Tom's Garden Center - Grass Seed - Serving Albany, Corvallis and Millersburg Areas

GRASS SEED

Tom's Garden Center is well known for it's drought tolerant grass seed (Water Warden). Water Warden is a drought tolerant dwarf tall fescue blend that once established requires only one inch of water once a month to keep it green. Water Warden is very adaptable to grow in full sun, part sun, and even shade and full shade areas. Water Warden is high in endophytes which is a grass own immune system that helps fight off insect and disease.

It was almost three years ago to the month that a new blend of grass seed had been introduced to the public, proclaiming to be tougher, more disease resistant and once established requiring 75% less water than it's perennial ryegrass cousins to keep it green during our long, hot and dry summers.

It is with great pleasure to report that Water Warden has lived up to it's claims. This summer we have heard countless reports from customers that have planted the Water Warden blend of grass seed which consists of Starfire Tall Fescue, Southern Comfort Tall Fescue and Corgi Tall Fecue.

Starfire is a new generation tall fescue bred for improved overall turf performance with emphasis on spring greenup, genetic and winter color. It provides a dense, dark green turf all year. In NTEP "National Turfgrass Evaluation Program" 2002 Traffic tests in Mead, NE, Starfire ranked in the top 15% of 12 entries. Reduced vertical growth, dark green color, improved resistance to brown patch, leaf spot, pythium blight and is endophytes enhanced. Endophytes are a grasses own immune system which helps the grasses fight off insects and diseases and will reduce the need for herbicides for the control of unwanted weeds and weedy grasses. Southern Comfort is a new tall fescue variety with numerous improvements. Due to it's natural dark green color year round, Southern Comfort continues to look great with substantially less fertilizer. Southern Comfort forms a dense lawn that helps crowd out unwanted weeds and unsightly grasses and has excellent heat, shade and drought tolerance.

Cogi is an excellent new tall fecue variety. It has the lowest plant height of any new commercial variety ever measured at the DLF International Seed Research station, DLF International Seed based out of Halsey Oregon and who's producers make up over 21% of the global grass seed market.

Corgi's unique growth habit gives it high turf density, fine leaf texture and reduced growth. Unlike many other dwarf tall fescues, Corgi has the ability to perform in areas where brown patch and other diseases are prevalent and Corgi is also endophyte enhanced.

One customer has gone as far as saying that he has only watered twice this summer just one year old and his lawn to this day is lush and GREEN!

It was just a few short years ago that 100% of our lawns seed sales consisted of perennial rye and hard fescue blends, today over 90% of our grass seed sales are of the Water Warden tall fescue blend.

The claim to the fame of the dwarf tall fescue "Water Warden" blends is that once established that the tall fescue's roots grow deeper into the earth which allows it to gather water from a larger, deeper range reducing the need for as much irrigation or rainfall to keep the turf green. Perennial ryegrass lawns require about 1" of irrigation or rainfall once a week during the hot summer months to where as the tall fescue "Water Warden" blend only requires 1 inch of water once a month to keep it green.

Water Warden, dubbed the water conservation grass, got the attention of thousands of homeowners here in the valley wanting a lush green lawn without a mortgage payment of a water bill and that is exactly what the dwarf tall fescue "Water Warden" blend has delivered.

Another benefit to the dwarf tall fescue "Water Warden" varieties is that they are well adapted to grow in either full sun, part sun, part shade and even heavily shaded area's, Water Warden is ideal for over seeding after thatching has been done and is excellent for a new lawn as well. Seeding recommendations for the Water Warden tall fescue blends are 9-10lbs per 1,000 sq. feet for new lawns and 4-5lbs per 1,000 sq. feet for over seeding. Water Warden is available in roll out ready turf.

If you would like more information about dwarf tall fescue's and the Water Warden grass seed blend, I invite you to contact your local garden center or nursery, we're here to help you grow.

Lawn and Turf Yearly Fertilization Schedule

Hello,

My name is Tom Krupicka, owner of Tom’s Garden Center. Attached, you will find a Yearly Lawn Fertilization Schedule which is the exact same as I follow on my own yard.

The following fertilization program is designed for deep green color, maximum root development, thick full turf, minimal thatch build up and slower total actual growth due to less nitrogen being applied to your turf over a calendar year. These results are in comparison to the use of most common fast release nitrogen fertilizers.

