Has winter's long and drawn-out run this year completely destroyed your soul? Some of us still won't be enjoying spring-like weather for quite a few weeks, so here's a simple way to recreate that feeling indoors. The next time you sit down for a meal, swap in these faux grass placemats that make it feel like you're having a picnic, even while seated at the dining table.

Made from polystyrene so the grass will never die and lose its green lustre, the fake turf can also be easily hand-washed with warm water and dish soap. Because since it's not actually outside, there are no insects, squirrels, or seagulls to clean up any spills or crumbs you leave behind. But at $38 each, you might be better off just grabbing a shovel and cutting your own circular patch of sod from your backyard. [Terrain via The Green Head]

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Every Meal's a Picnic With Grass Placemats

Dearborns 2015 curbside yard waste program is in effect and will last through Dec. 11.

Residents now can put yard waste in properly marked containers at the curb on their trash collection day.

Residents are reminded to place the yard waste materials in the proper containers at least three feet away from their trash cart and recycling cart. Yard waste containers or brush cannot be placed in the street.

Also, do not rake grass or leaves into the street.

Acceptable containers include yard waste paper bags or a residents own 20- to 32-gallon container clearly marked with a yard waste sticker. These stickers are available for free at Dearborn public libraries and at the Dearborn Administrative Center, 16901 Michigan Ave.

Yard waste placed in plastic bags or cardboard boxes will not be picked up.

This nine-month service provides residents the opportunity to get a jump on spring cleanup and dispose of materials left over from the fall.

Yard waste includes grass clippings, weeds, leaves, shrubs and brush trimmings.

Before placing yard waste into containers, dirt needs to be removed from the roots and root balls need to be removed from shrubs. Brush and shrubs must be less than three inches in diameter, be four feet or less in length, tied with a heavy cord or rope, and weigh no more than 35 pounds.

Fruit, vegetables or animal droppings cannot be mixed with yard waste. Sod and dirt are not yard waste and will not be collected. Continued...

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Curbside yard waste collection now in effect in Dearborn

Call 281-431-7441 for the best Zoysia sod available in the Houston area. Zoysia is a slow growing, dense turf grass that looks great and tolerates more shade than Raleigh St. Augustine and any Bermuda grasses. Many of our clients who move to the Houston area from the North like Zoysia grass because its lush, fine bladed appearance reminds them of Kentucky Bluegrass and fescue.

If you choose Palisades Zoysia for your home lawn project, youll have the best looking lawn in your neighborhood. Its more expensive than our other turf grass sod varieties, but your new sod will enhance the value of your home for many years to come!

Palisades Zoysia Japonica turf grass is a vegetatively produced, medium broad textured, high density turf that is specifically suitable for home lawns, golf fairways and roughs, sports fields, industrial parks and highway medians.

Palisades Zoysia Grass is a medium to coarse textured turf noted for its shade tolerance and low water use requirements. It will tolerate mowing as close as one half inch with good weed competitions and ideally as high as two to two and a half inches for home lawns. Its tolerance for close mowing makes Palisades Zoysia Grass Sod a great choice for use on golf course fairways, especially where water availability is of concern.

If youd like more information about Palisades Zoysia grass, please check our video.

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Zoysia Grass Sod - Pearland Missouri City - Houston Grass ...

Press Release BATON ROUGE, La. -- The Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry (LDAF) is now accepting applications for the 2015 Specialty Crop Block Grant Program (SCBGP), Commissioner Mike Strain, D.V.M., announced today.

Applications must be received no later than close of business (4:30 p.m.) May 11, 2015.

The LDAF will administer the grant program funded through the United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Marketing Service (USDA-AMS). Although, the USDA has not officially released SCBGP funding amounts, the LDAF anticipates about $300,000 will be available to fund Louisiana projects.

The grants designated for the state are to be used for projects that solely enhance the competitiveness of Louisiana specialty crops like fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, horticulture, Christmas trees, turf grass/sod, nursery and greenhouse crops.

Some groups eligible for the grants include non-profit organizations and corporations, commodity associations, state and local government entities, colleges and universities. Applicants must reside in or their business or educational affiliation must be in Louisiana. One requirement of applicants is that each applicant must obtain a Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number and include that number on their application.

Grant funds will not be awarded for projects that directly benefit a particular commercial product or provide a profit to a single organization, institution or individual. Projects should focus on issues to help improve specialty crop industries as a whole such as: distribution, production, research, market development, food safety, promotion and education.

LDAF will accept grant applications with a yearly budget value of up to $100,000. Grants can be awarded for projects lasting up to two years and 11 months. Once the deadline has passed, all applications submitted to the LDAF will be carefully evaluated to determine if the projects are qualified based on the criteria listed in the guidelines.

