By Melinda Myers

Too much or not enough water and never when you need it. That seems to be the long-time plight of gardeners. Add to this extended droughts, flooding and watering bans. What is a gardener to do? Become a water-wise gardener.

Water wise is not just about growing drought tolerant plants or eliminating plantings. It is a holistic approach to managing water to avoid flooding that overwhelms sewer systems, improper watering that wastes water, and poor landscape designs that generate too much work and require too many resources.

Make this the season that you incorporate a few waterwise habits into your gardening. Youll find it is good for your garden, the environment and your pocketbook. Start with one or more of these strategies this year.

Rain barrels arean effective way to manage water for the landscape.Photo/Melinda Myers

Select the right plant for the growing conditions. Plants that thrive in normal growing conditions for your area will be healthier, require less care and need less water. Look for drought tolerant plants that require less water once established.

Keep water out of the storm sewers and in the garden instead. Prevent flooding while improving your garden. Adding several inches of compost to the top 8 to 12 inches of soil increases the soils ability to absorb and retain water. This means less runoff into the storm sewers and less frequent watering.

Use plants to prevent runoff and conserve water. Plant trees, shrubs, and groundcovers to slow the flow of rainwater, increase the amount of water that stays in your landscape for your plants, and to filter water before it enters the groundwater. Install one or more rain gardens to intercept surface water runoff for use by rain garden plants and to help recharge the groundwater.

Provide plants with a healthy diet. Use a slow release non-leaching organic nitrogen fertilizer like Milorganite (milorganite.com). Youll encourage slow steady growth, so your plants will require less water and be less prone to insect and disease problems. Plus, the slow release nitrogen encourages healthy growth and does not prevent flowering and fruiting.

Water wisely. Water plants thoroughly and only when needed. Water the soil, not the plant, using a watering wand, drip irrigation or a soaker hose so less water is lost to evaporation. Water early in the morning whenever possible to reduce water loss during the heat of the day and diseases caused by wet foliage at night.

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Collect water now to irrigate garden later

Looking out across an open plain in the remote western part of Pinehurst last August, most people just saw waist-high weeds, grass and underbrush.

Todd Abbey, executive director of AC Sandhills, saw athletic fields, something the nonprofit youth sports organization desperately needs for its burgeoning programs. AC Sandhills has more than 2,800 members playing soccer, lacrosse, volleyball and youth triathlon.

"We're always looking for field space," Abbey said Thursday at the park as he met with two contractors who will turn the recently cleared site into two soccer fields, a lacrosse field and training area. "It is difficult to find enough field space. The amount of traffic we put on fields is pretty incredible. Three fields doesn't sound like a lot. It will make a huge difference for us."

Under an agreement formally signed last month, AC Sandhills will primarily use the fields at the park during times of bad weather when other fields in the area are closed. Abbey said that has certainly been the case the last few weeks with the winter weather and rain.

"We haven't been able to play or practice much," he said.

Abbey said Pinewild Country Club, thanks to the Sato family, came in with a bush hog and cleared the land last month.

"We thank them for being willing to help," Abbey said. "Now it is up to us to make them playable. We need to make them level so a ball will roll on them."

The village approved a zoning amendment allowing the club to put in a gravel parking lot with 75 spaces. The ordinance normally would require that the lot be paved, but this is for a temporary use.

Parks and Recreation Director Mark Wagner said the parking lot design must be approved by the village planning staff. In the meantime, the club has already begun working on the fields, which cover about 12 acres of the park's 67 acres, according to Interim Manager Jeff Batton.

Abbey said the fields will go a long way in providing more space for all of the club's outdoor programs. He said having them will help the club continue to grow and alleviate pressure on existing fields.

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AC Sandhills Moving Ahead on New Fields

Grass seed germination keeps you in suspense! You get one chance, but you wait weeks to see if you did it right! Are your expectations for the outcome reasonable? Does every little grass seed sprout and grow?

