Stockpiled snow has finally surrendered to salt and sun. Unfortunately, its retreating has exposed my shaggy dog of a lawn. If only I could send it out for a wash and a blow-dry. Long periods of snow cover can cause a myriad of lawn woes.

Many lawns weren't picture perfect going into winter. Snow is nature's airbrush; it masked the flaws but didn't really improve the lawn's condition. As snow recedes, lawns may show damage from salt, plows, voles and molds.

Salt can cause death of lawn grass or cause severe browning of grass blades, generally near sidewalks and roads. Removing any obvious salt and flushing areas with water may help. However, right now more water can cause other problems. Wait until April and reseed areas.

If plows have scraped off lawn areas, use your best puzzle skills and set sod pieces back into place now. Do a little spring dance to assure good soil contact. Sod should reroot.

A couple species of voles can inhabit your yard. Voles can make runways under the snow in lawns as they feed on grass blades and roots. Voles are well protected under the snow from hawk and owl predators. Voles may have brown to reddish-brown fur and range from 4 to 7 inches long. They have stockier bodies and shorter tails than mice. Damage is frequently mistaken as mole damage, but moles are not active during winter. Vole damage appears as surface runways or winding trails of damaged grass. Damage also occurs when my dog tries to dig out the aforementioned voles.

Once spring arrives, grass will usually grow into and fill in the surface runways; however, severe damage may require some overseeding of lawn grass in April. Voles love tall vegetation; therefore, prevent damage from occurring by continuing to mow lawns to a height of about 2 inches until grass is completely dormant in fall. Also in fall, clean up any excessive vegetation near lawns.

Check out web.extension.illinois.edu/wildlife for more information on voles and other wildlife.

Snow mold damage can also be very visible on lawns as snow recedes in spring, especially if we get a prolonged snow cover on unfrozen soil. Both gray (Typhula blight) and pink (Fusarium patch or Microdochium patch) snow mold may occur. During the wet, cold weather of early spring, snow mold may be highly visible as matted, crusty looking areas. Gray snow mold appears in roughly circular yellow to whitish-gray patches. As conditions dry out, snow mold will gradually go dormant.

Often, just leaves are affected and new grass blades grow as weather warms. Severely infected areas may remain in the form of weak or even dead turf. To repair damage, rake matted grass and reseed or resod as necessary in April.

Snow mold severity varies from year to year. Fungicides are generally not needed. Ways to avoid snow mold problems include: follow sound fertilization programs, use fertilizers containing slow-release or controlled-release nitrogen and manage thatch via aerification or removal with vertical mowing (dethatching).

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Receding snow reveals lawn woes

These waning days of winter make it a wonderful time to begin planting an edible landscape. Consider the existing trees, shrubs and ground covers in your yard and make note. Perhaps some of them can be replaced with plants that will provide food. As a bonus, many landscape edibles not only provide food for humans, but also provide nectar and pollen for important pollinators like bees, hover flies and butterflies. Here are a few ideas:

REMOVE THE LAWN -- The easiest way to get rid of lawn is to rent a sod cutter to remove the grass. A sod cutter is like a large, gas-powered lawn mower except it slices horizontally into the sod. It is quick and efficient. The 1-foot-wide strips, about 1/2 to 1-inch thick, can be rolled up like carpet and taken to the compost pile. Once strips are removed you can till in compost, manures and other soil building materials.

SHEET COMPOST -- No time or energy to cut sod? Try sheet composting. This involves mowing a grassy area as low as possible. Then add a thick layer of newspaper or cardboard as mulch. Next layer on the goodies: first rice straw, then composted manures, compost, shredded leaves, used potting soil. Keep layering on until bed is 18 inches high. Let it rest for six months to a year, then plant.

EDIBLE SHRUBS -- Blueberry bushes cannot be rivaled when it comes to landscaping with edible shrubs. They provide tasty fruit and have visual interest all year long. Huckleberries, bush-type rosemary, such as 'Tuscan Blue,' and artichokes also make good shrub material.