All submitted project applications deemed qualified will be reviewed and scored by a panel consisting of industry stakeholders, and the panel will make funding recommendations to LDAF. All LDAF approved projects will be incorporated into one state grant request, which will be submitted to the USDA.

LDAF has prepared a Request for Applications (RFA) document detailing application instructions, scoring criteria, federal forms, project format examples and other helpful information from the USDA. The document may be found at http://www.LDAF.la.gov. Click on the 2015 Specialty Crop alert.

A complete list of eligible specialty crops may be found at http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/scbgpdefinitions.

Excerpt from:
Specialty Crop Block Grant Program Accepting Applications

A grounds crew member works on the infield at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. (Jonathan Newton / The Washington Post)

It is by now mid-March, and the impossible has happened: temperatures have warmed, the snow has melted (even in Boston), spring seems possible and even probable, and baseball could, in theory, be played somewhere other than Florida or Arizona. Three weeks from now, every team in baseball will have played at least one game. The expectations will be there: green grass, smooth dirt, Opening Day logos.

If you talk to any groundskeeper across baseball or any professional sport, theyre never going to be happy with the field, said John Turnour, the head groundskeeper at Nationals Park. Certainly, for your home opener, you want to look your best.

And this winter, across what seemed like the forever frozen Northeast, that has presented certain challenges. Groundskeepers, by the nature of their jobs, are obsessed with weather.

Other than my wife, said David Mellor, the head groundskeeper for the Boston Red Sox, the first thing I look at when I wake up is the weather. And other than my wife, the last thing I look at when I go to sleep is the weather.

This winter, neither was a particularly enjoyable way to end one day or start the next. Boston received a record 108.6 inches of snow. Washington endured its coldest February since 1979, then got snow in March. Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York all have outdoor baseball parks, all have grass that needs to grow, all will be hosting games within a month, and none were particularly sunny about the prospect a few weeks ago.

I generally try not to look at the weather during the offseason, Turnour said. I enjoy not looking at it. But unfortunately this year, weve had to start paying attention a lot sooner than what Id like to.

At Nationals Park, thats true not only because of the cold, but because of the fact that the field underwent a complete resodding, finished just Monday. When the Nationals and the District government agreed to use Nationals Park to host the NHLs Winter Classic on Jan. 1, the club knew it would be an opportune time to put in new grass specifically, 100,000 square feet of Kentucky bluegrass over the entire playing surface. The old field had endured four seasons, so it was time for a new one anyway.

Its a very straightforward project, Turnour said, and he and his crew as well as an outside contractor hired to do the work began the work Feb. 9. They needed, Turnour said, somewhere between 14 and 21 days to fully strip the old grass, grade out the root zone effectively lowering the field a bit and then regressing. When the winter began, March 1 was the target date to have the new field in.

Its not complicated by any means, he said.

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Opening Damp: Long, wet winter challenges MLBs groundskeepers

Mother Nature giveth and she taketh away for locals who have been enjoying Wagner Park over the last few months.

The downtown park was again fenced off on Tuesday to allow sod that was laid last fall time to better establish its root system now that the winter blanket of snow has melted.

Chris Forman, operations manager for the citys parks department, said hes optimistic that the closure wont last more than a few weeks, but stressed that weather extremes could make that longer or shorter.

We dont anticipate that it will be that long of a closure, Forman said Tuesday. The new drainage system is working great, but we dont have as strong of a root system [as wed like right now.]

The popular downtown spot was closed to the public on Aug. 4 while $900,000 in upgrades to its irrigation and drainage systems were installed.

A new layer of sod was placed in October and the parks department at the time felt the new grass needed the winter and some of the spring to fully take root.

But after some early-season heavy snowfall, the fences were taken down on Dec. 23 and people again flocked to the park.

Forman said the field is pretty squishy right now, and with possible rain in the forecast, it was time to close it off.

Its really, really wet out there, he said.

Forman said that while the turf made it through the winter in great condition, they now need to make sure it survives the spring thaw.

The rest is here:
Warm weather leads to Wagner Park closure

How to Lay Sod - Houston Grass South - Sugar Land Katy Pearland

By: HoustonGrassSouth

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How to Lay Sod - Houston Grass South - Sugar Land Katy Pearland - Video

Press Release -- Although our lawns are still dormant this month, you can begin to plan your strategy to have an attractive, healthy lawn this summer. Because the grass is still dormant, most lawns look relatively bad now, so dont judge yours too harshly at this point.

You should go ahead and identify areas where grass has died out completely and only bare soil remains. These areas will have to be repaired in April or May. Otherwise, wait until late April or May to evaluate your lawn and make final decisions on any repair work that may be needed.

