Francis Tiafoe literally grew up around tennis, often spending nights at a Maryland tennis center where his father worked. At only 16, he is ranked number two in the world. Could a future U.S. champion be in the making? (Lee Powell / The Washington Post)

WIMBLEDON Francis Tiafoes introduction to Wimbledon couldnt have been more fitting.

Scheduled to open play Saturday afternoon in the Junior Championships, as Wimbledons tournament for 18-and-under players is known, Tiafoe arrived at the practice courts for a 12:30 p.m. warmup just as it started raining.

After the skies cleared, he trudged back to the practice court, but the skies opened again before he hit the first ball.

Finally, after whiling away the afternoon in the junior players lounge listening to music, reminding himself to drink water and guessing how much to eat, Tiafoe was informed that his first-round match had been postponed until Monday, along with several dozen other matches, because of scheduling havoc wreaked by the weather.

You see it so much on TV, the rain delays at Wimbledon, Tiafoe said. This was the first time I experienced one. Its not easy, but youve got to stay focused and be ready to go.

Tiafoe, of Riverdale Park, has spent most of his 16 years in a tennis bubble, having picked up the game at 5 while his father worked as a maintenance man at College Parks Junior Tennis Champions Center. But he had never set foot on a grass court or owned a pair of grass-court shoes with pimpled soles until two weeks ago, when he and a contingent from the JTCC flew to London to compete in a Wimbledon tuneup at nearby Roehampton.

Frank Salazar, the centers director of high-performance training, prepared the youngsters Tiafoe, 16-year-old Raveena Kingsley and the Arconada siblings, Usue, 15, and Jordi, 17 for the quirks of grass-court tennis as best he could. All earned spots in Wimbledons 64-player boys and girls draws.

Salazar warned them that the ball wouldnt bounce as high, so they needed to bend their knees and stay low to the ground. He advised them to shorten their backswings to quicken their reaction time. And then he let them hit just for fun to get a feel for it, and then in a more structured way.

As the No. 7 seed here, Tiafoe is finding out that competing on grass is something he must learn by doing, with a racket in hand and sod underfoot.

The rest is here:
Francis Tiafoe masters the Wimbledon rain delay; playing on grass is next

Two garden vignettes at the Water Conservation Garden show a dramatic difference in water use. One has traditional turf; the other uses hardscape, low-water plants and a small lawn area.

Theres never been a better time to consider replacing traditional turf with a water-wise landscape.

Consider these factors:

The entire state is in the throes of a severe drought.

The cost of water continues to escalate; our water rates will rise another 15 percent by the end of 2015.

And, the good news: There currently are two programs that offer rebates for turf removal to San Diego County residents.

The drought cycles and rising water costs are nothing new, yet most of us have been reluctant to let go of our green expanses of lawn. Pam Meisner, education director at the Water Conservation Garden, is among conservationists who are working to change our perceptions.

San Diego doesnt look like an arid Mediterranean climate because we dont want it to, she says. We want it to look like Hawaii.

Meisners colleague, Clayton Tschudy, who is horticulture director at the garden, believes that a Mediterranean landscape can be just as beautiful. By choosing the right plants, for example, you can have blooms all year long.

You dont have to put cactus in your yard to have drought-tolerant plants, says Tschudy. We have all manner of plants that are adapted to our climate: beautiful, soft, flowy grasses; beautiful evergreen shrubs; shrubs with color; trees with color; deciduous trees that give you fall color; vines everything is possible.

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Get off the grass

Entire Front Yard a Beach

Dale and Kathleen Rhodes, with their and son Shelby Rhodes, 15, right, enjoy their 'Beach Front Yard.' The Lido Key residents used some 20 tons of sand to turn the entire front yard into a beach, complete with umbrella, shells, beach balls, colorful chairs and Jimmy Buffett music.

LIDO KEY - In a residential neighborhood off Lido Beach, the streets are named after presidents, but the yards run every which way.

There are grass yards and gravel yards. Mulch yards and paved yards. Brick yards and shell yards.

Then theres the sand box with a picket fence on Grant Drive.

Its more like a sand dune, with a pair of palms and a small mound supporting beach chairs and a colorful umbrella. Stepping stones lead to a seashell corner. Plastic pails and inflatable beach balls complete the scene.

People come by and go, Youve got to be kidding me, says Dale Rhodes. Every day, somebody takes a picture of this. Every day.

Rhodes laughs. People are supposed to get a kick out of his yard. That was the whole idea four years ago.

I told my wife, I can see it, I can see it in my head, he says. Shes like, You want to do what?