GROUND COVER -- Strawberries make the best ground cover. Traditional large-fruiting varieties, as well as alpine and wild strawberries, are available at local nurseries. There are many types of ground cover rosemary available, also.

FRUIT TREES -- Fruit trees are plentiful at the nurseries now, as bare-root time is here. Apple, cherry, plum and pear all will provide flowers, fruit and plenty of shade. Since most are dwarf and semi-dwarf, these trees will not overpower the yard.

DON'T FORGET COLOR -- There are so many colorful leaf lettuces available these days. A colorful mixture can make a wonderful border or fill a container. Bright yellow, red and orange chards are stunning in containers. A large container full of 'Bright Lights' chard is eye catching and tasty, too.

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Terry Kramer is a trained horticulturist and journalist. She has been writing a garden column for the Times-Standard since 1982. To get in touch with Terry, send an e-mail to style@times-standard.com and put For Terry Kramer in the subject line, or write to Terry Kramer, c/o Times-Standard, P.O. Box 3580, Eureka, CA, 95502.

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NORTH COAST GARDENING: Edible landscapes

By Cathy Mounce, Register Staff Writer The Daily Register Wed Feb 19, 2014, 09:09 AM CST

Gainesville The Gainesville Independent School Board (GISD) convened Monday for the February meeting at which Robert E. Lee Intermediate teacher Ashley Jones was named GISD teacher of the month.

Jones was nominated by Lee principle Dee Dosher who said that Jones innovative approach in teaching English second language students (ESL) has shown a positive increase in fourth grade reading from 8.45 percent to 43.48 percent during the last six weeks.

In other GISD news, Heartland Park & Recreations Mike Hill reported to the board regarding the continuing efforts by the contractor to complete the new baseball field at the high school.

Hill said that the weather has again caused some unforeseen delays but that he anticipates everything ready to go in two weeks.

Gainesville will have a great facility that will serve the community for many years, Hill said.

Two 30 x 40 foot concrete pads on the north side on the concession stand and one on the south side are being poured this week, light poles are being placed, dugout roofs are being finished and the grass sod is being placed in the outfield, he continued. Infield red clay will be added to the infield and bases will be set soon.

Hill said that the sod would need two weeks to root and the players should be kept off it during that time.

This means a completion date of March 3 now, said GISD board president Will Presson. We are looking forward to the completion of this project.

Hill also said that the new bus barn pad is done and once inspected it would be 20 days to construct the new bus building that will be located off Radio Road in Gainesville.

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Jones named GISD teacher of the month

Houston, Texas (PRWEB) February 17, 2014

Fresh Patchmaker of the real-grass, disposable dog pottyoffers some helpful advice about taking care of a dog or puppy Valentine gift. Now that February 14 has passed, the real work begins in helping a Valentine pet successfully adjust to a new home. Unfortunately, pets that are gifts may be returned to shelters and pet stores if this transition process doesnt go smoothly.

The Fresh Patch Company notes that the safety of a new pet needs to be the first concern. Valentines day can leave behind a trail of things that, if eaten or chewed by a dog, can result in harm or death. These include chocolate, other sweets, alcohol, petals of some flowers, thorny rose stems, gift paper, ribbons, and ties. New owners are well-advised to dog-proof their homes, just as parents do for a child. In addition to the dangerous things left from Valentines day, there are year-round hazards, such as loose wires on the floor, which can be easily chewed by dogs. A good way to avoid problems is for owners to put their eyes at dog level and then walk through their homes looking for potential safety hazards, especially for mischievous puppies.

House-training a new Valentine pet, or any new pet, can be a special challenge. According to the Fresh Patch Company, a large percentage of their customers are new dog owners who want to train their pets on real grassnot on synthetic products such as pee pads and fake grass. A Company spokesperson says that dogs will make a natural connection between the real grass in Fresh Patch and the real grass outside the home. That association will make house-training easier. The Company points out that Fresh Patch is made with dirt-free hydroponic grass, which is super absorbent and lighter in weight than regular sod. Most customers who try Fresh Patch for house-training purposes continue their convenient delivery service after the training period ends. The reason is that they can avoid walking their dogs early in the morning, late at night, or in bad weather. In many parts of the country, this winter has been particularly hard on dogs and their owners, says a Fresh Patch Company spokesperson. Fresh Patch is a convenient way to cope with a dogs bathroom needs in snow, ice, and freezing cold, as well as other times when dog walking is not safe or possible.