Many factors affect grass seed germination. The success of your lawn project is not completely under your control, but you can do a lot to improve the final result.

Seed germination is simply the growth process that occurs when the seed absorbs sufficient moisture to start sprouting. This is regulated by soil temperature according to the variety of grass. The hull, or hard outer casing, may delay this process until conditions are favorable.

Once germination begins, if the environment changes significantly (like being too hot and dry), the seed or sprout will die. It cannot start to grow, then stop because something is wrong, wait till conditions improve, and then continue the process.

Moisture Adequate moisture must be present throughout the process. Too little and the seed can dry out. Too much moisture and the seed can rot. Read the article Watering New Grass Seed for guidelines.

Warmth Soil temperatures should be in the appropriate range for the variety of grass. Cool season grass requires a minimum range of 45 - 55 degrees. Warm season grass requires a minimum 55- 65 degrees. Note that soil temperatures are usually cooler than air temperature. In addition to the density of the ground that is slower to warm up, moisture evaporating from the surface has a cooling effect.

(Editor's note on soil thermometers: These are extremely useful tools for any active gardener who regularly invests in new seeds and bedding plants, especially vegetable gardeners. There is no way to accurately gauge soil temperatures by rule of thumb. The Luster Leaf 1618 Rapitest Soil Thermometer is an inexpensive but reliable model that eliminates the guesswork and improves your success rate with lawn grass seed. This model is a traditional glass tube that has enough separation of the numbers to easily read within a couple of degrees. Other models I have checked have a dial (like a meat thermometer) that has too large of a range (over 200 degrees-in case you want to baste your soil?) and is not as accurate. If you use the #1618 soil thermometer in loose garden soil it will penetrate easily. In compacted soil, realize that it is not designed to force it in, so use a screwdriver or some time of poker to make a starter hole. Don't make the hole overly large as you want full contact with the soil.)

Oxygen When the sprout breaks through the seed, it requires oxygen for its growth process. When soil is over saturated with water, oxygen is not present and the sprout cannot grow. Compacted soil can also contribute to this problem.

Light A seed has limited resources to support growth while below ground. The sprout must break through the surface in order for the photosynthesis process to function and create food for the plant. Sprouts will not be able to reach the surface if seeds are buried too deep.

This chart may indicate the amount of time until grass first appears, or until the majority of seed has sprouted. Growing conditions greatly affect this process.

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Understanding Grass Seed Germination - Lawn Care For ...

March 6, 2015, 4 a.m.

THE top mens seed at this weekends Warrnambool Lawn Tennis Open believes his major threats are three unseeded rivals.

THE top mens seed at this weekends Warrnambool Lawn Tennis Open believes his major threats are three unseeded rivals.

Geelong coach Matt Hicks is chasing his fourth victory in the Labour Day long weekend tournament, which starts tomorrow and wraps up on Monday.

The 31-year-old meets Warrnambools Daniel Carlsson first-up but has potentially tricky showdowns against an unheralded trio in the back of his mind.

I had a look at the players. The most dangerous players, theyre all unseeded, Hicks said.

Youve got Marvin Barker from Melbourne, Andrew McLean from South Yarra and Im good mates with Matt Moloney from Warrnambool.

Theyre the main three that have a show at it.

Hicks earned the top seeding thanks to winning a tournament at Wodonga in January, which gave his Tennis Victoria points tally a healthy boost.

He defeated Moloney in the mens singles final at the Victorian inter-regional championships at Creswick two weeks earlier.

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Top seed Matt Hicks chases fourth Warrnambool Lawn Tennis Open title

Lawn Grass Seed: Florida The lawn is an integral part of the landscape and provides many important benefits in our increasingly urbanized environment. A lawn not only increases the land's aesthetic and economic value, it also creates a recreational surface, controls erosion, filters pollutants, and supplies oxygen.

