In a mere week $317,000 worth of grass was laid out on Highland Community Park like one giant carpet.

"I can't wait to see it," said Mike Clingman, president of the Central Little League.

Because efforts to grow grass on the park that features several baseball diamonds would not have met the deadline date for the Opening Day ceremonies on March 13, the Highland City Council voted to approve the installation of sod grass.

Throughout the week more than a dozen men worked on putting on the grass blankets across the dozens of acres of land where the new baseball fields are located. The blankets of grass were loaded on a big truck and picked up by a tractor. Then men would roll the grass in the area desired. Once in place, they stamped it down.

Guards are protecting the area from thieves and the entire area is fenced. Other than birds flying in, the grass areas will not be in use until the Opening Day ceremonies.

"We have to let the grass take root," said Councilman John Timmer.

It was Timmer's idea to assure that the Central Little League starting date would take place with a fully intact park. Both Timmer and Councilman Larry McCallon were involved in the blueprints for the park and baseball diamonds with the previous. They felt it needed to be done.

Efforts to have grass seeded and grown in the baseball fields had passed the deadline necessary for it to spout in time. The last day to put grass seed in was the last weekend in October, and due to pipeline conflicts that had to be rectified, the deadline passed.

The City Council did not want to miss the most important deadline.

"It wouldn't look good," said Timmer during the City Council meeting several weeks ago.

Excerpt from:
Fields sodded for Little League baseball season

Atlanta, GA (PRWEB) March 31, 2014

Super-Sod is looking for humorous, adventurous, instructive, or inspiring tales with a lawn mower theme.

Here's a chance to tell on a relative about that "adventure" with a lawn mower or brag about your hard mowing child. Was mowing lawns a formative part of your youth? Super-Sod wants to hear such stories and anecdotes, or even poems and Haikus. The stories need not be long, a few sentences or a paragraph or two will do.

Super-Sod is running their Mower Story Contest in an app on their website and on their Facebook page and that means all entrants must have a Facebook account to participate. The story with the most votes win from Super-Sod The Allett Classic reel mower, so all entrants are encourage to share their entry with their friends and family to get out the vote for their story.

About The Allett Classic lawn mower: -It's a reel mower with 5 cutting blades; -Cuts like scissors, rather than the machete-like cut made by rotary mowers; -The Classic gives grass a clean cut (not the jagged cut like rotary mowers) and a clean cut means less water loss; -It's made for warm-season lawns (Zoysia, Bermuda, and Centipede); -It's easy to adjust mow height with only the turn of a knob; -Now a homeowner can have the golf course look: The Classic allows homeowners to cut warm-season lawns much lower than standard rotary mowers cut; -It has a back roller that gives lawns the beautiful striped look that's so desirable in nice lawns; -Gas powered; -Self propelled with a safety cut-off feature; -Cuts 17" wide; -It's built with a removable cartridge system: replace a cartridge of old blades with a new one or take just the cartridge to the shop for sharpening (rather than loading up and bringing in the entire mower).

The Mower Story Contest was launched March 26th, 2014, and will end at noon on Friday, May 2nd, 2014. The winner will be announced on Super-Sod's Facebook page at 2:00pm on May 2nd. Since Super-Sod is based in GA, FL, NC, and SC, the contest is good only in those states.

Super-Sod is a family-run business that employs experts in turf and horticulture. One of their most popular products has been their Soil3 organic compost, delivered in a cubic yard BigYellowBag, which they make partially from composted grass clippings from their sod production. Super-Sod continues to develop new garden products, foster gardening and landscaping, and always seeks to improve their farming practices, technology, environmental stewardship, and employee knowledge.

Here is the original post:
Super-Sod's Mower Story Contest

ByJason Beck/MLB.com|3/31/2014 6:35 P.M. ET

DETROIT -- If the sight of green grass wasn't enough salvation for Tigers fans after a winter of frozen tundra, the sight of an outfield without different-colored patches was a head-turner. The 15th Opening Day at Comerica Park was the club's first with new sod since 2007.

