SANTA CLARA -- At 80 percent complete, Levi's Stadium is approaching the cosmetic-touches stage, some seven months until the 49ers' official home opener in what's expected to be a Week 2 matchup on "Sunday Night Football."

"We're right about where we expected to be," project executive Jack Hill said Wednesday as he ushered select media on a stadium tour.

Most of the heavy lifting appears done, and now it's as if they're putting lipstick on, well, a newly discovered supermodel.

Six months remain before the stadium hosts its first event: an Aug. 2 soccer game between the San Jose Earthquakes and Seattle Sounders FC.

The 49ers will play two exhibition games there in August before a probable two-week break ahead of its regular-season unveiling. (The NFL schedule typically is released in April.)

Two years after the stadium's groundbreaking, sod will be placed down in April, a strand of Bermuda called "Bandera" that's supposedly "shade tolerant" and able to "rebound quickly." The grass is being grown two hours east in Livingston, which is some 10 miles away from quarterback Colin Kaepernick's childhood home of Turlock.

Also in April, the final seats are expected to be installed, and team and stadium staff will begin moving into offices inside the stadium, which is a mere 13 feet from the 49ers' long-time training facility.

Here are other notes gleaned from the two-hour tour:

That behind-enemy-lines entrance conceivably could happen just for pregame warmups when the teams follow hallways adjacent to elite clubs so fans can see them. Both teams likely will come out through tunnels at opposing corners of the stadium, however, in pregame introductions, team president Paraag Marathe added.

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49ers' new Levi's Stadium making progress

The Los Angeles County district attorney's office is looking into whether thousands of dollars in taxpayer money was misspent on improvements to Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas' home last year, an office spokeswoman said Tuesday.

Newly released records show that a contractor charged the county $6,239 to perform work during a project to install a security system that included replacing interior walls in Ridley-Thomas' converted garage and trenching the property for an electrical upgrade.

The supervisor reimbursed the county $3,759 on Oct. 29 for an air conditioner and heater, a flat-screen television and a refrigerator the crews placed in the garage. Of that amount, $960 was for labor costs for installing the air conditioner and heater, according to the records.

The documents, which The Times obtained from the county under the California Public Records Act, provide the most complete picture yet of the scope and cost of the work in September and October at the supervisor's Leimert Park home.

District attorney's office spokeswoman Jean Guccione said the office's review grew out of a complaint that prosecutors received last month. She declined to elaborate. The Times first reported on the work performed at Ridley-Thomas' home in mid-January.

County supervisors are entitled to home security systems provided by the government, but not to unrelated improvements to their property at taxpayers' expense. Ridley-Thomas has insisted that the work at his home was completely proper and that he reimbursed the county for any items not related to the security system.

The total cost to taxpayers for the job was $10,038, according to Assistant County Counsel Judy Whitehurst.

The records show that the county contractor was given the task of removing wall paneling and drywall from the supervisor's detached garage and installing about 640 square feet of new drywall. The project included adding new baseboards as well as painting all new woodwork. Outside the garage, the contractor was to dig a trench through lawn and concrete from the home's electrical panel to the garage, the records say. The work was to entail planting up to 1,000 square feet of Bermuda grass sod. The records did not detail how much of the work was done.

The documents describe the project as a "security measure." The county redacted from the records descriptions of an additional $436 in work by the contractor, apparently because it was related to the security system. The name of the contractor was also withheld.

John Thompson, the county project manager who oversaw the work, previously told The Times that the trench was dug to bury conduit as part of electrical upgrades to make more power available to the garage.

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D.A. probes work on Ridley-Thomas' garage

A Lifetime Lawn is a healthy lawn. Its an environmentally-friendly investment in the beauty of your home and neighborhood. A Lifetime Lawn is soothing and welcoming.

Lifetime Lawns are grown with Zoysia, Bermuda, or Centipede grasses - all vigorous turfgrasses. They are established by sod, and in the case of Zenith Zoysia and TifBlair Centipede, by sod or seed. Once established, they will last a lifetime, requiring minimal maintenance for a healthy and beautiful appearance.

With 5 farms and 11 outlet stores in Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina, Super-Sod can provide you with unmatched availability and selection of grasses. We have three Atlanta sod outlet locations and locations in the major southeastern cities such as Jacksonville, Florida; Perry and Valdosta, Georgia; Charlotte, Greensboro, Hendersonville, and Raleigh, North Carolina; and Columbia, South Carolina. We ship throughtout Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and North Florida. Visit our Outlet Locator for maps and details.

