6 * Orono Weekly Times, Wednesday, September 2nd, 1981 ' VAN BELLE ON GARDENING GARDENING FOR THE WEEK OF AUGUST 24, 1981. Seed lawns now Often the question is asked wheq is the'best time to start a new lawn from seed, in the ; spring-or the fall. The spring is a. good time specially at the end of April and the beginning beginning of May, but the best of all is the next four weeks. The -, days are getting shorter and. the nights are starting to get cooler, and usually at this time of year we have a fair amount of rain and even the ' dew will help to get the seed germinated. Seeds will still have a change to become well established before the first frost sets in. In fact, you will probably be cutting the lawn once or twice before winter. The lawn will be only as good as the soil is in which it is planted. It is a waste of time and money to plant good grass seed into poor soil. It will porbably germinate but will never standup to the heat in the summer and will always have weeds since they do better in por soil than ..grass.1 know that it will cost , more now to get a good seed Abed by irnporving the soil or by adding soil but this is «cheaper tlian to try to improve improve after the lawn is planted. New subdivisions have mainly clay soil dug out of the basement and then put back on the property with a thin layer of topsoil spread over the top. In a case like that, you should remove the subsoil to a depth of at least 6 inches and replace with good top soil to give you a good base to work with. If the soil -is not too bad or is on the sandy side work in lots of humus in the form of peat-' mpss and also manure. The peptmoss will keep the moisture in the soil and the manure will give it a feeding' over a couple of years. It is also wise to spread a bag of fertilizer with a high phosphorus and potash such as 5-20-20 or a 5-10-10, at the rate of 10 lbs. per 1000 square ■ feet. The phophorus and potash contents will strengthen the roots and give the lawn a better start and will , also winter better. Winterizer fertilizer can be ■ used for this purpose since it is allready formulated for fall applications on established lawns and since it is a slow release plant food it will not burn the new grass. Buy a good grade of lawnseed which will come as a mixture of different types of grass seed such as Kentucky Kentucky blue grass, creeping red fuscue and then a nursing grass to help the seed become established. The best way to buy the grass seed is to go to ydur Garden Centre or seed store and ask them what's in the bag. Often the, cheaper the grass seed the coarser the lawn will be. On the other hand do not be misled by buying the most expensive seed such as straight Kentucky Kentucky blue grass, which will make a beautiful lawn, but will require constant attention attention during the season with proper feeding and watering. Grading is very important when planning a lawn. Make sure the grade is away from the house so that no water will collect at the base of the house. Rough grade the area first aftd take a light roller, over the area, and all the low spots and the high and rough spots will show. Then you can still correct them before seeding the lawn. Most garden centre's will» lend'you an applicator free of charge so that.you can get it on evenly. Until next week happy gardening. ^Around Home There are perhaps a couple of other items which we found interesting in our recent recent trip west other than a new grandson, the family and the City of Edmonton, It was our first experience flying CP Skybus which is quite well named. It was not, however, the first occasion to be aboard a 747. Skybus is a no-frill trip and this is not only related in the greatly reduced price but also in other aspects, none the least being the hours of takeoff takeoff and arrival. Tea or coffee replace any meals and champagne that may be a feature of other regular flights. But surely a three and a half hour flight does not require a meal and any passenger can come well prepared by either eating prior'to take-off or carrying a brown paper bag with their own lunch. The hour of take off makes the-trip a little rugged. Leaye Toronto International 10;40 p.m. to arrive Edmonton 02:15 a.Tn. Leave Edmonton 02:00 a.m. to arrive in Toronto Toronto shortly after 7:00 a.m. Both the departure and arrival arrival at Toronto are at the extremes extremes of the flight curfews in that City. Skybus takes off from Toronto with some 460 passengers 1 , arrives in Ed-' monton to dispatch passengers and take on other for a return trip to-Toronto after about an hours layover. layover. We were certainly amazed to arrive at the smaller Edmonton Edmonton airport an hour before take-off, 2;00 a.m., to find the place alive with people. people. 