The opener provided the first real test for the new surface, which was laid down about a week and a half ago. The Tigers and Royals worked out on it Sunday, and Austin Jackson said he wanted to check it out and see how it felt. However, it was difficult to simulate the quick cuts needed by outfielders in game action.

"You definitely want to get your feet on it a little bit and see," Jackson said. "When you put cleats on, you want to see how it is. You have to get a good feel for it."

Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said they checked out the infield during the workout on Sunday.

"The field looks great, actually," Ausmus said. "We had a quick infield in batting practice yesterday. Everything went well."

The new sod is Kentucky bluegrass trucked in from a sod farm in Colorado. The Tigers will have similar replacement sod ready for repair work at a sod farm in Michigan.

"It actually looks pretty good," outfielder Torii Hunter said. "I saw the photos a week ago. It didn't look good."

Hunter told reporters after the Tigers' 4-3 walk-off win that the footing was fine, though Jackson seemingly struggled to get a good jump on an Eric Hosmer first-inning double to right-center.

DETROIT -- Despite Justin Verlander making his seventh consecutive Opening Day start, the 2014 season has a new feel for the Tigers. They have a rookie manager, a revamped infield and a completely new tail end of the bullpen.

See more here:
Tigers' outfielders green on park's new sod

Sports Fan Insider

Keep up with your favorite teams and athletes with daily updates.

By Ashley Dunkak @AshleyDunkak

COMERICA PARK (CBS DETROIT) Thanks to months of seemingly constantsnow and unrelenting below-freezing temperatures, the process of laying a new field for Comerica Park turned out to a bit more interesting than anticipated.

Its been very difficult, head groundskeeper Heather Nabozny said Friday. Weve had to remove snow twice. One time it was almost 11 inches. The next time, we had to remove four before we could even start to think about grading the field and laying the sod and then getting warm enough temperatures during the day to lay the sod, wait until our field thawed. Sand doesnt hold much moisture, so it thaws a lot quicker than finer-textured soils the warning track, the infield, the mound.

We heated those areas the mound, the plate, the infield skin, with large heaters and a tarp, so we melted the frost out of there, Nabozny continued. Its been a challenge.

For all the trouble the winter weather caused Nabozny and the rest of the Detroit Tigers grounds crew as they worked to prepare the playing surfacefor Opening Day, the process could have been even more hectic.

We were able to take the [old] field out in the fall, which helped out a bunch. If we werent able to do that, then I probably wouldnt have slept all winter, Nabozny said. We took out, oh gosh, 700 tons of root zone and organic material, so then we had to add 700 tons of material, grade it all out. Its a big process. So we got it close so that in the spring time all we had to do was come in, touch it up and lay the sod.

The process of laying the field took several days. Arrivingfrom Colorado, the sod came toComerica in climate-controlled trucks, their temperatures kept at 50 degrees so the sod would not freeze. Cut into strips measuring 40 feet by 4 feet, each piece of sod weighs more thana ton. The transport took35 semis.

Despite the less-than-ideal conditions of this winter and the way it delayed the laying of the field, Nabozny said she is not worried about the grass.The huge pieces of sod get locked into place by a special machine that slams each strip next to the previous one, packing the pieces together so tightly thatone cannot see or feel the seams betweenthem.

Go here to read the rest:
New Field At Comerica Ready To Go Despite Winter Weather Challenges

MILWAUKEE (AP) - The arctic cold that encased the Midwest this winter didnt exactly make for the most ideal of conditions to grow new grass for the Brewers, even with the retractable roof closed at Miller Park.

But the groundskeepers pressed on with the new sod. Even brought over some grow lamps from Europe to give the field an around-the-clock dose of synthetic sunlight.

All to get ready for Monday, when baseball returns to Milwaukee. The Brewers will host the Atlanta Braves to open the 2014 season for both teams.

This was a little harsher winter than we had anticipated. Were hoping for a little better spring, said Michael Boettcher, the teams director of grounds. But regardless of what Mother Nature gave us here, were going to have it ready for Opening Day.

The new field was lush and green for a two-game exhibition set against the Kansas City Royals over the weekend. Players gave it rave reviews.

The team was scheduled to get the grow lamps even before the brutal winter. Turned out to be perfect timing when the contraptions arrived this month.

