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Q: My neighbor suggests that I paint the trunk of the new apricot tree I just planted. Really? A.R., North Valley

A: Fruit tree trunk painting is a time-honored process thatll keep your trees healthier. So, yes, I agree with your neighbor, and there are several reasons why this helps.

In these parts, during the winter months, we have those spectacular days when the sun shines bright and most anything with a southern exposure gets warmed by it. If the tree trunks get too warm, they sort of thaw and can move sap. Then, inevitably, well have a brutal cold snap soon after.

Its that thaw/freeze action that can cause internal damage in the blood vessels, if you will. With the warmth of the sun they expand, then rapidly contract with the cold. That action can cause wee fissures or cracks of the vessels causing the sap to pool internally. Eventually the pooling works its way out of the trunk. You notice the damage as a sticky, sometimes smelly, weeping up on the tree trunk during the growing season. Painting helps prevent sunburn on the trunks during the summer months, too, especially on younger, newly planted fruit trees.

Next, think of the paint as a pest preventer! Bunnies wont want to nibble on your tender young tree if its painted because it wont smell yummy. Then, too, the paint will help to keep your trees from being attacked by borers especially, if youve painted the whole trunk starting at just below ground level.

Scooch the soil away from the base of the tree and you should notice a gentle swelling or collar at its base. Start your painting just below that collar, remembering to push the soil back to the trunk once the paint is dry, and continue up the trunk to the first branches. You can use latex paint (be sure to use latex) for this process since itll allow the tree trunk to breathe, so to speak. Also, you can find tree paint at most nurseries and certainly online, too. I even found a couple of homemade tree paint recipes while poking about the Internet. So your neighbor really is correct. Paint your young fruit tree trunks; theyll be glad you did!

Q: There are a few bare spots in my lawn that I want to reseed. Can I do that now? N.F., Albuquerque

A: I think itll depend on the type of grass you plan on seeding with.

In the heat of the summer, seeding with a warm season grass such as Bermuda or tiff green you should be able to succeed. Rough up the spots and rake them smooth, being sure to remove any old thatch in the spots. If the spots are below grade fill them with a mixture of topsoil and finely milled compost, making sure to tamp it down. Just before seeding, very gently rough up the topmost layer of the spots so the seeds have a way to grab onto the soil. Spread your seed, and then retamp the spots so the seed gets held firmly in place.

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Paint on trunk helps fruit trees

Brandon Sun - ONLINE EDITION

By: Jessica Botelho-Urbanski

Friday, Jun. 27, 2014 at 7:53 AM | Comments: 0

JOE BRYKSA / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Enlarge Image

Evan Rasmussen, who farms west of Headingley, supplied grass seed to this year's World Cup.

World Cup soccer players getting their kicks in Brazil are doing it on grass from Manitoba seeds.

And even if you didn't make it to Brazil, you can grow a similar lawn. The Manitoba blend has some tough Kentucky bluegrass mixed in for our harsh climate.

Canadian company Pickseed was plucked as the official grass seed supplier for this year's World Cup. The company provided Manitoba-grown perennial rye grass seeds for each of the World Cup's 12 stadiums.

Pickseed also provided seeds for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and the 2012 UEFA European Championship in Ukraine and Poland.

"We have a World Cup blend we sell that is designed for soccer pitches and other playgrounds, which germinates quicker than regular grass," said Terry Scott, the western Canadian vice-president of DLF Pickseed.

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World Cup using Manitoba grass

Will Roger Federer grab an eighth Wimbledon, after lifting the Halle grass court trophy for the seventh time this year?

Tennis grand slam players have had only two weeks to transition from clay at the French Open to the grass surface at the ongoing Wimbledon (till July 6). This gap will be increased to three weeks from next year to help players adjust better to the surface change.

Grass, once the mainstay of tennis courts everywhere but increasingly rare, is the fastest surface with the ball bouncing to knee-level. On hard courts, it could be between the knee and the shoulder, and on clay courts it is above the shoulder. This makes the play technique on grass different from that on other surfaces it is relatively more aggressive.

