816-Lancast»r Finning, Saturday, March 16, 1996 All Gardens Great &Sn by York Co. Horticultural Ai Tom Becker Selecting Seed For Spring Lawn Seeding YORK (York Co.) Spring is just around the comer and with it an abundance of advertisements for lawn, landscaping, and garden products hitting the newspapers and Sunday magazines. Some homeowners will be wanting to plant some grass seed this spring. Although grass seedings usually turn out better when done in the fall there are occasions when spring seedings are necessary such as with new construction or repair of areas damaged the previous year that were not taken care of in the fall. The key to successful spring grass seeding is to get it done as early as the weather and soil con ditions permit so that the grass can get up and growing before the negative effects of hot and dry weather and weed competition take place. Proper soil prepara tion, soil amendments, seeding Thanks fir Congratulations To HAKNISH BROS. Washington Boro, PA KING CONSTRUCTION CO. ■ 601 Overly Grove Rd., New Holland, PA 17557 Custom Design And Construction 0f... . nr fsrzA Dairy Barns, Heifer Facilities, 717-004-4740 Horse Barns, Equipment Sheds, Etc. Phil Van Lieu Home: 717-259-9077 Authorized Dealer For Keystone Waffle Slats [d) f®) E (F* H @ f=J Waffle Slats by Lr ITU LS J '2) LEa ■jriYSTONE ? ’gA J ,_ B “?!? CONCRETE WALLS, INC. Iwpsoouctc' .mmexh. 601 Overly Grove Road | N©W Holland, PA 17557 477 East Farmersvllle Rd. , x 717-355-0726 7857 <W> and mulching should be done in order to increase the odds of success. Assuming all the preparation is done properly and a good stand of grass is establsihed, the key to long term success goes back to the selection of a good high quality seed product. While there are many good seed products to choose from them are also many poor one that can be found on store shelves that arc very appeal ing because of the low price. In addition there can be products that are quite inferior that ate adver tised in such a way that one would think of it as a miracle product To further try to convince the con sumer that the product is some thing special they price it extreme ly high. The key is to find out what the actual contents of the seed mixture consists of. In a store this would be found on a tag on the box or on a bulk bin. For mail order products you will probably have to call the company to get this information ahead of time. When checking on the contents of the seed product, remember to check that the germination dale is current Check the percentage of viable seed, the amount of inert material, other crop seed and whether or not it contains any nox ious weed seeds. Read on the tag what type of grass (species) are contained. Be sure it contains the type of grass that is adapted to the conditions you will be growing it under. Check what the names of the varieties are. Chances are if the variety name is not stated, the performance of the grass will be inferior to other improved, named varieties. It has been said that there will always be a market for poor qual ity grass seed. If you are looking for something that will keep the dust down there are grass seed products available to meet that need. If you are more interested in a long lasting, better looking grass with fewer problems there are pro ducts available for that also. Be an informed consumer before you buy. Ask questions. Read seed tags. Don’t take brand name repu tation for a guarantee of quality. Information on selecting grass seed is available from the Cooperative Extension office. Call (717) 840-7408 and ask for the Extension circular numbers 391 Turf grass Seed and Seed Mixtures and 395 Turfgrass Species For Pennsylvania. Ida’s Notebook Ida Risser Our youngest daughter and her family have lived in Texas almost three yean. We’ve finally decided to fly down and visit them. Two of our other children offered to take us to the Philadelphia Airport and then pick us up six days later. We really appreciate their volunteer ing. Now I must decide whether we should take winter or spring clothes. And, we must make ar rangements for someone to get our mail and feed the cats and gold fish. I’m hoping my plants won’t get too thinty as the sun shines brightly in at the two big bay win dows. It is so easy to get into a routine of daily living and not particularly look forward to an upheaval. But, I know that a pleasant visit will be planned for us. Even seeing the one-year-old grandson again should be an incentive to travel. This winter I’ve enjoyed read i ;; # * \. %. ' ■*v ing some short stories by well known authors. Now I have start ed a book written by Peari Buck in 1936.1 think it should be as inter esting now as when it was written. It tells about her mother’s life in China. When I look through the new garden catalogs. I find too many things that I’d like to try. Maybe I’ll try round zucchinis as I had none last year. Some years I have a big crop of leeks and other years I do not even plant any. However, flowers are my weak ness as I could order a dozen kinds without even trying. So far my hollyhocks have not done very well for me as I only have a few. This year I want to try straw flow ers and statice again as it has been years since I raised them. I’m also planning to plant more dwarf varieties of zinnias, snap dragons and cosmos. In our soil they grow too taU and they have to be staked. New 76'x72' 4' Row Slated Tree Stall Barn with Deep Manure Pit, Concrete "H" Bunks. Also Renovated Existing Barn to Concrete Slats with Gravity Gutters V 'H'i
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