Florida grasses vary widely in their adaptive abilities, so choose your turfgrass wisely. Table 1 provides information to assist in your selection. The following questions may serve as guidelines.

1. What Lawn Do You Want? Lawns require different levels of maintenance. Do you want a lawn that is highly manicured and carefully tended? Or are you looking for an average lawn that will require a moderate work input? Perhaps you're looking for something more naturalized, with less grass and more plantings of other types.

Most turfgrass will respond to a range of maintenance levels, but there is an optimum level for each grass. A zoysiagrass or St. Augustinegrass lawn will not perform well without supplemental irrigation during dry spells. Argentine Bahiagrassis able to survive without supplemental irrigation, and with proper establishment may form a dense, lush, dark green lawn, as some of the other grass species will not. With current Florida water restrictions increasing Argentine Bahiagrass is becoming more popular as a low maintenance, drought resistant easily established replacment for St. Augustine lawns.

Maintenance levels are closely related to cost and time. High-maintenance turf costs the most and takes the most time to maintain. Whether you do the work yourself or pay to have it done, you should realistically assess your ability to maintain your lawn before choosing a grass.

2. What Are Your Site's Limitations?

Irrigation: Water quantity and quality are a factor. Do you have an irrigation system? Will you rely on a hose and sprinkler? On rainfall? What is the pH of your water? Do you have elevated salt levels? Are you using fresh (potable) water, or reclaimed waste water?

Mowing: Are you prepared to mow? Most Florida lawn grass varieties should be mowed weekly or bi-monthly at 3-4 inches. Some premium varieties may require mowing heights of 2-3 inches.

Soil type, pH, drainage, and other soil characteristics: It is important to soil test before planting a lawn. The information that you need includes soil pH, soil nutrient availability, and amount of compaction, which can affect drainage. It is also important to know your soil type. Sandy soils tend to dry out faster than clay based soils. Argentine Bahiagrass is known to develop soil density and moisture retention with its extensive root structure and strong sod base.

Shade: The amount of shade the turf will receive can limit the selection of suitable grasses. In general, shady areas need to receive at least 6 hours of sunlight per day for any of the warm-season grasses to grow well.

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Lawn Grass Seed - Lawn Grass Seed - Lawn Seed - How to ...

With winter nearly over and spring just around the corner, the urge to plant grass seed is hard to resist.

Fall is by far the best time to plant seed, and spring holds a close second, but dormant season planting in February or early March can actually yield a hardy 75 percent germination rate.

As with most plants, cool season grasses require three things to germinate: dirt, sunlight and moisture. Too much or too little of any of these three things will result in a less-than-stellar grass-growing experience.

Dormant season planting in February or early March can yield a hardy 75 percent germination rate.

Step 1: If possible, use a good, stiff rake to loosen the soil in the seeding area. If the ground is too frozen, consider mixing the grass seed with a little soil or seed starting medium before sowing it.

Step 2: Sow the seed onto the loosened soil and rake it in to ensure that dirt is touching at least three sides of each grain. Sowing seed directly to the ground before a good snow will increase the chances of germination in the spring. Snow serves as an insulating blanket and protects the seed from birds and other hungry critters. As an added bonus, the freezing and thawing cycle of winters end will actually work the seed into the ground and provide an ample amount of moisture for successful germination.

Step 3: Once temperatures begin to rise and the ground begins to thaw, monitor the weather closely. Keep the top half-inch of the soil moist but not wet. Typically, melting snow and spring rains will take care of the moisture requirements, but in dryer conditions, a few weekly waterings may be necessary.

Step 4: When spring arrives and nighttime temperatures remain above 50 degrees for 10 days to two weeks, the dormant seeds will begin to germinate. Continue to keep the soil moist until spring is in full swing.