Slowdown on grass

Points in Wimbledon were scored quickly in the past. Champions Boris Becker and Pete Sampras, for instance, would win a point with four or five shots. Now long rallies are seen more often. TV channels flash the number of shots when a rally is long. The slowing of the games with longer rallies is meant to promote the entertainment value of the sport. Eminent commentators, once leading players themselves, have said the grass is different from how it was in the past and the balls are heavier, contributing to the slower pace. Many are calling it the homogenisation of surfaces faster courts becoming slower.

In tennis history, only six players have made a successful transition from clay to grass, winning the French Open and Wimbledon back-to-back Rene Lacoste (1925), Fred Perry (1935), Budge Patty (1950), Bjorn Borg (1978, 1979 and 1980), Rafael Nadal (2008 and 2010) and Roger Federer (2009). It is called the Channel Slam.

Warm-up to Wimbledon

In the fortnight between the two Slams, there are four grass court warm-up tournaments for men, of which the ones at Queens Club, London, and Halle in Germany are especially patronised by leading players. But the probability of these finalists winning the Wimbledon is not high as happens in the Rome Masters vis--vis the French Open. All the top players participate in the Rome Masters, played on clay.

In the warm-up to Wimbledon, however, the high-ranked players are divided between London and Halle. Since 2000 only Lleyton Hewitt and Andy Murray have won back-to-back at Queens Club (called Aegon Championship) and Wimbledon. This year, Grigor Dimitrov was the champion in London, while it was Roger Federer in Germany. Dimitrov became a sensation after beating Alexandr Dolgopolov, Stanislas Wawrinka and Feliciano Lpez Daz-Guerra.

According to the draw, and going by the seeding, the quarter-final line-up in Wimbledon is likely to be: Novak Djokovic-Tom Berdych, Murray-David Ferrer, Wawrinka-Federer, and Milos Raonic-Nadal. Till a few years ago, Djokovic, Murray, Federer and Nadal constituted the quartet in Grand Slam semifinals. That quartets grip has loosened in more recent times.

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A long shot on grass

Rusty Caldwell, parks foreman for the city of Westminster, bleeding air out of irrigation lines in Kensington Park on June 19. Kensington is one of three city parks in a pilot program replacing Kentucky bluegrass with a water saving native blend. (Austin Briggs, Your Hub)

WESTMINSTER The new grass coming up on the west side of Kensington Park isn't replacing a die-off it's replacing grass that was killed off.

Parks officials this year used an herbicide to kill the Kentucky bluegrass that had been there prior to planting native seeds including fescue, rye and Canadian bluegrass.

The new ground cover will conserve water and save the city money, said Jessica Stauffer, the community outreach coordinator for the city's Parks, Recreation and Library department.

"We went $200,000 over budget last year in watering costs for our parks," Stauffer said. "The native grass being seeded stays greener longer and means fewer taxpayer dollars used for maintenance."

In addition to Kensington, England and Oakhurst Park II are also being re-seeded in select spots totaling 8.4 acres away from playgrounds and high-traffic areas.

The new blend, which will grow between eight to 10 inches tall, won't need to be mowed because it will follow a natural cycle of dormancy and growth, said parks supervisor Jerry Magnetti.

"We'll do a second seeding this fall," Magnetti said. "It's a low-grow, low-maintenance seed mix that will fill in and look beautiful, especially in the fall and cooler months."

While it'll take another year or two for the grasses to establish, the goal is to see how this experiment works and perhaps apply it to a citywide program amid a long-term drought and rising water costs.

In 2005 the Department of Parks, Recreation and Libraries used 216 million gallons of water at a cost of $863,675 and in 2012 this grew to 319 million gallons and $1,362,975.

More:
Westminster parks eliminating Kentucky bluegrass in favor of native seeds

Serena Williams, who won Wimbledon in 2012, will likely open on Centre Court on Tuesday.

GLYN KIRK/Getty Images

A quick pre-Wimbledon mailbag...