Street life

Continued here:
Steps from Lido beach itself, a beach scene front yard

GLENPOOL, Oklahoma -

Oklahoma is getting some much needed rain and farmers are loving it, local sod farmers said the rain of the past few days helps them grow healthier grass, they hope, will survive our intense summer heat.

Crews delivered fresh sod this spring to Guthrie Green and it's holding up pretty well, thanks to the wet weather. Farmers who grow sod said the rain helps, but it's still not enough to get us out of a drought.

Slow and steady, rain keeps falling on Green Country, and sod farmers said it's exactly what the grass needed.

Charles Rumbaugh manages Easton Sod's store in Glenpool, where pallets were stacked with grass and ready to roll out on to lawns.

Bermuda grass, which Rumbaugh said is Tulsa's most popular, should be able to thrive in the wet conditions.

"All the Bermuda should be healthy, because there's a lot of moisture in the ground, a lot of good rain to start it into the growing season, which makes it real healthy," he said.

Rumbaugh said the rain is going to keep the grass greener when the temperatures heat up.

"See how thick this cut is, that's showing the depth and the thickness of the root system, that's healthy. Before it would be real thin, falling apart, because of there wasn't enough moisture deep for the roots to go deep," Rumbaugh said.

Farmers said the heavy rain will also help the grass better prepare for the winter months.

See original here:
Green Country Sod Farmers Happy With Recent Rain

Editor: In my area of South Langley, the Rural Road Maintenance Team is in the midst of a far too generous taxpayer-funded spending bonanza.

It started in the late winter, long before any visible grass growth, with trimming of the roadside verges. The next activity is the scouring of the ditches involving chopping of vegetation, chewing up the top couple of inches of dirt and massacre of every frog, toad, salamander and snake that lived there.

Each ditch warranted a pass on both sides of it and sometimes another up to the private property fence line. The final deed is the irregular gouging of often visually pleasing verges in the name of removing any grass sod with the temerity to grow above the level of the road surface.

So after all this action, five or six passes on each side of every road with diesel-guzzling heavy equipment belching noxious fumes, we end up with more air pollution, exuberant new vegetation growth in the ditches, ugly gouges in what were nicely owner-maintained grass verges and the murder of thousands of harmless amphibians.

Is this value for taxpayer dollars?

Margaret Ormston,

Langley

Link:
Maintenance overkill along South Langley roads

EDMONTON - Every spring when the snow is melting, Nicole Sharp puts out a sign on her front lawn, encouraging people to Feel my grass!

It saves people from knocking on our door, said Sharp, who estimates that between five and 10 people stop every spring day to marvel at her bright green grass compared to the neighbours brown and grey lawns. Many knock with questions. When the spring comes, it is ridiculous how many people stop and look at it.

After all, the grass is fake. Its plastic. Its perpetually bright green, even below the snow, yet never needs to be mowed or watered.

Sharp got her synthetic turf three years ago and is part of a growing wave of people in the Edmonton area choosing perfect plastic over growing grass. When Gary Selanders began his Evergreen Turf business in Edmonton eight years ago, he was busy installing the plastic product at about 15 houses during the summer.

In 2013, he laid down the fake blades at 130 houses. This summer, Selanders and his team of 13 workers expect to install synthetic turf at more than 200 homes and simply cant keep up with demand.

This has really boomed, said Selanders, whose company is the only Alberta dealer for U.S. grass-maker Southwest Greens. Its the only way to go. Its a no-brainer for people to put it in.

No more grass stains on her two sons clothing, Sharp said. No more snow mould or dandelions that set off the seven-year-olds allergies. No more aerating, fertilizing or watering. The Sharps got rid of their gas lawn mower the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that one such lawn mower emits the same amount of air pollution as 11 new cars in one hour and replaced it with a lawn vacuum.

Yes, Sharp vacuums her lawn. She also uses a soft rake to brush away dust and dirt. Otherwise, the maintenance is low, she said, and far lower than when the family had dogs whose urine and digging killed the real grass.

PHOTOS: Grass certainly looks greener on the fake side of the fence

Barry Morgan, facility manager at the Edmonton Humane Society, said hes lobbying for cash to replace even more grassed areas with artificial turf. Currently, the dog daycare pen and exercise areas on the north side of the building are landscaped with dog-specific turf. They look brand-new even after five years of constant pawing, dog tussles and bathroom breaks, Morgan said.

See the original post here:
$9,000 can buy you a perfect (plastic) lawn|video

Dear Neil: I was told that I could dig a hole near one of my plants. Then I could punch small holes in the bottom and lower sides of a 2-liter bottle, put it down in the hole and fill it periodically with water to keep my plants hydrated. Is there anything about the plastic in the bottle that would hurt my plants?