We supply sod and seed for installations both large and small: from delivering tractor-trailer loads of TifGrand Bermuda turfgrass to golf courses, sports fields, and large construction sites, to loading a DIY homeowners pick-up truck with their needed square footage of Zenith Zoysia at a Super-Sod Outlet, to shipping a 1 lb. bag of TifBlair Centipede seed from our on-line seed store.

We are constantly improving our sod farming and landscaping practices (for instance with our Soil3 organic compost). Likewise with our service to and products for our customers. Here's a video on our new automated sod harvesters that harvest superior rolls of sod for both landscapers and homeowners.

It is important that you select the right Lifetime Lawn, the one that is best suited for your use, lifestyle, aesthetic sense, climate, and budget.Super-Sod grows all the warm-season and cool-season turfgrasses adapted to the Southeast. We are pleased to assist you in making the best selection.

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Turfgrass, Sod, Zoysia, Bermuda, Centipede, Sales, Atlanta ...

Lloy Ball (left) won a gold medal in 2008 with the U.S. volleyball team. Sharon Wichman-Jones (right) won gold and bronze medals in swimming in 1968.

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) As the Winter Games get underway in Sochi, Russia, two gold medalists in northeast Indiana share their thoughts and memories of the Olympics.

Lloy Ball has gone to four Olympics with the U.S. volleyball team and they took home the gold in 2008. As people from around the world now gather in Sochi, complaints about accommodations have been common.

Ican tell you first-hand , its never great. Its never the Hilton when you go to the Olympics, Ball said.

He said it also isnt uncommon for some facilities to be not quite finished.

When we walked into Olympic Village in Athens, they were still rolling out the sod. The grass wasnt all in yet. Our bathrooms were not done. We had to share a shower for a week until they got it ready, Ball said.

Ball also lived and played in Russia for six years. He was happy to see Sochi get the games.

This is a chance for Russia to showcase being able to hold a big event, he said. Ishook Mr. Putins hand and he wouldnt put the Olympics in Sochi if he didnt think he could protect our athletes and his own athletes.

Heighten security and growing safety concerns have been making headlines leading up to the games.

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Northeast Indiana gold medalists react to Sochi

Del Mar's new turf course is expected to help lure a future Breeders' Cup.

DEL MAR If you think putting in a new turf course at a race track is as simple as watching grass grow, well, you dont know worms about turf.

For an understanding of how involved it is to put in a new grass course for 1,200-pound race horses at Del Mar, know this: It all started Oct. 1, 2012 when sprigs of Greg Norman 1 (GN1) Bermuda grass were planted on a sandy, 12-acre plot in Coachella Valley.

Now February, 2014, that grass is mature and more than ready to be cut, rolled and transported to where the new and improved turf will meet the surf at Del Mar. For nearly a year and a half, the Pacific Sod Company has followed a stringent growing and maintenance plan developed by Del Mar to grow the new turf course.

Thats almost a year and a half of growing, which is unheard of (for a project like Del Mars), said Leif Dickinson, turf and landscape superintendent at Del Mar. It was costly to do, and we dont have NFL money here. But what we have is turf that is as strong as we can make it. That was the key. Grow strong turf and grow it for as long as possible. Its in very good shape. Its ready to go.

Dickinson said the original plan to roll out Del Mars new grass was delayed by more than a month because of soft ground discovered along the backstretch. The plan called for the turf to be put in by early January. The old turf course was installed in 1959-60 for the 1960 summer meeting. It had 53 meetings run on it before it was dug out last fall. It had hidden challenges.

A lot of areas had to be dug out, said Dickinson, who installed Santa Anitas present downhill turf course in 1996. We found soft spots that were difficult to compact. Were at sea level or below here. If you dig down too far, the way it was described to me, its kind of like a cookie on top of a milkshake. If you break through the cookie, theres nothing left below but milkshake. Weve had to re-form the cookie in some areas that needed it. It had to be re-compacted and sealed.

Dickinson said the target date for installing the new grass and sod has been pushed back to Feb. 21 or thereabouts. He said even if the turf doesnt go in until early March, the course will be ready for the Del Mar summer meeting that goes from mid-July to September.

With our climate, well be OK with the latter part of February or even the first part of March (for placing the new turf), Dickinson said. Thats when things actually start to grow here anyway. Its not a deal breaker. Were just anxious to get it down.