To learn more about the Fresh Patch company, visit http://www.freshpatch.com.

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Fresh Patch Shares Tips on Caring for Valentine-Gift Dogs and Puppies

FARGO, N.D. Wildlife officials said Friday that a $35 million federal program to conserve wetlands and grasslands in the five-state Prairie Pothole Region is an effort to find new ways to protect native prairie with less money from the government.

The Department of Agriculture's Environmental Quality Incentives Program includes conservation grants, carbon credits and technical assistance for farmers, ranchers and others who volunteer to participate. The federal program targets native prairie considered to be at high risk of conversion to cropland.

"We are at a critical time," Agriculture Undersecretary Robert Bonnie said Friday in announcing the program. "There is significant pressure on grasslands in the Great Plains and we have to be more targeted with the conservation we do."

Prairie potholes are shallow depressions that are wetlands and are commonly found in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa and Montana. The region provides important breeding and nesting habitat for more than 60 percent of the nation's migratory waterfowl. The Dakotas are especially hotbeds for pheasant and duck hunting.

Bonnie said the native grasses in the region provide vital water storage to reduce regional flooding and improve water quality. He said there's also potential to store carbon in soils, which reduces the level of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere.

Eric Lindstrom, government affairs representative for Ducks Unlimited in Bismarck, said a pilot program with similar incentives was held in North Dakota last year. It protected about 24,000 acres of land at a cost of about $3 million.

"Basically we're working to keep the grass sod-side up by offering a new series of incentives," Lindstrom said.

High commodity prices in recent years, along with new varieties of crops such as corn and soybeans that allow planting in less receptive soils, have cut into interest in the Conservation Reserve Program, Bonnie said. The program allows landowners to take marginal cropland out of production for 10 to 15 years.

Many of those contracts are about to expire. In addition, the number of acres in rural CRP land will be ratcheted down from a cap of about 32 million acres in the previous farm bill to 24 million in 2017, as a cost savings measure.

"There are some new programs in the farm bill we think will enhance our efforts here. It gives us a few more tools in the toolbox," Bonnie said. "We want to roll this out now as folks are thinking about operations for the next year."

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Program Provides $35 Million to Help Conservation

DENHAM SPRINGS, LA (WAFB) -

Amanda Toups made her way around her muddy yard Monday afternoon in the newly constructed Quail Creek neighborhood near Denham Springs.

Toups says she received a picture from her husband last Friday showing a Ward 2 Water excavator on her front lawn. Toups says workers told her husband they had to dig up her yard to install water lines for the new house across the street. A big dirt mound was left behind and Toups wanted answers.

"I started to contact Ward 2 and said when are you going to come out and fix this and they said we just have to let nature run its course refusing to give any kind of help," said Toups.

Toups is not alone. There is another yard down the street with a mound of mud left behind. Toups says she continued to call and was eventually referred to Ward 2's head foreman who she says refused to do anything but fill the hole with dirt because the company had right of way.

"I was shocked, mad, upset," said Toups. "It's just not fair that they can come on your personal property do whatever they want, never notify you and not even leave a note on the door explaining what happened."

The damage to Toup's yard is beyond the six foot right away which is why she believes Ward 2 Water should be responsible.

In a phone call, Ward 2 Water Manager Preston Killcrease explained normal procedure is to fill in holes with removed dirt and spread it evenly. Killcrease also vowed to make sure Toups was satisfied.

"We will do anything to please the customer," added Killcrease. "Anything it takes I'm all for it."

Killcrease also requested that we give Toups his cell phone number and after a quick call with him Toups said she was feeling optimistic.

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Livingston Parish resident says water company damaged lawn

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.

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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