It looks absolutely fantastic, outfielder Logan Schafer said. Its a lot firmer underneath. Last year, wed do a lot of burnouts trying to get jumps and wed kind of kick up a lot of grass. But you look it looks great out there, playing great.

One less thing for Ryan Braun to worry about as he switches positions from left to right field. But as if that wasnt enough of a transition, the Brewers top player is also returning from a 65-game doping suspension by Major League Baseball stemming from Biogenesis scandal.

So far, Braun looks as if hes going to follow through on his vow to again become one of baseballs top sluggers. The 2011 NL MVP hit .417 this spring with three homers and nine RBIs, and manager Ron Roenicke is also pleased with the way hes handled the move to right.

Hes working hard at it and he feels comfortable out there, the skipper said. I think with the range that he has hell save us a lot of runs.

More:
New field welcomes Braves and Brewers for opener

Photo by Michael Zamora

Michael Zamora/Scripps Newspapers Bluebonnets grow well in roadside waste areas, but cant compete with turf grasses.

Dear Neil: We have bluebonnets planted and growing in an area where we are going to plant El Toro zoysia sod later this spring. We will wait for the bluebonnets to go dormant before we lay the sod. Will they come up through the grass next spring? Also, how can we eliminate clover that is there before we plant the sod?

A: Wildflowers, and in this case more specifically bluebonnets, do not coexist with turfgrass at all. If you think about where you see bluebonnets growing natively, its always in an area that has poor soil with little native pasture grass. Bluebonnets succeed in bare areas, but they struggle competing with dense grasses. The highway department plants them in roadside areas that do have grass, but its not strong, assertive grass like youd have in a lawn. In fact, youll notice that many of those wildflower slopes along highways are pretty bare once they mow off the old, dried bluebonnet stubble in early summer. My advice would be to let the bluebonnets run their course, then gather the seeds just as the pods start to split open. Store the seeds over the summer in a jar or plastic bag (without moisture), either in an air-conditioned part of the house or in the refrigerator. Sow them into an appropriate place in late August or early September. A dedicated bed that receives little heroic soil preparation and that is seldom, if ever, fertilized would be great. As for the clover, once you have the bluebonnet seeds collected, rototill the area before planting the sod. The tilling will eliminate the clover.

Dear Neil: My husband and I want to put down some type of hardscape surface around a red oak tree. How much space should we leave between the trunk and the hard surface?

A: The more you can leave, the better you and the tree will both be but at least 3 or 4 feet out from the trunk. Trees major lateral roots are near the soil surface, and as the tree ages, those roots grow up and out of the soil. Its not due to erosion. Its just that they get large. As they swell, they break the hardscape surfaces. Thats why interlocking concrete pavers and other portable materials are so useful when working around trees.

Dear Neil: Why do the seedlings I start under grow lights for my flower and vegetable gardens end up getting so tall and spindly? They dont survive the transition to outdoor planting? I have lost them all.

A: That breaks my heart when somebody has that kind of experience, and unfortunately, youre not alone. This can be due to a couple of things, and I can best illustrate by telling you how a bedding plant grower will produce his or her plants. They will grow them in absolutely full sunshine, and they will grow them at 60 or 62 degrees. Grow lights provide perhaps five percent that amount of light, so the plants become lanky as they grow toward the light. That is made much worse very rapidly when temperatures are warm they try to grow more rapidly. Youd be better off investing in a small cold frame or, better yet, a home hobby greenhouse or window greenhouse that would give you more light.

Dear Neil: I have a 60-foot hedge that has gaps in it. It is 8 feet tall. Is there any way to prune the plants to get them to fill in?

A: Oh, how I wish I knew what type of plant was involved, also whether plants in the row actually died, or what else might have happened to cause the empty spaces. Sometimes you can find the same type of plant in a large nursery container and plant it into a void to solve the problem. Of course, if the gaps happened because a sprinkler head didnt water that part of the row (to use one example), the new plant would suffer the same fate. There are too many variables for a good answer. Id suggest you take a sharp photo (print, not on phone) to a local independent retail nursery for their suggestions. They can show you the replacement plants for the voids, if that becomes an option.

