Different methods of
possible to regenerate lawn

YOU SPEND the whole year watering, feeding, cutting,
de-thatching, _ aerating, fighting moss and weeds,

accompanied the sub-zero
temperatures, would have received

even more Careaer.
Warmers weather and a shot of

fertilizex will quickly produce n-w,

green growth and give you the im-
pression that the problem is solv-
ed. Not so. The dried out blades
will fall to the ground, adding
copious amounts of thatch to the
layer already presen!

Thatch 1 eagles the lawn,
reduces its efficiency in the ab-
sorption of fertilizers and water
during summer, and offezs an ideal
home for diseases and moss. It
must be removed if you are to have
a decent looking lawn.

The most common way to
remove thatch is with a power-
rake. You can either rent one and
do this back-breaking job yourself
or pay through the nose and have
someone else do it. Of course you
can also amuse yourse!f with a
garden rake.

For you rotary mower owners,
there is a device known as a roto-
rake bar which, when attached in
place of your mower blade can do
a reasonable job on a level lawn.

One of the problems with this
and other mechanical methods of
thatch removal is our wet soils.
These machines can rip out chunks
of earth and sod if it is still too wet
and soft.

To complicate matters, waiting
too long will run you into hot

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weather which can cause damage
to the turf’s root system after it
has been exposed by de-thatching.
Then along comes Sudbury's
new D-Thatch. If it works as well
as it claims, it will eliminate all of
this hard work. Its organic en-

over the
garden gate

Geoff Tobiasson

zymes break thatch down in much
the same manner as they do in the
composting process.

This liquid product i is applied as
a diluted spray through cither tank
or hose-end sprayers. Sudbury
recommends one application per

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year with the exception of the first,
when a second spraying should
follow the first by six to cight
weeks.

The recent deep-freeze can
thankfully be considered as an ab-
normal winter condition and
therefore the damage should not
be expected to occur every year.

There are, however, certain
characteristics of the coastal
regions of the Pacific Northwest
that can cause damage to our
lawms each and every year.

Did you ever notice how wet it
gets around here? I don’t mean the

day out downpours that make you
think you are living under the
ocean not next to it.

Hf you are one of the lucky ones
with good drainage, excess
water will quickly disappear —
taking last year’s carefully applied
nutrients and calcium (lime) with
it.

If,on the other hand, your soil
behaves more like a sponge than a

becomes

Doyt set®  ahivt oat

While both of the above situa-
tions result in thin, unhealthy
looking lawns, the causes and the
cures are entirely different.

Extreme situations will require
extreme solutions: tearing up the
lawn and conditioning the soi! with
organic amendments such as peat,
in the first instance and sand in the
second. In addition, a drainage
system will be required i in cases of

reapplication of dolomite lime and
a high nitrogen fertilizer to replace
those iost through leaching.

Poorly drained sites also require
dolomite lime because of the acid
nature of wet soils. These areas are
also more susceptible to invasion
by moss and additional applica-
tions of iron sulphate in the form
of moss killer will be necessary.

After solving all of these prob-
lems, you will have a luxurious
lawn once more. Then along comes
the summer vacation, you are out
of town, the weather gets abnor-
mally hot, your neighbor forgets to
water your lawn, and presto,

yellow grass.

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