When Del Mar opens in July, its tracks will sport vastly different looks and its turf will be treated very differently. The turf course will be wider, making it more attractive for a future Breeders Cup because the turf course will handle 14 horses instead of the 12 in previous years. Del Mar remains in ramped up discussions with Breeders Cup officials who want to bring the games national championships, two days of Grade I racing in early November, to Del Mar, possibly as early as next year and certainly by 2016.

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Del Mar: Where new turf will meet the surf

Feb 3: California drought: Biggest rainfall of 2014 soaks Bay Area Jan 31: California drought: State Water Project will deliver no water this summer Gov. Brown says flush less as California struggles with drought Drought shakes off winter for perilous early spring Jan 30: Obama pledges support amid California drought California wine industry reports robust 2013, but worries loom about drought Drizzle brings hope to thirsty California but does nothing to deter drought Jan 29: Bay Area wakes up to drizzle as light rain appears for first time in more than a month Zone 7 Water Agency seeks 20 percent voluntary water reduction from customers Jan 28: California drought: 17 communities could run out of water within 60 to 120 days, state says Jan 27: Water oak trees if needed, but not too much Rain expected this week won't put dent in the drought, forecasters say Gold prospectors take advantage of California drought California drought: Bay Area water districts start asking urban residents to conserve Jan 26: After decades of payments, EBMUD may finally use its emergency water supply Jan 25: California drought: Past dry periods have lasted more than 200 years, scientists say Jan 23: Around Dublin: Do your part now to get ahead of drought Jan 22: Drought: California is a red state, if you're talking weather Jan 21: California drought: Tips for conserving water Jan 18: Snow makers rescue big Sierra resorts as drought bakes smaller ones Jan 17: Governor Jerry Brown declares drought: Social media reaction Document: Gov. Jerry Brown's declaration of drought emergency Brown declares California drought emergency California drought: Three more months of dry weather likely, National Weather Service announces Jan 16: Drought declared a natural disaster in California, 10 other states Jan 14: Drought imperils California salmon, steelhead California drought: What's causing it? Jan 10: Despite California drought, chances for water bond are evaporating Jan 8: Timm Herdt: Learning to adapt to droughts Jan 3: Barnidge: California droughts aren't nearly as scary as they used to be Dec 29: California drought deepens as another year's rains stay away

When Susan Stompe of Novato finishes a load of laundry, she flips a switch and the leftover water is pumped to a drip system that irrigates her garden of multiflora, tea, climbing and miniature roses, wasting not a drop.

Stompe isn't the only Marin resident who has come up with innovative ways to save water that go beyond ordinary devices such as low-flow toilets. As drought engulfs Marin and water rationing looms, there's much to learn from Stompe and others like her.

While people in the county are conservation-minded anyway, an unprecedented drought has made saving water even more important. Water rationing requiring a 25 percent cut will be imposed on most Marin residents April 1, unless the heavens open in the interim, Krishna Kumar, head of the Marin Municipal Water District, said last week.

Stompe, who is on the Marin Conservation League board of directors and well-known for her environmental activities, didn't need an outside mandate to start saving water. She and her husband Brian have had their washing machine system in place for two years now.

"The other thing we do is to take baths instead of showers, and we water our trees with the bath water," Stompe said. "We have a tube that comes out of our upstairs and goes down to the back yard." Lightly used water like bath water is also known as "graywater."

Stompe's setup was simple and easy to create, she said.

"It's not out of the reach of most people. It's low-tech and not expensive," Stompe said. "The tube attaches to a brick that is in an old sock, so it doesn't scratch the tub," Stompe said.

The brick holds the tube underwater, and Stompe and her husband use a hand pump to get the water flowing into the tube.

"We measured to see how long the tube would have to be, then went to the hardware store and got the tube and a pump. Just a couple of pumps and the water gets going, and you set the pump aside to let the siphon do its thing. The entire setup cost less than $100," Stompe said.