A: Not at all. You could actually accomplish the same thing just by setting the bottom on top of the soil. That way the moisture would drain out quickly and be spread uniformly across the soil surface. Milk jugs have larger bottoms, so they actually might be better. Or you could just use conventional drip irrigation lines. They're tidier and quicker.

Dear Neil: My father has a peach tree that's 20 years old. It flowers, but the peaches never get bigger than an inch and a quarter. Last year, the immature peaches fell off. It has been the pattern for at least five years. What might the cause have been?

A: Peach fruit need to be thinned manually when they're about marble-sized. Leave enough that they are 6 or 7 inches apart on the branches. That allows them to develop to full size. Also, it's not uncommon for peaches to abort fruit, whether due to poor pollination, late freezes, wind and hail or a sudden turn toward hot weather.

Dear Neil: I've attached photos of my David Austin Sister Elizabeth rose. The same thing happened to two others last year in the same bed. I replanted with more of the same roses this year, and so far they seem to be doing fine. I don't believe it was a weedkiller, but I'm wondering how they could go from just starting to turn brown to dead within a week. I have a soaker hose beneath mulch. Could there be too much mulch?

A: If the soaker hose is functioning properly, and if it's beneath the mulch, there's not much way you could have too much mulch. I see in one of your photos that other plants nearby are doing just fine, while the rose plant is dying. Do check the soaker hose, to be sure that it's putting out the proper amount of water. I wonder if cotton root rot could be involved. That's a soil-borne fungus, but it's prevalent only in alkaline soils, and most of us put enough organic matter into our soils that it isn't present. Still, roses are highly susceptible. Unfortunately, that's about all I have to suggest.

Dear Neil: The photo attached shows a trouble spot in my St. Augustine. Three years ago, the grass in that area was thick and green. I've treated for grub worms and other pest problems, and nothing has worked. I water frequently early in the morning, so the area is not allowed to dry out. I had my soil tested by Texas A&M last year, and I applied all the minerals that were suggested. How can I get the grass back to being healthy and vigorous?

A: In my 40 years of this column and radio talk shows, this has always been my No. 1 question. You have done a great job of listing all the things people think might have caused their grass to die out. But, as almost everyone does (Me included for a year or two way back when!), you neglected the most obvious one. Over those three years, your trees have grown larger and their shade has become denser. Look at the shadow patterns on your grass in the photo. Even St. Augustine needs 4 to 6 hours of direct sunlight in summer, and when it doesn't get it, it starts to die away just as your grass is doing. New sod has yet another disadvantage, because not only is it trying to get itself established, but it also has lost much of its root system as it was being dug. You'll either have to remove some lower branches from your trees to get more sunlight to the grass, or you'll have to switch over to a shade-tolerant groundcover. I went the latter route beginning 15 years ago, and I'm really glad that I did. Sure, I don't have turfgrass, but it's allowed me to develop an attractive and functional landscape.

Dear Neil: We have Texas mountain laurels that are probably around 18 feet tall. Our gutters are somewhere in the 12-foot range, and the mountain laurels clog them up with leaves and debris. Can I trim them back to stay below the gutters? (They are basically bare in their bottom 6 feet.)

A: Probably not. Hopefully they're out away from the house by several feet, and if they are, you might invest in a type of gutter guard that allows leaves and other litter to wash off the roof and fall to the ground. I don't think you're going to like the look of whacked-back mountain laurels. Plus, they'll just regrow.

Link:
Milk jugs, 2-liter bottles good for worry-free irrigation

It might be 90-degrees right now, but some in Warrick County are still feeling the effects of the cold. The Tri-State experienced an exceptionally long and cold winter which is causing some problems now on athletic fields. In just six weeks football players will hit the fields again. And the Warrick County School Corporation's maintenance staff certainly has their work cut out for them. One thing they won't have to worry about is cutting the grass because, well, there's not much to cut. "All of our athletic fields that have Bermuda Grass sustained some damage due to the long cold winter" Warrick County Superintendent Brad Schneider says it will cost about $30,000 to resprig six athletic fields. While some maintenance is needed after each winter, this year will take a little extra work to get the fields ready in time. "We still feel very confident that when August rolls around and when football season starts we're going to have a nice stand of grass. Our athletic fields whether it be soccer or football are going to be in excellent shape," said Superintendent Schneider.