Lawn thinning can be caused by several common problems, including insects and diseases, heavy traffic, poor soil fertility and too much shade. Poor maintenance, such as improper mowing and watering, also can be a factor.

One or more of these problems may be affecting your lawn, and the cause may stretch back well into the past.

Winter weather does not stop the lush growth of winter weeds in lawns. Most annual cool-season weeds will not cause significant damage to a healthy lawn, so control is generally not critical.

I would, however, recommend that you mow your lawn now and occasionally hereafter to keep any cool-season weeds from flowering and setting seed. This will reduce annual cool-season weed problems next year.

You may apply a lawn weed killer now if you choose to. Control with herbicides is more important for cool-season perennial weeds, such as dollarweed and clover.

A number of commercial lawn weed killers are available to control a wide variety of weeds. Make sure you choose one that is labeled safe to use on the type of grass you have.

You should know what kind of weeds are growing in your lawn you might take some to the nursery for identification so you can check the herbicide label to make sure the product will control them. Follow label directions carefully to avoid damaging the turf or landscape plants. Two applications generally provide the best control.

Whatever weed killer you choose, do not use a weed and feed. It is too early now to fertilize your lawn, and it will still be too early in March when lawns begin to green up. Research shows that turfgrass does better if you wait until early to mid-April to make the first application of fertilizer. If you have a weed problem that you need to deal with now, use a weed killer without fertilizer in it.

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Lawns Require Late-Winter, Early-Spring Care

Harrison County BOE Discuss Proposals for RCB Track and Turf Harrison County BOE Discuss Proposals for RCB Track and Turf

Updated: Monday, March 16 2015 11:46 PM EDT2015-03-17 03:46:06 GMT

The BOE has been working with both Pro Grass and Field Turf Company to come up with estimated cost of fully replacing the track and redoing the football field with artificial turf.

The BOE has been working with both Pro Grass and Field Turf Company to come up with estimated cost of fully replacing the track and redoing the football field with artificial turf.

Updated: Monday, March 16 2015 11:42 PM EDT2015-03-17 03:42:21 GMT

The Guardians of the West Fork Watershed held a public meeting Monday at the West Milford Community Center to discuss the goal in making the West Fork River Water Trail.

The Guardians of the West Fork Watershed held a public meeting Monday at the West Milford Community Center to discuss the goal in making the West Fork River Water Trail.

Updated: Monday, March 16 2015 6:37 PM EDT2015-03-16 22:37:44 GMT

Last week Harrison County Superintendent Mark Manchin sent out a memo regarding the employee-led prayer ban.

Last week Harrison County Superintendent Mark Manchin sent out a memo regarding the employee-led prayer ban.

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Harrison County BOE Discuss Proposals for RCB Track and Turf

After several Yankees groused over New York City FC potentially tearing up their field, and concerns arose this past week about the already questionable conditions at Yankee Stadium, at least for Sundays home debut, those worries proved to be much ado about nothing.

NYCFC passed its first home test with a 2-0 win over New England, and the Yankee Stadium pitch passed its test with flying colors. No, it wasnt lush and green the way the Bombers would expect center field to be by midseason, but considering it was frozen a week ago and sod was still being put down midweek, it was an amazing turnaround.

Its the winter right now, so its just going to get better and better. If we keep winning on it, Im not going to have any problems with it, laughed Mix Diskerud.

Coach Jason Kreis said: This was a tremendous challenge that was placed in front of the groundskeepers here at Yankee Stadium in order to get the field prepared after all the very difficult weather weve had this winter. And for me it was fantastic. The fact they were able to put that together for us on such a short time, Im really pleased.

Photo: Ray Stubblebine

And its to understand their worries, with all the griping the Bombers had done, Mark Teixeira saying, Itll definitely cause an issue. Its terrible for a field. Grass, dirt, everything gets messed up.

But it sure didnt mess up David Villa, who had a goal and an assist and a dominant performance.

The pitch was fine today, Villa said. You have to bear in mind the cold weather weve had to endure the last month, and the team thats been working on it worked extremely hard. We should thank them for it and hopefully in the next few months with nicer weather the pitch will be in even better condition. As players we have to adapt on a weekly basis to the conditions. Id like to thank the team that worked on the pitch, because it was in a very good shape today.

Granted, there are 16 more MLS home dates, barring playoffs. But at least the first came off without a hitch. Sporting director Claudio Reyna admitting he breathed a sigh of relief.

Yes, I walked it on Friday and all I can say is credit to the Yankees ground crew, Reyna said. They did an amazing job. The coaches were pleased with it, the players were happy with it; amazing work by the Yankee grounds crew.

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NYCFC players on first Stadium run: Thats some good grass