460 passengers just arriving arriving from Toronto, another 460 ready to board for Toronto antbmore than likely an equal number greeting the arrivals or seeing others off on their jouriiey. Travelling by '- mass transportation always provides provides the opportunity to meet new people and on our trip out we sat beside a young lady taking holidays from nursing in Toronto to be with a sister in the west. After a couple of hours of conversation conversation we were reassured that our young people do have a lot of strength, conviction and frontiers are still open to be conquered. Her story of enterting nursing nursing as a profession and where she wanted to extend this profession was interesting as was that of her sister who is entering the ministry. The sister had spent the summer summer in a remote area of northern northern Saskatchewan assisting in an eight-point charge. She was planning to attend University this fall but due to some circumstance the minister was called from the charge and the sister is re maining for a year before continuing with her education. education. The interesting part of the church charge is that of the eight points in the charge none are closer than one hundred hundred miles. What a challenge this must be for a young girl. Another point of interest to me is the fact that everyone always wants to be the first off the plane, to be the first in the line-up for your luggage and the first out the door of the airport. It is as if there isn't even 24 hours in the day. Who really cares at the hours of this flight. But then again that seems to be life . . . there just is never enough time. Just one other thing. We all know how well everyone enjoys a fireworks show and out west a thunderstorm has ' all the highlights of such a show but of course in black and white. It so happens we were at the time staying out in the country and sitting on the raised back porch one was able to scan the horizon 180 degrees. The distance was great with a whole panorama almost nude of trees and those that did appear were in the distance and a part of the horizon. It was land, horizon and sky with no obstructions' to our view. Off in the distance a thunderstorm was brewing with all forms of electrical , fireworks streaking from the Heavens to the earth. Never have we seen such a display for in Ontario your view is generally wiped out with trees and other obstructions; For at least an hour we watched as the storm came closei and closer and the intensity seemed seemed to increase. Yes we did leave our vantage vantage point when the storm neared and the rains came. It was however a spectacular show while it lasted.., 983-5301 :: Monuments and Family Memorials Our quality and service leaves nothing to be desired Ask the person who bought from us, a neighbour, neighbour, friend or relative The Rutter Granite Company 73 Ontario Street, PORT HOPE , Phone Collect V.W. RUTTER . Of f ice 885-5216 Home 885-5222 * IP ts ^ <0, • - DURHAM CENTRAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY s•••••• • •t«COIV/1E TO THEttf t• »•»»< *••••••••••«•• ••••••••••••••••••••••••• ORONO THURSDAY, FRIDAY, SATURDAY, SUNDAY SEPT Thursday Evening Queen of the Fair Contest Fiddlers' Contest Durham County Holstein Show Pony Pull - Heavy & Light Friday Afternoon Public School Parade, -1.30 p.m. Pet Show - Contests School Amateur Talent Show Dairy Cattle Show 4-A Club Day - Fat Calf Show All exhibits on display Friday Evening Cake & Fat Calf Auctions, 6.30 Adult Amateur Talent Contest Tug-O-War Contests Team Drawing Competitions Robertson Shows , i ■all four days Ect Eastman Special Attraction Mon. Sept. 7th commencing 11.00 a.m. Orono Fair Grounds Tractor Pull 8■ Classes ■ 8 Saturday Afternoon Light and Heavy Horse Shows .Beef Cattle Show Orono Businessmen's Trot The Ed Eastman Show All exhibits oh display Saturday Evening ' ïc Castrol Aüto Dare Devils Automotive Fury Dance to the music of , Ed Eastman & Terra .Nova Express Sunday Afternoon Country & Western Jamboree Hynfyers & Jumpers Pigeon Show - Goat Show Harness Horse Racing Pari-Mutual Betting 10 heats of exciting racing The fair features HORSES, CATTLE, GOATS, SHEEP, RABBIT SHOW, POULTRY SHOW, 4-H CLUB and JUNIOR DISPLAYS VEGETABLES, FRUIT, DOMESTIC SCIENCE, PLANTS AND FLOWERS, ART, OLD MacDONALD'S FARM Etc.