Often decorating your plot with lawn grasses is prevented by the thought that it takes a lot of time, effort and money. But if you look in more detail, then an alternative to the usual lawn may be plants that you could not even think of, for example, a bird highlander, or knotweed.
Description
Bird Highlander (knotweed) is a herbaceous plant that develops and grows only a year, after which it dies. It belongs to the buckwheat family. Also popularly, it has such names as bird buckwheat, goose grass, murava grass. This plant belongs to medicinal, fodder and is eaten. In Dagestan, it is used even as a filling for pies. The knotweed blooms from April to the very end of November. The peak of flowering occurs in July - August.
Did you know? In Russia, the plant is called knotweed because of its ability to "spore" (that is, quickly) to restore shoots.
Botanical description of the plant:
- The stem is branched, erect, up to 60 cm long.
- The root is slightly branched, stem.
- The leaves are small, grayish-green.
- The flowers are small, faded green.
- The fruit is in the form of a black triangular nut.
The use of knotweed as a lawn grass
For many, knotweed is just a weed that needs to be removed from its site as soon as possible. However, he copes with the role of the lawn. This is explained by the fact that the plant has an unusual, attractive appearance due to its whitish leaves. This gives the effect of iridescent colors.
Important! It is forbidden to use knotweed for medical purposes for pregnant women, people who have survived a heart attack and stroke, as well as for inflammation of the kidneys.
This grass is also very beautiful during flowering. Small flowers all over the lawn fit perfectly into the big picture. On hot days, it is good to have this plant in your own area, because it’s excellent to walk barefoot on such a lawn - it is not for nothing that the people call it stomp grass.
Every year this grass needs to be completely cleaned and sown new, since in the second year the mountaineer becomes very stiff and sloppy in appearance.
Features of growing a mountaineer
If you decide to grow a similar plant on your lawn, it will not be difficult for you. Due to the fact that the bird mountaineer grows like a weed, it will not be difficult to spread it on the site. Also, he is not attacked by various diseases and insects, so you will be satisfied with your choice.
Sowing
The plant is unpretentious to the place of sowing: it can grow both in the sun and in light shade. Prefers moist soil, but at the same time does not tolerate waterlogging. Since knotweed is an annual plant, it reproduces by seed. It is possible to prepare them for planting in August - September, when birds constantly eat on it, which regale for seeds. For this, he is called bird buckwheat.
In order to collect seeds for planting, you need to pull out a whole bush of plants, dry it and thresh the seeds. Highlanders are sown in the ground according to the same criteria as other grasses for lawns: in grooves, without deepening the seed into the soil. The distance between such rows is 25-30 cm. 30 days before sowing, the site must be dug up and the surface smoothed. Grown weeds should be destroyed by a pesticide.
Did you know? Maggots are very actively used in medicine to treat arthritis, arthrosis, tuberculosis, cystitis, acne, etc.
Care
Maggot is an unpretentious plant, but if you want it to remain beautiful and develop well, then you should adhere to some rules for caring for it:
- If there is no groundwater near the plot where knotweed grows, then it requires abundant watering.
- In autumn, you need to fertilize the plant with mullein.
- Since at a young age this grass does not tolerate frost, it is covered with straw or burlap from the end of autumn until the beginning of summer. If, nevertheless, the leaves died after frost, then it is necessary to cut the stems.
- In the fall, leaves on the knotweed turn yellow, so with the onset of spring they need to be cut.
Also, so that the highlander does not crawl further than the intended area, you need to trim and blur it.
Despite the fact that the bird highlander often grows like a weed, it is an excellent analogue of any lawn grass. It is easy to obtain, caring for it does not require special forces and time, and the appearance is no worse than similar habitual herbs. Accordingly, you can safely use it on your site, without fear of spoiling the appearance of the latter.