Is your lawn ready for summer? Summer is hard on your lawn - even when you water it regularly
Help your lawn survive the heat and stress by following these tips:
photo by gary McKinstry
Aerate: Punch holes in the lawn with a gardening fork or a powered aerator.
The
GreenHouse By JULIE NIXON
This relieves soil compaction, improving water and air movement into the soil, which increases rooting and greatly improves grass health. De-thatch: The layer of organic matter that forms between the blades of grass and the soil may not all decompose. This robs grass roots of oxygen and water needed for healthy growth. Call a lawn care professional to remove thatch. Amend the soil: Aerate, then rake a top dressing of sandy loam or compost evenly over the grass, and let settle. Stop brush cuts: Mow grass using a sharp blade 50 to 65 mm (2 - 2.5 inches) high. Don’t mow if it is very dry or wet. Grass clippings add vital nutrients back into the soil.
For more information? Call 250.474.9684 www.crd.bc.ca/water
If you teach kids about the great outdoors, and give them lots of time to play in it, they’ll shape a world that
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honours what is wild.
This past February, changes that had been made to the Oxford Junior Dictionary made major news headlines. Oxford University Press had dropped a range of nature words like minnow, nectarine, buttercup, raven and blackberry. Technology-related terms like MP3 player, voicemail and blog were added, as were biodegradable and endangered. But the modifications left respected naturalists like Robert Bateman shaking their heads. “This move will only help to alienate children from their wild neighbours. It’s taking a step in the totally wrong direction,” said Bateman through Get To Know Your Wild Neighbours, a program he started that connects children with nature. “If kids don’t know the name of something, they won’t care about it or think about it.”
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