Continued here:
Bluebonnets do not coexist with turfgrass

They say the grass is always greener on the other side.

Well, mercifully, it is greener at Comerica Park, where the Detroit Tigers are scheduled to play the Kansas City Royals on Opening Day on Monday afternoon (1 p.m., FSD).

While the snow is melting after a brutal Michigan winter and most of us find our front lawns to be brown in color and straw-like in texture, the turf at Comerica looks remarkably green and springy and ready for the first game of the year.

The tarp that has protected the playing field at Comerica since new sod was laid just a couple weeks ago was rolled back this morning, revealing a healthy carpet-like layer of Kentucky bluegrass.

Any lingering doubts about Mondays game being postponed because of a sub-par playing surface were dismissed by Tigers head groundskeeper Heather Nabozny, who doesnt mind watching grass grow.

Its been a tough one this year, said Nabozny, looking over the field from the Tigers dugout. We ran into a lot of weather issues. We had to remove the snow twice the first time, 11 inches and, the next time, 4 before we could even think about grading the field and laying the sod.

Nabozny used giant warmers to thaw the ground so that the sod could be laid. Comerica Parks grass was ripped up in November, before the NHL installed a hockey rink at the stadium for the Winter Festival.

This was the first complete resodding at Comerica since 2007.

So whats left to do before Monday?

Mowing, coloring it up a little bit, fertilizing, said Nabozny, who has been with the Tigers for 15 years. We started to mow today. Weve had the growth covers on it so it started growing a bit.

Read more here:
Tigers declare Comerica Park sod ready for Opening Day

Dear Neil: We have bluebonnets planted and growing in an area where we are going to plant El Toro zoysia sod later this spring. We will wait for the bluebonnets to go dormant before we lay the sod. Will they come up through the grass next spring? Also, how can we eliminate clover that is there before we plant the sod?

A: Wildflowers, and in this case more specifically bluebonnets, do not coexist with turfgrass at all. If you think about where you see bluebonnets growing natively, it's always in an area that has poor soil with little native pasture grass. Bluebonnets succeed in bare areas, but they struggle competing with dense grasses. The highway department plants them in roadside areas that do have grass, but it's not strong, assertive grass like you'd have in a lawn. In fact, you'll notice that many of those wildflower slopes along highways are pretty bare once they mow off the old, dried bluebonnet stubble in early summer. My advice would be to let the bluebonnets run their course, then gather the seeds just as the pods start to split open. Store the seeds over the summer in a jar or plastic bag (without moisture), either in an air-conditioned part of the house or in the refrigerator. Sow them into an appropriate place in late August or early Septemer. A dedicated bed that receives little "heroic" soil preparation and that is seldom, if ever, fertilized would be great. As for the clover, once you have the bluebonnet seeds collected, rototill the area before planting the sod. The tilling will eliminate the clover.

Dear Neil: My husband and I want to put down some type of hardscape surface around a red oak tree. How much space should we leave between the trunk and the hard surface?

A: The more you can leave, the better you and the tree will both be -- but at least 3 or 4 feet out from the trunk. Trees' major lateral roots are near the soil surface, and as the tree ages, those roots grow up and out of the soil. It's not due to erosion. It's just that they get large. As they swell, they break the hardscape surfaces. That's why interlocking concrete pavers and other "portable" materials are so useful when working around trees.

Dear Neil: Why do the seedlings I start under grow lights for my flower and vegetable gardens end up getting so tall and spindly? They don't survive the transition to outdoor planting? I have lost them all.

A: That breaks my heart when somebody has that kind of experience, and unfortunately, you're not alone. This can be due to a couple of things, and I can best illustrate by telling you how a bedding plant grower will produce his or her plants. They will grow them in absolutely full sunshine, and they will grow them at 60 or 62 degrees. Grow lights provide perhaps five percent that amount of light, so the plants become lanky as they "grow toward the light." That is made much worse very rapidly when temperatures are warm -- they try to grow more rapidly. You'd be better off investing in a small cold frame or, better yet, a home hobby greenhouse or window greenhouse that would give you more light.