First, we're starting to get questions and tweets about Wimbledon's seeding. We can debate whether tournaments should depart from rankings and take surface aptitude into account (I think it's fine), but let's be clear: this is NOT subjective. There are no conspiracies. It is a transparent formula. In fact, here it is:

Men -- The seeds are the top 32 players on the ATP Ranking list, BUT then rearranged on a surface-based system. Since 2002 a seeding committee has not been required for the Gentlemen's Singles following an agreement made with the ATP. The seeding order is determined using an objective and transparent system to reflect more accurately an individual player's grass court achievements: The formula is:

Take the ATP Ranking points at June 16, 2014 Add 100 percent of the points earned for all grass court tournaments in the past 12 months Add 75 percent of the points earned for the best grass court tournament in the 12 months before that.

Ladies -- The seeding order follows the WTA ranking list, except where in the opinion of the committee, a change is necessary to produce a balanced draw.

NGUYEN: Can Murray repeat? Will Nadal make it past round two? More Wimbledon burning questions

Since Marion Bartoli retired, who will open play on Centre Court the opening Tuesday? Serena, because she was the 2012 champion? -- @pacopowell

To rephrase: The defending women's champ christens play on Centre Court on the first Tuesday of Wimbledon. However this year, the defending champ, Marion Bartoli, is retired, busy commentating, being her pleasant self, selling crafts on Etsy and generally living the good life. Who gets her slot? The good folks at the All England Club explained to us that they have a few choices: the slot can go to the champion two years ago, the current top seed or most recent finalist. Given that Serena Williams meets two of those three criteria, the guess is that she gets the call.

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Jon Wertheim: Reviewing Wimbledon's seeding procedures, more mailbag

Ana Ivanovic has historically struggled on grass courts, but she's off to a strong start this season.

Tom Dulat/Getty Images

BIRIMINGHAM, England (AP) - Ana Ivanovic's winning start to the grass-court season was healthy enough to raise hopes that she will at last remedy her Wimbledon ills.

The former world No. 1 from Serbia looked worth her top seeding as she hurried past Mona Barthel, a tripwire opponent in the past, and into the third round of the Aegon Classic on Tuesday.

Ivanovic's hard-hitting 6-4, 6-1 win over the German had such a high ratio of winners it was hard to believe she has only once reached a Wimbledon semifinal and five times failed to reach the last 16.

''I haven't had the most success on grass,'' admitted Ivanovic, who has two weeks before Wimbledon to adapt herself to the vagaries of this surface.

''I really hope I manage to turn that around. On grass courts it's a lot about mentality and also the gameplan, because everything happens so fast.

''It's the first time I am working with my coach (Nemanja Kontic) on grass, so hopefully he can bring some innovations that will help me make that change.''

If he did, they certainly succeeded against Barthel, against whom Ivanovic had lost two of their three previous encounters. She worked hard to get lower on the green, lush surface, to hit flatter through the ball, and to move forward more often.

She also took more risks. These helped avoid going 3-0 behind, to recover well from 3-1 down, and take eight of the next nine games.

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Ana Ivanovic hoping to find success on the grass this season

Updated JUN 10, 2014 8:15p ET

BIRMINGHAM, England

Ana Ivanovic's winning start to the grass-court season was healthy enough to raise hopes that she will at last remedy her Wimbledon ills.

The former world No. 1 from Serbia looked worth her top seeding as she hurried past Mona Barthel, a tripwire opponent in the past, and into the third round of the Aegon Classic on Tuesday.

Ivanovic's hard-hitting 6-4, 6-1 win over the German had such a high ratio of winners it was hard to believe she has only once reached a Wimbledon semifinal and five times failed to reach the last 16.

''I haven't had the most success on grass,'' admitted Ivanovic, who has two weeks before Wimbledon to adapt herself to the vagaries of this surface.

''I really hope I manage to turn that around. On grass courts it's a lot about mentality and also the gameplan, because everything happens so fast.

''It's the first time I am working with my coach (Nemanja Kontic) on grass, so hopefully he can bring some innovations that will help me make that change.''

If he did, they certainly succeeded against Barthel, against whom Ivanovic had lost two of their three previous encounters. She worked hard to get lower on the green, lush surface, to hit flatter through the ball, and to move forward more often.

