
dependent on sound foundations. 
SOIL PREPARATION—should be the first step in lawn 
building. Remove any debris, old grass and weeds. Do 
not turn under old vegetation. The top six to eight 
inches of a seed bed should be light, springy and capa- 
ble of retaining moisture. Peat Moss or well rotted ma- 
nure may be used for this purpose. 
If the natural soil is the heavy or adobe type, appli- 
cations of soil conditioners, Gypsum, or Lime may 
prove beneficial. Your Volkman dealer can give you 
specific recommendations. 
SPRINKLER SYSTEM—should now be installed if in- 
cluded in your plans. 
GRADING, LEVELING, RAKING AND ROLLING— 
of the seed bed is now in order. Plan to grade with slope 
away from the house and as gentle as possible. As soon 
as the rough grade level is obtained by raking, the area 
should be thoroughly soaked—until the soil won’t ab- 
sorb another drop of water. This will settle the seed bed 
and will reveal high and low spots which must be cor- 
rected to insure a firm uniform foundation for the lawn. 
Remove the high spots and fill depressions by further 
taking, followed by additional rolling and later soak- 
ing. Soil texture of the seed bed should be free of 
lumps. Too much emphasis cannot be placed on the im- 
portance of the leveling process. High spots in an estab- 
lished lawn usually suffer from lack of moisture and 
low spots do not drain well. 