Step 5: Once the seedlings are 3 to 4 inches tall, adjust the mower height to ensure that only the top 1 inch of the grass blades will be removed during its first mowing. After that, adhere closely to the one-third rule: remove no more than one-third of the total grass height with each consecutive mowing. In other words, if the grass is 3 inches tall, remove up to, but no more than, 1 inch of the blade when mowing.

Have a home improvement question for the Fix-It Chick? Email it to Linda Cottin at features@ljworld.com.

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Fix-It Chick: Dormant season lawn seeding

Anderson family wins stewardship award

February 20, 2015 - Beef Farmers of Ontario (BFO) is pleased to announce that Chad and Debbie Anderson, owners of Mooregrove Farms in Mooretown, Ontario, are the 2015 winners of The Environmental Stewardship Award (TESAward), sponsored by the RBC Royal Bank. The Anderson's were nominated by the Lambton Cattlemen's Association, and the Award was presented to the couple at the Beef Farmers of Ontario Annual General Meeting in Toronto recently. Mooregrove Farms, a fifth generation operation, consists of 350 acres of which 200 acres are in permanent hay and pasture. Using a rotational grazing system with exceptional pasture management, Mooregrove Farms pastures a herd of 125 cows along with breeding 20 replacement heifers each year. For over a decade, the Anderson's have demonstrated their commitment to the implementation of environmental improvements by increasing permanent pasture acres, establishing a designated wetland, installing structures and fencing to prevent contamination of surface water, adding grassed buffer strips along crop land, and planting trees as windbreaks. Grasslands provide tremendous environmental benefits from improving water infiltration, reducing erosion, carbon sequestration, all the way to encouraging a healthy wildlife and pollinator habitat," says Chad. Over time we have really come to value the knowledge and support of everyone who has helped us find solutions to different problems, and who have provided some wonderful guidance along the way. Chad and Debbie have accessed a number of programs and enlisted the help of industry organizations to aid them in their management decisions and environmental improvements. Utilizing these programs has allowed them to gain access to funding resources, knowledge and assistance. Most recently, the Anderson's undertook a perimeter and cross-fencing project through support of the Species at Risk Farm Incentive Program administered by the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association. "The fencing improvements, coupled with the re-seeding of pasture to improve grassland forage quality, will strengthen the grassland production capacity, and provide the Anderson's with the opportunity to control grazing pressure at critical times of the year that are best suited to provide a nesting habitat for grassland bird species." shares Andrew Graham, Director of Operations, Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association. In the future, the Anderson's would like to investigate a better approach to manure management, look at ways to increase permanent grassland acreages within their farm properties, and consider the option of producing grass-fed beef. "Being an environmental advocate and using conventional farming practices in new ways to improve their operation not only for today, but for future generations proves that the Anderson's are committed to environmental sustainability and conservation," says Ralph Eyre, President of the Lambton Cattlemen's Association. TESAward recognizes the outstanding environmental stewardship of an Ontario beef farmer. Special consideration is given to farmers who have taken innovative approaches to environmentally sustainable beef production.

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Anderson family wins stewardship award

SIMPLE things like retaining stubble or even putting out nitrogen fertiliser on wheat crops are taken for granted in todays farming systems.

But there was a time, not that long ago in relative terms, when the no-till and minimum till practices used by close to 90 per cent of Australian croppers in some fashion was a revolutionary, risky idea.

One of the first proponents of no-till practices in the country was agronomist Peter Ridge, who worked in the Wimmera region as one of the first private agronomists in the mid 1980s.

Following a stint with the Victorian Department of Agriculture, Mr Ridge said one of his major focuses when he went out on his own was to work to improve water use efficiency.

We used to use neutron probes to monitor soil moisture reserves and it was pretty clear there were better results in systems incorporating stubble retention, Mr Ridge, who now lives in Corowa, NSW, said.

This field research backed up work we had done at the Department that pointed that stubble retention also retained moisture.

It was worth an extra 50-60 millimetres a year compared to traditional cultivated paddocks.

