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Garden Preparation in this Rainy June
Submitted by Shelley on Sun, 06/20/2010 - 9:03am.
FERTILIZATION      
            It’s time for the second fertilization of the season IF you have been using 22-2-10 Pro Gold or 22-2-10 Plus Pro Gold Plus. If you are not planning on irrigating this summer, I would not fertilize right now. No water, no microbial activity; no microbial activity, no growth…. Save the money. Unless it decides to rain until next March.
           
LIME    
            Leave this until Fall unless it keeps raining, raining, raining through June. Your guess is as good as mine!!   Lime requires copious amounts of water to work itself into the clays we have here. An irrigation system just will not make the grade for this. Two applications per year, BOTH during the rainy seasons; spring and fall… See the September 2009 Outlook!!        
           
SEEDING AND OVERSEEDING        
            If you have an irrigation system or have a way to keep the seeded area constantly moist, now is a great time to get this job done. Don’t wait until October. The longer you can have the lawn rooting and maturing, the better it will do over the winter.
Pacific Crest Seeds: Sun, Sun Shade, & Shade Mixes in 3#, 10#, 25# & 50# bags and a selection of new spreading, self repairing Rye’s (sun) and Fescue’s (shade).
 
PREEMERGENT APPLICATION ON BEDS     
Big Money saver IF done right and timing is the biggest factor.  Hand weeding is very expensive and very time consuming. This can still be done this month to save you money, but the weeds will have to be sprayed with Glyfosate (Roundup) to clean the area first then the pre-emergent.  
            From personal experience: “I was out putting on pre-emergent on my flower beds in the back yard when my wife called to me: Howard, What are you doing? I answered I’m putting stuff down for the weeds! To which she promptly answered: BUT, HOWARD YOU DON’T HAVE ANY WEEDS!!! Precisely dear, precisely.”
 
IRRIGATION SYSTEMS
             This is a great time to start up your irrigation systems and check the sprinkler heads and their coverage to insure no dry spots during the summer (if we ever get a summer!). If you adjust your sprinkler heads, you will need to add a wetting agent, like RESPOND 3G (Golf Course grade) on those dry spots to keep them green.
 
 
 
 
JUNE ADDENDUM
September 2009 Outlook
 
 IS LIMING IMPORTANT ?
 
 
     Without getting into too much detail, the simple answer is YES here in the Northwest! We are sitting on a bed of CLAY!!! But, as you will see below, it may take time to get the desired results. 
Data:
1) To change a clay/loam soil from  4.0 pH to 6.5 pH you need to put on 230 pounds on lime per 1,000 square feet.    2) To change a clay/loam soil from 5.0 pH to 6.5 pH you need to put on 150 pounds on lime per 1,000 square feet.    
3) To change a clay/loam soil from 6.0 pH to 6.5 pH you need to put on 55 pounds on lime per 1,000 square feet.   
 
     In the first scenario (pH of 4 to 6.5), it will take just under 10 applications of 25 pounds per 1,000 square feet (maximum recommended rate) to get the result needed, and that is not including the acidifying effects of the rain and fertilizers that continue acidifying your lawn area over this same time frame.   Ten applications at this maximum rate is 5 years. The maximum topical dosage is: 25# per 1,000 ft. sq. twice per year in Spring and Fall with rains. It is imperative to know your present soil pH, and that can only be done by a soil test. There are inexpensive (but not too accurate) soil pH test kits at places like Lowe’s and Home Depot which may get a ‘ball park’ figure. Do the test several times and average it out.
     There are other considerations to take into account such as; liming and applying Ferrous sulfate (for moss control in spring) at the same time. This would be counter productive in that the sulfate in the ferrous sulfate will combine with water to produce sulfuric acid which is acidifying the soil. Both at the same time could nullify the effect of the lime. Waiting a period of time in between applications would be wise. Perhaps 3 – 4 weeks.
     In passing, it is also necessary to understand the effect of soil pH on fertilizer nutrient uptake. At a pH of 4.5, over 70% of the fertilizer applied is lost and wasted. As one approaches 6.0 pH, only 19% is lost and wasted. This has a dramatic effect on the cost of keeping your lawn looking its best.
      All of this is assuming that you are not in one of those small pockets that actually have soil and if you are, you are one of the chosen few!!!!! 
 
(source: Western Fertilizer Handbook; California Fertilizer Association, 1995)