Excerpt from:
Healthy Ana Ivanovic looks sharp in Wimbledon tune-up

The Scot will move above both Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka thanks to his efforts on grass over the past two years. And last year's runner-up Novak Djokovic will be elevated above world No.1 Rafael Nadal to take the No.1 seeded position, leaving the Spaniard at No.2.

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Moving from No.5 to a seeding of No.3 means Murray cannot play Djokovic, Nadal or Federer until at least the semi-finals.

Wimbledon is the only one of the four grand slam events not to go strictly off the ATP ranking list when it comes to choosing its 32 seeded players, a decision it makes because of the unique nature of grass-court tennis and the relative shortness of the grass-court season.

To apply its grass-court formula, Wimbledon takes a player's official ranking points as of Monday and then adds 100% of their grass-court points over the past 12 months and 75% of their best event in the year before that.

As the defending champion, Murray receives more "bonus" points than anyone else in the draw and moves well above Wawrinka, who also falls below Federer thanks to his 2012 Wimbledon victory.

Wawrinka is the biggest loser of the formula, which does not apply to the women's event, though Wimbledon reserves the right to move women up from the WTA rankings if they so choose.

Wawrinka said it would not affect his chances of a second grand slam title. "At the end of the day, it doesn't change much. You have to play well. You have to start well the tournament if you want to go far, and that's simple."

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Murray confirmed as No.3 seed

LONDON: Andy Murray has backed Wimbledon's unique seeding system after he was given a ranking rise that could aid his defence of the men's singles title.

Murray, who starts his bid to retain the Wimbledon crown against Belgium's David Goffin on Monday, was seeded third despite being ranked fifth in the world, meaning his path to the latter stages of the tournament is less daunting than it might have been.

That two-place advantage, owing to Wimbledon's decision to change their seedings based on each player's record on grasscourts, means Murray cannot face tournament favourite Novak Djokovic until the last four and world number one Rafael Nadal until the final.

Switzerland's Stan Wawrinka, the world number three who won the Australian Open earlier this year, is the biggest loser as his seeding drops to fifth to accommodate Murray, as well as Roger Federer, who moves up to fourth.

Wimbledon's seeding system is different to the other three Grand Slams, who all use the ATP Tour rankings to decide seeds, prompting some critics to suggest they should fall in line with the Australian, French and US Opens.

But Murray, the first British man to win Wimbledon for 77 years, disagrees.

"To be honest I think the way they do it is correct with the seedings," Murray said.

"Some people might say that because my seeding's obviously moved up, but there are so few tournaments on grass now that there are so few points up for grabs on the surface that it is in a way a specialist surface.

"Not many guys, some guys like (Tommy) Robredo for example will only play one tournament a year on grass.

"So I think it is relevant the way the players perform on it, in terms of the seedings and how deep guys can go in the event.

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Tennis: Murray defends Wimbledon seeding boost

Andy Murray has defended Wimbledon's unique seeding system, even though the reigning champion is the chief beneficiary.

Andy Murray has backed Wimbledon's unique seeding system ahead of Friday's competition draw

Britain's double grand slam winner will learn who his opening opponent in his Wimbledon defence will be in Friday morning's draw.

The 27-year-old is ranked fifth in the world, but seeded third by the Wimbledon organising committee, who take grass court records into account to develop their own tournament favourites.

The Scottish Olympic champion's third seeding means he cannot face top two seeds Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal until the semi-finals, and fourth favourite and seven-time tournament winner Roger Federer until the final.

Murray said he would back Wimbledon's system even if he did not stand to benefit.

"To be honest I think the way they do it is correct with the seedings," said Murray.

"Some people might say you would say that because my seeding's obviously moved up, but there are so few tournaments on grass now that there are so few points up for grabs on the surface that it is in a way a specialist surface.

"Not many guys, some guys like (Tommy) Robredo for example will only play one tournament a year on grass.

"So I think it is relevant the way the players perform on it, in terms of the seedings and how deep guys can go in the event.

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Murray defends SW19 seeding system