Mr Ridge said the initial work in Australia followed research out of North America showing good promise with no-till systems.

There was also a lot of work being done in Queensland, where researchers were primarily looking at managing high volumes of water during big rainfall events by having standing crop residue.

But while researchers were optimistic of its benefits, there had only been very sporadic uptake by Australia farmers.

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Trailblazers of the no-till movement

A collection such as this alerts you to the diversity of snowdrops tall, short, slender, fat, single, double, glaucous or green-leaved and of their myriad markings, as well as how long a flowering season they have. G. reginae-olgae is out in the autumn, G. elwesii Hiemalis Group at Christmas, 'Atkinsii in January and 'Straffan right at the end of February, he says. Since Sales likes to have his garden full of interest at all times of year, he relishes this contribution.

Now, at their midseason climax, the snowdrops are accompanied by a lemon yellow witch hazel (Hamamelis x intermedia 'Pallida) in full flush, and pools of pink Cyclamen coum, growing in small circular beds around the trees in the lawn. In one of these beds, the cyclamen share ground with crocus, white bluebells, self-seeding love-in-a-mist (Nigella), and Cyclamen neapolitanum, giving an all-year flower display entirely on its own.

Elsewhere, Sales has his snowdrops under shrub roses and tree peonies, between summer perennials and pushing through wild strawberry and other ground cover all crisply presented against a thin mulch of dark home-made compost.

I wondered which of the many varieties he would especially recommend. If you were going for only one snowdrop, it would have to be 'S. Arnott a group gives you a lovely honey scent in the air. 'Atkinsii and 'Magnet are old favourites. 'Galatea I love, 'Ailwyn is the best double, and 'Armine is a good late one. He also shows me 'Lyn, named after his wife and found by her in a nearby wood. Tall like a very early-flowering Atkinsii and quick to colonise, it looks terrific. With other snowdrops he has introduced, his naming has been more playful: 'January Sales and 'Compu.Ted (named after his grandson Ted, a computer buff).

Snowdrop 'Lyn' named after John's wife (Heathcliff O'Malley)

Sales is still involved in the management of historic gardens as a consultant for private estates such as Chatsworth. But when not busy with this, or entertaining his grandchildren, retirement has allowed him time to develop his garden into a plantsmans paradise. The maintenance is immaculate, including in the two covered glasshouses, which sport a 'Cornish Snow camellia and pots of South African bulbs, including a fat clump of pink, poker-like Veltheimia bracteata this last plant producing a spectacle that I am going to try to emulate in my own frost-free porch next winter.

A life in gardens

John Sales joined the National Trust in the early Seventies as an assistant to Graham Stuart Thomas (1909-2003), one of the countrys greatest plantsmen and garden writers. Sales has just finished writing his memoirs, so I asked him about his days with the Trust.

In those days, the Trust was run by aesthetes. It had very low membership and visitor numbers, and yet they would still take on properties such as West Wycombe Park with an endowment of just 5,000, says Sales. With inflation, that was hopeless. At that time, most gardens were viewed by many in the Trust rather as a stage-set for the house instead of having an intrinsic worth.

Since they had to be run on a tight budget and there was little opportunity to do much research into them, making them presentable was the main thing. But there was some great talent among the head gardeners men such as Mike Snowden at Erddig and Jimmy Hancock at Powis Castle. With gardeners such as Pamela Schwerdt and Sibylle Kreutzberger at Sissinghurst, who had each other to bounce ideas off, the visits with Graham and myself were more like conversations, but elsewhere we could be mentors to the head gardeners and help address weaknesses organising for them to go on a particular course or work in another garden to help raise standards. Such interactions are vital: people are not born good gardeners, they are made good gardeners through contact with experts.

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Snowdrop paradise: a collector's dream

Grass Seeding Charlie Moreland Campsite episode 1

By: Flowscape Peck

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Grass Seeding Charlie Moreland Campsite episode 1 - Video