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North Bay homeowners slash water usage through creative conservation

Miami park --> Feb. 01 --Say goodbye to the old, but not exactly revered, Coconut Grove Exhibition Center. The now-obsolete hall where Doors frontman Jim Morrison once (allegedly) publicly wagged what should remain private is coming down. Fast. Now say hello to our new little friend: Regatta Park , 12 acres of long-promised bayfront green space in the place where the last remaining sections of the exhibition center are now being reduced to rubble by demolition crews. It could be a significant addition to Miami's undernourished parks system -- if the cash-strapped city can figure out exactly what to put there, and then how to pay for it. Here's the dilemma: The new park, part of the so-called Sasaki Plan that was developed in 2008 to revamp the Grove's cluttered waterfront, would cost around $26 million to build as conceived, with a new pier, a grassy amphitheater, a new baywalk and a thick planting of trees. The amount the city has for the job? A mere $2 million . City officials say that's just about enough to install a watering system and some electrical connections, then cover the whole thing with nice sod, and maybe a few trees and furnishings. At least for now, that's what the new park will have to be, said Miami Commissioner Marc Sarnoff , a principal backer of the Sasaki Plan whose district includes the Grove. "My vision for it is the world's greatest field,'' Sarnoff said, somewhat tongue-in-cheek. "It will be open space with the best grass we can grow.'' The city still hopes eventually to build a full-fledged park. City planners are holding a series of public meetings to solicit ideas for park features and uses, though they say they can't say when or if anything beyond the stripped-down park would be built. "Right now, we don't have any answers,'' deputy planning director Cesar Garcia-Pons told a packed house at Miami City Hall last week during the first of three planned meetings. It's not the first time the city has had to scale back its ambitions for a new park because of fiscal constraints. Last year, an elaborate plan for a new Museum Park to accompany the new art and science museums downtown was scrapped for the time being. Instead, the park area at the foot of the newly opened Perez Art Museum of Miami , like Regatta Park , will consist of grass, trees and pathways. The ill-defined Regatta Park idea has upset some skeptical Grove residents, including some who say the city was too quick to demolish the exhibition center, until recently used to film interiors for the cable TV series Burn Notice, and which might have attracted other film work. The park launch also comes on the heels of a controversial citywide referendum in which voters easily approved a proposal -- furiously opposed by many Grovites -- to replace the adjacent Scotty's Landing, a popular rustic watering hole, and the landmark Chart House restaurant with glitzy new dining spots. Many remain angry at Sarnoff, who backed the plan, and suspicious of his motives. On an easel on which city planners asked attendees to write down suggestions, one demanded a "guarantee'' to rebut rumors that the land would be developed or fenced off for the private use of residents of new luxury condos going up across South Bayshore Drive -- something city officials say they have never contemplated. At least some attendees were willing to give the city credit for laying out the financial circumstances and seeking public input for the park. "I have to support that,'' said Grove activist Hadley Williams . "From that aspect, it's very positive.'' The keep-it-simple park idea actually sits right with some Grove residents concerned about commercialization of the historic village's waterfront and the current lack of easy access to the water for pedestrians and boaters. Several said the new park offers the city a chance to open up access to the shoreline, and called for an inviting, pedestrian-friendly space animated with a new dock and kayak and paddleboard rentals. "If you do that, you would see an explosion of rowers, kayakers and paddleboarders,'' said Andy Parrish , a longtime activist and small developer in the Grove. At very least, Sarnoff said, the new park would fulfill a key mandate of the Sasaki Plan, named after the renown landscape architecture firm that designed it after extensive public consultation: to open up bay vistas long blocked by the bulky exhibition center, and provide a green link between City Hall and Peacock and Myers parks directly to the south. It would provide another amenity that inspired the park's name -- to serve as staging area for the big sailing regattas held along the Grove waterfront, home to several sailing clubs and an Olympic training site, the U.S. Sailing Center. Unbeknownst to many Miamians, it's the main hot spot in the nation for winter sailing competitions, with some of the biggest regattas in the world taking place just offshore. The overflow of boat trailers drawn to the regattas now takes up a portion of the exhibition center parking lot, most of which will temporarily remain, as well as a swale bordering the popular running and cycling trail that runs along the east side of Bayshore Drive . But that swale space will disappear with upcoming plans to renovate and widen the trail, Sarnoff said. Another element of the Sasaki Plan calls for consolidating the U.S. Sailing Center and the Coconut Grove Sailing Club , now located to the south, in a modern facility at Regatta Park , though city officials say that's unlikely to happen anytime soon. But sailing advocates asked the city that, whatever they do at that spot, they remember to leave enough wide-open grassy space to accommodate them. "We are known as the best regatta launching place in the world,'' said Mark Kamilar , from the U.S. Sailing Center. "But it takes a tremendous amount of space.'' ___ (c)2014 The Miami Herald Visit The Miami Herald at http://www.miamiherald.com Distributed by MCT Information Services

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Out with old, in with new Miami park

Just how poor of condition are San Diego's parks in? Poor enough for the City of San Diego to be named in two unrelated lawsuits in the span of one month, both over improper maintenance and shoddy sod conditions.