Dear Neil: I have a 60-foot hedge that has gaps in it. It is 8 feet tall. Is there any way to prune the plants to get them to fill in?

A: Oh, how I wish I knew what type of plant was involved, also whether plants in the row actually died, or what else might have happened to cause the empty spaces. Sometimes you can find the same type of plant in a large nursery container and plant it into a void to solve the problem. Of course, if the gaps happened because a sprinkler head didn't water that part of the row (to use one example), the new plant would suffer the same fate. There are too many variables for a good answer. I'd suggest you take a sharp photo (print, not on phone) to a local independent retail nursery for their suggestions. They can show you the replacement plants for the voids, if that becomes an option.

Dear Neil: We have several acres of wildflowers, and they are the joy of every springtime. Unfortunately, they are now being invaded by the horrible purple thistle. How can I control that plant monster?

A: If you're talking about the tall, coarse-growing thistle with very prickly leaves, you can carefully spray its growth with a broadleafed weedkiller applied individually to each clump. Obviously, any herbicide that kills thistles will also kill desirable wildflowers. They do not differentiate. It's also possible that you are calling the invasive Scabiosa atropurpurea (pincushion flower) a "thistle," although it is not prickly. Again, since it's not a grass, selective spraying with a broadleafed weedkiller before it has developed strong colonies would be your best bet. You may want to talk to your local county Extension office for more precise advice on the invasive plants that might be called thistles in your immediate area. There are many types across the state.

View original post here:
Bluebonnets not friendly with turf grass

While irrigation of lawns accounts for much of the 24 per cent of valley water used for outdoor residential irrigation, this can be reduced for existing lawns and new ones.

Now is the perfect time to feed turf-grass and build up the soil by spreading a one inch layer of organic matter such as Natures Gold, well-rotted manure, or compost over your lawn.

It will decompose to form new, nutrient-rich soil which in turn feeds your lawn all season long.

There wont be the spike of fast growth, needing more water and more mowing, that chemical fertilizers create.

Mulch helps retain moisture. If soil is poor, mulching may be done in fall as well as spring to improve soil faster.

Aeration improves water penetration. If you aerate before mulching the mulch will fill the holes.

By the time you are ready to mow, the mulch will have settled below mower blades.

For more tips on reducing water use on your lawn check http://www.makewaterwork.ca.

Now is a good time to get rid of some lawn not needed for activities.

This will reduce maintenance time (mowing and trimming) as well as reduce your water bill.

Read more:
Steele: Time to focus on the lawn

MILWAUKEE -- Take a look outside and still see some white snow, brown mud and some patches of yellowish grass. But inside Miller Park, a gorgeous green field awaits the Brewers return thanks, in large part, to some new grow lamps.

"The research is really working in our favor at this point and is definitely going to be an asset to us as a grounds department," Brewers Grounds Director Michael Boettcher said.

The brewers bought the grow lamps in Europe over the off-season. They simulate sunshine on sections of the field for 24-hours at a time. That's helped repair some areas that were affected by frost over the winter.

"We are getting some temperatures up, we're feeding the turf a little bit here, slowly," Boettcher said. "Then with the lights, you know it's definitely starting to get ready."

Milwaukee County Golf courses can't say the same thing yet. Fresh snow forced Dean Wilde and his buddies inside Wauwatosa's Currie Park Golf Dome Tuesday.

"It was kind of a let down, because we were looking for warm weather and to get out there and swing the clubs and the courses to open, but no," Wilde said.

County courses hope most of the snow melts away by the end of the week. But grounds crews will then need to clean fairways and greens before anyone can hit the links.

"There's going to be a lot of tree branches down, some leaves from last fall," Parks Golf Turf Manager Jon Canavan said. "We get a blower out, we mow the greens, rake the bunkers up."

Back at Miller Park, the infield rakes were already out and mowers cut their first patterns in the lamp-aided sod. Boettcher couldn't put a dollar figure on how much the heat lamps cost, but he says they're worth the price tag.

"When it comes to putting out a quality field for our quality team we have out here, you know, the investment is still looked at as a good investment for the organization," Boettcher said.

Link:
New grow lamps help crews make Miller Park grass pristine