The corporation considered laying down sod instead of spriging, but grass experts told leaders that was no longer a viable option. "Just as the golf courses and athletic facilities that have Bermuda Grass were damaged this winter so were the sod fields," said Superintendent Schneider. Other neighboring counties have switched from grass to turf fields. Superintendent Schneider says they've considered that before, but is confident sticking with traditional grass is the right thing to do. "We feel confident that right now that Bermuda and the real grass is a little bit cheaper in the long run and I think our kids prefer playing on real grass." Bennett Field may be 80% brown at the moment, but Bermuda Grass grows very quickly. It could be green and lush within the next six weeks. All it needs is heat and humidity.

More here:
School Corporation Still Feeling Sting from Harsh Winter

Some Wiggins residents are concerned that the new sod at the baseball field is turning brown.

During the meeting of the Wiggins Board of Trustees on Wednesday, Wiggins Town Administrator Jim Musgrave said he is looking for some conditioner for the grass, and trying to get the sprinkler system back into shape.

Apparently, the sprinklers settled once the ground thawed and water softened the ground, and they will need to be rearranged to make them work right, he said.

When the Wiggins Fire Department recently practiced, firefighters sprayed the field with their water, rather than just put it anywhere, said Wiggins Police Chief Leroy Dilka.

This field is part of renovations at the park, and the Great Outdoors Colorado officials have been pleased with the latest report, said Wiggins Town Clerk Jessica Warden-Leon.

She said concrete work has begun at the fields, and the backstop and fencing have been taken down to allow work. Gravel was ordered for the playground, and workers are getting ready to put sprinklers in at the other fields.

After that, workers will look at laying new sod in other areas, Warden-Leon said.

One hitch in the plans is that one of the public works employees was injured while working on the park, and will likely not be able to work for some time.

Beautification

Wiggins is trying to beautify the town to get ready for the Pedal the Plains bicycling event, which will begin in town.

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Town working on beautification

I wish I knew all the names of the types of grass that grow here. Certainly I recognize them, and could describe them, (theres one that has spiky roots and one that has long, long roots) but other than witch grass, my father never taught me the names.I guess he felt like most people; why bother? Theres so much grass and its so ubiquitous that it doesnt really matter. All you have to do is recognize it.

My gardens are ready for planting, and today I decided to plant zinnias, which Im going to use for my daughters September wedding. As I sowed the seed I pulled up the bits of grass that were already taking hold in the tilled earth. As any gardener knows, grass is relentless and if you leave even a bit of root it will come back with renewed vigor.

Once the flowers were planted I moved over to my potato patch, and dug up some encroaching sod around the edge. I got on my knees and grabbed each clump of lawn with both hands so I could pound it against the ground and loosen the dirt around the roots. Then I gathered up the clumps and placed them on the bank by the river, to help forestall erosion.

I spend a lot of time fighting grass, and like most people, I take it for granted. But today, for some reason, I am thinking about how vital it is to us. Other than water and sun, grass is probably the most important thing on Earth. If some calamity overtakes our planet and every plant but grass dies we might still make a go of it. After all, barley, corn, millet, oats, rice, sorghum, bamboo and wheat are all grasses. Thatch, fuel, baskets, alcohol, paper and clothing can be made out of grass. The grass family, technically called graminoids, is the most versatile of all plants. It has adapted to every environment, and is the dominant vegetation in grassland, marsh, swamp and steppe. For many animals, including some omnivores, it is their main source of food.

Walt Whitman is not my favorite American poet, and I sometimes think he could have used some editing, but he made a brilliant choice when he called his first book Leaves Of Grass. Although it was apparently a pun, because publishers called minor works of literature grass and leaves is another name for pages, to me it has another, deeper meaning. The poems are as dense, ornamental, varied, ordinary and vital as grass. There is a section in Song of Myself that I always return to when someone I love dies.

After my mother died, when I was sixteen, my father kept her ashes on a bureau in the living room. They sat there radiating sorrow, and I used to make a wide arc around them as I walked through the room. One day I gathered up my courage, and my sister and I opened the box. I had expected something like stove ashes, but instead found pebbles of clean, porous bone. Perhaps my father knew how hard it was for us to have the ashes there, becuase eventually he spread them on the garden and lawn.

Through some bit of serendipity, I was studying Whitman in high school. I found a section in Song of Myself, which spoke to my very heart, and copied it out and pinned it on the wall in my bedroom. Heres an excerpt:

A child said, What is the grass? fetching it to me with full hands;

How could I answer the child?. . . .I do not know what it

is any more than he.

More here:
Life Here: Grass Is Persistent, Ubiquitous, Essential and Oddly Comforting