In a couple of videos last week I finally got the chance to show you some of the things that have happened during the winter dormancy and I’m not just talking about the status of my winter “Mullet ‘til we Mow”. While I had to hibernate inside for the last few months, my hair has certainly not been dormant. Only a few more weeks until we find out who grew it better, me or Connor…???
In all seriousness though, I’m pretty happy with the look of the lawn at first view here coming out of the snow cover. I do see quite a bit of snow mold evidence on the backyard and some general matting. I went ahead and raked things out paying special attention to the matted areas. You can see in the video below that things are looking better after that but there are some concerns I am always watching closely. There are some larger spots that look like more serious damage has occurred but I’ll know more as things green up and the lawn starts to grow. I still have time to overseed some areas if I have to and I’ll keep you posted on that. If you’re planning on doing any spring seeding, avoid putting down any pre-emergents now as those will prevent your grass seed from germinating.
Also just a quick reminder to try to be gentle with the lawn coming out of the winter season. We are ready to get out on the grass and get to work but if you have soft, squishy or muddy turf right now, limit traffic and avoid putting weight or pressure on it until it dries to avoid creating uneven turf. I’m dealing with some uneven turf in the backyard right now but not from traffic, rather below the surface. The moles wreaked havoc underground back there this winter. We had a few days of nice dry weather so I was able to get the tunnels rolled out. I’ll be watching for any new tunnels that appear so we can address that as the season continues. I don’t have a foolproof recommendation on controlling moles so let’s hope they move away from my yard at this time.
A few days ago I also shared a video from my recent trip to Arizona where I visited Evergreen Turf (or as I’ll be referring to it in the future, winter ryegrass heaven). I want to extend a special thank you to Jimmy Fox for taking the time to meet with me and show me around the sod fields. I could listen to him talk for hours. He has so much great insight and experience to share about warm season Bermuda grasses and about the process of growing, caring for and harvesting sod. They take care of supplying sod for a wide variety of clients in the Arizona area, some of whom you may recognize like the Arizona Cardinals and the Las Vegas Raiders! Being a big sports fan myself, it’s especially awesome to see how all of these pieces come together to create the turf and help it withstand heavy use. I am very grateful to Chase from Turf Merchants for inviting me and setting up this awesome opportunity. Check out the videos below!