The most recent legal complaint was filed on September 4 by attorneys representing San Diego Unified School District.

The district was filed on behalf of LaToya Smedley, a noon duty assistant at Porter Elementary School in Lincoln Park. Smedley injured herself while walking on a wet and ruddy field.

The park, according to the complaint was "negligently, carelessly, and recklessly owned, entrusted, maintained, repaired, used and controlled said grass field and property that they caused and allowed it to be in a dangerous and defective condition, thereby causing employee to be injured when her feet suddenly and unexpectedly sunk into wet and muddy grass, causing her feet to stick in the mud and her body to twist on defendants' premises."

The City "should have known of the dangerous and defective condition of their property and should have foreseen the danger to members of the public including the employee."

A similar lawsuit over poorly maintained park space was filed on August 27. In that complaint, a man injured his leg after stepping into a gopher hole at Robb Field in Ocean Beach. Gopher infestation at the field, according to the lawsuit and media accounts, has been a hot topic for residents and park goers.

In the most recent case, attorneys for San Diego Unified are asking the City to cover all workers compensation claims as well as any additional damages.

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/news-ticker/2013/aug/29/man-sues-the-city-over-gopher-infestation-at-robb-/

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That makes two lawsuit in less than a month.

Propagation Trays - Celled Trays | Plug trays | nursery propagation | seeder trays
Plugs in horticulture are small-sized seedlings grown in trays from expanded polystyrene or polythene filled usually with a peat or compost substrate. This t...

By: Rajesh Potdar

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Propagation Trays - Celled Trays | Plug trays | nursery propagation | seeder trays - Video

Contributed photo Look for products containing only Pendimethalin to control crab grass.

Dear Neil: Several of your columns over the past couple of years have suggested Halts or Dimension for crab grass and grassbur control. I have found Halts, but online there appear to be several types of Halts. What would you recommend?

A: I think you are seeing the same Halts product (Pendimethalin), but combined with different types of fertilizers. I am not a big advocate of weed-and-feed combination products. Its my opinion that the two processes need to be done separately because the timing is different. You need to apply pre-emergent herbicides earlier than the first lawn feeding. You should be able to find the Halts by itself, without fertilizer added in. Dimension products are widely available through local independent retail garden centers, so they are another option. Those stores should be getting their early spring supplies in very soon.

Dear Neil: I have an oak with a cavity. Can I use some type of wood filler to fill it and even the surface out?

A: Certified arborists advise against that. Filling cavities adds no strength to the trees trunk, and it encapsulates any decay that might be present. Youre really better off just allowing the tree to form new bark across the open wound. If you see a roll of bark forming uniformly across the opening, youre on your way. If it is not forming, and if the decay seems to be getting worse, you need to call a certified arborist for an on-site inspection.

Dear Neil: My creeping fig has frozen and turned brown. I can see green underneath. How can I get rid of the ugly brown growth on top?

A: Im assuming that youre talking about fig ivy that is growing against a flat wall, and Im also assuming that the green that youre seeing underneath is beneath all of the clinging runners. If so, you could take a stout push broom and try brushing the vines. The dead leaves might pull loose from the action and fall to the ground. You could even brush across them gently with a large scrub brush to see if that would help. Dont apply enough pressure to pull the vines off the wall. And the good news is that even if you decide to do nothing, the green leaves will quickly conceal the browned stubble starting in late winter. This wont be a problem in six to eight weeks.

Dear Neil: My El Toro zoysia has thinned in patches due to extreme water restrictions and heat. Could I overseed the bare areas with Bermuda? Would the two be compatible? What suggestions do you have?

A: Do not plant Bermuda seed. You dont want two grasses growing in the same space. It never works out, because they always behave and look very differently. If you want Bermuda, you would want to remove the zoysia either with a shovel or sod cutter, or by applying glyphosate herbicide once it has greened up and is growing. Then you could rototill the soil and plant either sod or seed of whatever Bermuda variety you wanted. But I would not recommend that. Its a ton of work, and El Toro is a handsome lawngrass. If I had your lawn, once water restrictions were lessened and if I could see my way clear to reasonable waterings, I would dig plugs from my El Toro and plant them into the bare areas. That way youd be sure of a match.

Dear Neil: I have five very large redtip photinias. I need to cut them way back because theyre encroaching on my driveway. When and how do I do that?

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Weed, feed processes need to be done separately because timing is different