Thanks AgTalk very interesting Topdressing info

Viewing a thread - Top Dressing dry fertilizer on corn ?s - AgTalk ...
Buck... how much N did you put down initially. Gonna try topdressing some but wondering how much compared to what i already spread.
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For more info check us out at Topdressing.biz Topodressing.biz

Healthy Living: Tips For Growing An Organic Garden & Lawn Of Your Own

When the winter chill is out of the air and spring starts to settle in, a lot of people out there break out their shovels and plows and decide to plant a garden. If you want to plant a garden this year, why not make it an organic garden? Here are some fantastic tips you can use to make sure that your garden grows.

If organic gardening is something that you are interested in, make sure you do your research. There are so many resources available in print and also on the internet. Find out what you need to get started in your organic gardening ventures. It can be fun and rewarding in the end.

Use compost to feed your crops. In organic gardening, compost is necessary for the survival of your plants. A home compost pile is a great, inexpensive source of compost. Many food scraps, grass, and dry leaves can be used in your compost. However, avoid cooked foods, ash, and animal waste in an organic compost pile.

Aeration

Variety makes for a better compost pile. By using a wide variety of materials in your compost pile, you are providing a better pH balance, more nutrients and microbial organisms. Shred materials when possible, as smaller particles decompose much faster, but having a few larger materials in there helps to improve the aeration. For the best results, don't add any more materials once the composting process has begun.

It's all about the compost in an organic garden. Good compost will help improve the soil's structure, aeration, and texture, while also helping to increase the soil's capacity for holding a lot of water. Compost can also help better promote soil fertility, along with helping to stimulate healthier root development.

Mix your soil with a high quality, organic compost. With compost, your soil becomes a better quality, gaining structure, texture, and even aeration. You will also find that the water capacity increases, which is going to produce stronger plants with bigger and healthier blooms, and much healthier root systems.

Compost

Get the best soil possible. You will be able to grow a variety of plants if you amend your soil to a good pH level. This can easily be done by getting a test kit. If you find that your soil is too acidic or too sandy, it's a simple fix - add plenty of organic compost, and mix it well in. In no time you will have perfect soil for planting.

To keep air flowing through your compost pile, stand a large PVC pipe with punched holes in the center of your pile so the air flows up and down the pipe, and then through the holes directly into the pile. The air movement helps your soil decomposers create the heat needed to jumpstart the decay process.

One of the best things about a garden is that once you put in the initial labor, you can sit back and enjoy the fruits - or vegetables - of this labor as your garden begins to grow. Make sure that you're using these tips correctly if you want to experience the best possible results with your organic garden.

How To Hire The Right Landscaper For Your Yard
There is a lot to think about when landscaping a home. Landscaping doesn't just mean to improve a home's garden alone. Things that you should be thinking about when landscaping a home, are areas such as, the fence, hedges, decks, fountains or anything else you might want to add. To get an idea of what you can do to landscape your home, take a look through this article.
Do not start a large landscaping project if you are not planning on staying in your home for too long. Although a good landscape increases the value of your home, you will more than likely spend a lot of time and money on a landscape you will never really enjoy.

TIP! Choose cheaper goods when you just need "good enough." With some materials, there really is not much difference between the economy model and the best-in-class version.

When planning a landscaping project for your house, consider breaking your entire project down into much smaller jobs. This is important if you are not able to afford the entire project at one time. Doing so will let you tackle your project bit by bit, and not have your yard look like a mess in the meantime.
Think outside of the box to help save yourself money, while not sacrificing quality. For instance, construction and demolition sites are good spots for finding bricks, and sometimes mulch as well. Botanical centers, and other places offer plant sales sometimes too. There are plenty of more options available to you if you plan.
Do not plant too much of the same plant in your garden unless it is one that can withstand all type of weather conditions. If you place the same kind of plants throughout your garden and they die during an off season you will be left with a bare yard.
Lawn Care
For home lawn care, consider installing a sprinkler system. Sprinklers allow one to program the watering of your lawn so you don't have to be home to take care of this chore. Many types of sprinkles are available on the market to match any budget. So, take the hassle out of watering your lawn and install a simple sprinkler system.
Your brain should now be swarming with ideas about how you want to change your home's landscape. Go ahead and use some of the ideas you learned today, but remember to always be on the lookout for new information, as well. You never know what you might come across when thinking of landscaping your home.

Lawn Care information

If you are not out plowing Snow here is a place to go:

The 19th annual Winter Lawn Care Conference, sponsored by the Lawn CareAssociation of Pennsylvania, will be held Feb. ...

After Two Long Years The Forums are Open Again!

Especially with the the energy prices rising all the time, chemical fertilizer prices rising too, here is a website Topdressing.biz and a forum where you can learn how to be good to your next generation by saving their air and water quality , your lawn and recycle at the same time your various waste products from kitchen, house, yard/garden and farm into compost. Compost can become a great source of topdressing material, for the most part free and lower our municipal taxes.

