A Day in the Park is the theme of the Sunset Garden Club's 15th Annual Flower Show. The flower show will be held on Saturday at the Paseo Verde Library, 280 S. Green Valley Parkway, in Henderson, and will be open to the public from noon to 4 p.m. Admission is free.
Have you ever wondered if we could grow Christmas trees for profit in Southern Nevada? Well the answer is "Yes, you can." But the other side of that question is whether it is profitable. I have an evening seminar coming up on Thursday on Christmas tree growing for Southern Nevada and how it might be done. For more information, you can call the Master Gardener helpline or e-mail me at morrisr@unce.unr.edu.
Question: I had a new fescue lawn installed last year. It looked great for the first five months or so. I've learned a few lessons. Rabbits were continuously mowing the lawn. And the chickens were tough on it. I've since stopped access by the chickens, and I'll be putting up blocking material on the chain-link part of the fence to stop the rabbits from entering.
Reject sand was used when installing the lawn and the grass was laid on top of it without any amendments. I think they did put down some fertilizer. I thought the installer knew what he was doing. Should I build up the lawn's soil, since the installer didn't? If so, how?
Answer: I would not. I would aerate and topdress after aerating with a lawn topping material that can be raked into the soil and aeration holes. This might be a composted material or any lawn topdressing.
Q: When should I start aerating the lawn since it's only a year old? What time of the year should this be done?
A: You can aerate any time of year and now is a great time to do it before it gets hot. Aeration will help to get roots deeper in the soil and improve tolerance to drought.
Q: I need much help redoing my back yard. My dogs killed my grass! What is the best grass to put in and how do you prepare the soil organically? No chemicals for my back yard. I have animals.
A: You will be limited in your choices for a lawn by what is available at the nurseries or what they will be willing to special order for you. No lawn will be able to withstand your dogs if they choose certain parts of your lawn over others. They usually like to run near the fences and on the perimeter areas. This is typically where most of the wear occurs.
It is best to limit your dogs to specific areas of the lawn through rotating them to different spots and confining them to those specific areas. This, of course, is in an ideal world. Most likely you either will not be able to do that or want to do it. Outside, free range dogs are not compatible with grass since they don't spread their activities evenly over the entire lawn.
Preparation of the soil is the same whether you are installing your lawn from seed, side, plugs or sprigs. Ideally, it is best to incorporate 2 or 3 inches of composted manure products into the soil before planting. Some of these companies carry these products in bulk only, in bulk and bagged or only bagged.
After rototilling organic material into the soil, you must roll the soil with a heavy roller so that when you walk across the soil your footprint does not sink more than a half inch deep. You will either seed the area with the grass seed that you prefer or sod it.
Roll the seed or sod into the prepared bed after seeding or installing the sod. Roll the sod after an irrigation. Roll the seed when it is dry. Instead of rolling seed, you may elect to lightly rake it in to the surface soil. Seed will be covered with an organic compost no deeper than an eighth of an inch. This can be applied with a drum roller.
Make sure your irrigation system has been installed and is operating correctly. A key component to a successful lawn is a properly designed and installed irrigation system. Without this, your lawn will be nothing to you but headaches.
Check to make sure what your watering restrictions are and follow them. In the early spring you would be watering sod for about five to 10 minutes no more than twice a day. If you are using seed you will initially water just to wet the surface of the soil.
Q: I tried using wood mulch around my roses but I decided to remove it. I couldn't stand the bugs. There were hundreds of roaches running all over the place when I took the bark away. Since then there were no more bugs.
A: I can understand why you would have removed the wood mulch and instead decided on the rock mulch. As long as you realize that using a rock mulch is going to be a continuous problem for you and the roses. Roses do not like a mineral soil. They like an organic soil. Organic amendments added at the time of planting disappear over time.
If you revert to rock mulch you will have to play Mother Nature. This is not impossible, it just requires a little bit more effort and money on your part. You will have to add those things around your rose plants that would substitute for the nice additions that organic products add to the soil naturally.
Use the iron products on your roses that I have recommended in the past. This is very important because these products are the only iron products that will consistently work in our soils. This is the soil applied iron chelate that contains EDDHA in the ingredients. This should be applied before new growth in the spring. Be sure to water it into the soil after applying.
Next, make sure you use a high quality rose fertilizer or use organic fertilizers such as composted manures, guano, kelp, fish emulsion or something similar and supplement it with a phosphorus fertilizer.
If growth seems slow or off-color, use a foliar or liquid application of fertilizer to the foliage in about late March or April prior to hot weather. Apply a liquid fertilizer to the foliage either early in the morning or late in the afternoon when temperatures have cooled and light intensity has dropped. Do not apply it during the day when temperatures are above 90 degrees.
Bob Morris is an associate professor with the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension.
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