Topdressing.biz News: Various Benefits of Shredding and Source of Compost Material

The Important Function of Shredders -
by: Peter Emerson
Information and identity theft are two growing concerns in the world today. Paper shredders and file shredders can prevent the terrible losses that can occur when valuable information pertaining to a person or a business is stolen. Shredders destroy sensitive documents that contain private information that could cause trouble if obtained by the wrong people. Some of the sensitive information often found on paper items includes birth dates, social security numbers, bank account numbers, and business plans or other finance-related items.

Identity theft can have dire consequences. If a thief obtains someone’s social security number and birth date, he or she can then find out all kinds of financial information about the person and can use the person’s bank account. If this happens, the thief can spend all of the victim’s money, and the victim may or may not have a way of recovering the money. Identity thieves can ruin their victim’s credit by using the stolen credit cards to run up huge debts.

Corporate espionage is another serious problem involving information theft. More often than one might believe, employees steal secret business documents and sell them to competing companies. If thieves steal a business’ financial information, like credit card numbers and bank account numbers, they can spend all of the company’s money and possibly never get caught. It is vital to protect personal and professional information from would-be thieves by destroying documents and computer files that contain the information.

Paper shredders work by cutting sheets of paper into many very small pieces, making it difficult for thieves or corporate spies to reassemble the documents and gain private information. Some shredders cut the paper vertically into ribbons, while others cut the paper in a cross cutting motion, making it much harder to reassemble the page. These paper shredders have a number of features and many can provide maximum security.

File shredders permanently erase files from a computer. Most people think that emptying the computer’s recycling bin erases any files or programs that were in it, but the truth is that these files can be easily accessed using basic retrieval software. File shredding software ensures that sensitive files containing private information can’t be accessed.

Not all types of shredders are used to protect business or personal information. Chip shredders are heavy-duty tools used to break wood, leaves, and other materials down. Once the materials are shredded, they can be used to make mulch or compost.

Shredders are valuable tools in a number of situations. Paper and file shredders provide protection against information theft and chip shredders are valuable landscaping tools.

About the author:
Shredders Info provides detailed information about paper, file, and chip shredders, and more. Shredders Info is affiliated with Business Plans by Growthink.

Topdressing.biz News : Ane excellent article on topdressing and aeration strategy

The editorial team of www.topdressing.biz has found an excellent article on aeration and topdressing strategy written by: Jim Puhalla is president of Sportscape International of Boardman, Ohio, and Dallas. He is co-author with Mississippi State University professors Dr. Jeff Krans and Dr. Michael Goatley (who also supplied information for this article) of a forthcoming book, Sports Fields: A Manual for Design, Construction and Maintenance, to be published by Ann Arbor Press Inc., Chelsea, Michigan.
Concepts:
aeration, soil, topdressing, core, turf, compaction, materials, equipment, water, thatch, surface disruption, tines, root systems, sports fields, aerification.
Summary:
Two of the most useful turf-care practices in the field manager's toolbox are aeration and topdressing.But the increasing variety of equipment and materials requires more decisions than ever before.On one hand, you have more options for providing exactly the treatment your turf needs.On the other hand, making incorrect choices can reduce the effectiveness of your work.Compaction can be a particular problem on sports turf, because of the amount of foot traffic that results from its use as a playing surface.When the soil becomes compacted, turf root systems can't get the oxygen they need, and the soil becomes a barrier to root penetration.For warm-season fields, the best time to aerate is late spring through late summer.Aerating after that time is risky, because the turf may not have time to recover before cold weather brings the risk of winter cold injury.For cool-season fields, the grass is most active in May and September, so those are the best months for aerating.The freezing and thawing of water in the holes will fracture the soil even deeper and wider than usual, and will provide improved relief from compaction.Time your core aeration around your most important sporting events, because the holes can catch players' spikes, and the dried cores can disrupt the roll of a ball.You can coordinate nutrient applications with aeration to help get the materials directly into the soil.In the past, there were questions about the wisdom of performing core Aerification following pre-emergence herbicide applications, and particularly about whether or not the herbicide barrier is broken by Aerification.Heavily used sports fields that do not get regular core aeration usually have very little turf.Core aeration provides the longest-term improvements in air and water infiltration, percolation rates and healthier root systems.However, there are two side-effects of core aeration which must be remembered: surface disruption and core litter.For most sports field aeration, standard units do the job effectively, but more compacted or poorly percolating fields may need larger, longer tines.Solid tines are usually selected because of the limited surface disruption they cause, but they also provide other benefits.Solid-tine aeration is also commonly called "shatter core" aeration, because the solid tines cause a "quaking" action that can fracture subsurface compaction zones -- especially with a deep-tine (up to 12-inch) aerator.Spiking and slicing can also sever the lateral stems of bermudagrass, bluegrass and bentgrass to encourage lateral root growth and thicken the turf.Done correctly, this technique can level uneven surfaces, enhance the soil for better drainage and rooting, control thatch, and assist in seeding operations.To amend heavy soils (soils having a large percentage of silt and clay) use a uniform sand with most of the particle sizes in the coarse range (between 0.5 and 1.0 mm).

for more information on aeration and topdressing matters please visit the topdressing and natural lawn care education site http://www.topdressing.biz

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