By following this program, watering correctly, and keeping your lawn mowed between 2 &2 ½” tall you should enjoy a lush, green and weed free lawn which will be admired by many.

The following fertilization schedule can be applied at any time of the year, although, I have found my best results by applying one application in March the second in ay the third in July and another in September.

March:

Tom’s 27-4-8 "All Seasons" slow release lawn food at the rate of 20 lbs per 5,000 ft²
Fertilome’s “Soil Activator” containing Humates at the rate of 20 lbs per 2,000 ft²
Tom’s "Pelletized Lime" at the rate of 50 lbs per 3,000 ft²
Hi Yield’s “Turf Ranger” containing “Deltamethrin” which is a new third generation pyrethrin grub killer that will effectively control European Crane Fly larvae. Apply to your lawn and surrounding landscape beds at the rate of 20lbs per 5,000 ft²
If you have a moss problem in your lawn, I would suggest that you substitute Bonide "Moss Max" in place of Tom’s 27-4-8 "All Seasons" slow release lawn food.

July:

Tom's 27-4-8 "All Seasons" slow release lawn food at the rate of 20 lbs per 5,000 ft²
Fertilome's "Soil Activator" containing Humates at the rate of 20 lbs per 2,000 ft²
Tom's "Pelletized Lime" at the rate of 50 lbs per 3,000 ft²
Hi Yield's "Turf Ranger" containing "Deltamethrin" which is a new third generation pyrethrin grub killer that will effectively control European Crane Fly larvae. Apply to your lawn and surrounding landscape beds at the rate of 20lbs per 5,000 ft²
If you have a moss problem in your lawn, I would suggest that you substitute Bonide "Moss Max" in place of Tom's 27-4-8 "All Seasons" slow release lawn food. Tom’s 27-4-8 "all Seasons" slow release Lawn Food at the rate of 20 lbs per 5,000 ft² Fertilome's "Soil Activator" containing Humates at the rate of 20 lbs per 2,000 ft² Tom's "Pelletized Lime" at the rate of 50 lbs per 3,000 ft²

September:

Tom's 27-4-8 "All Seasons" slow release Lawn Food at the rate of 20 lbs per 5,000 ft²
Fertilome’s "Soil Activator" containing Humates at the rate of 20 lbs per 2,000 ft²
Tom’s "Pelletized Lime" at the rate of 50 lbs per 3,000 ft²
Hi Yield’s “Turf Ranger" at the rate 20 lbs per 5,000 ft² of lawn area and surrounding flower bed area for the control of European Crane Fly.

I hope you enjoy your lawn as much as I enjoy mine. If you have any questions give us a call at (541)928-2521

Lawn Renovation Process:

Power thatch the entire lawn area repeatedly to get all the dead thatch removed until you're down to the true dirt level.
Mow with a bagger mower to pick up all loose debris.
If need be, using sandy loam spread and roll to fill any divots and to bring area up to desired grade.
Apply pelletized Lime at the rate of 50lbs for up to 2000 sq. ft.
Apply Soil Activator at the rate of 40lbs for up to 4000 sq. ft.
Apply New Lawn Starter Fertilizer at the rate of 20 lbs for up to 5000 sq. ft.
Apply Tom's 16-8-8 Seed & Sod Starter Fertilizer at the rate of 25lbs per 5000 sq. ft.
Cover area with a thin layer of fir sawdust, a light soil mix, Gardeners & Bloom Soil Building Compost or peat moss.
Keep damp, I recommend applying water 3 to 5 times daily for about 3-5 minutes per application, all you want to achieve is to keep the top 1/4" moist and avoid watering to the point where the water puddles so to avoid seed floatation and movement. Once your new seed has germinated and is growing allow new turf to grow to 4" tall before mowing and change your watering schedule to apply 1" of water to your lawn area once per week.
For the nicest, dark green, healthy, weed free lawn on the block follow Tom's Lawn Fertilization schedule which you can get a copy of simply by asking at the check out area’s inside Tom's Garden Center

Complete Lawn Replacement Process:

Spray entire area that you wish to replace with KillZall (generic Roundup).
Wait 7 to 10 days.
Either thatch the entire area down to true soil area or cut out old sod using a power sod cutter.
Remove all debris.
Level entire area to be re-seeded using sandy loam and roll to compact.
Once you have achieved your desired grade apply the following.
Pelletized Lime at the rate of no less than 50 lbs per 2000 sq. ft., apply Soil Activator at the rate of no less than 40 lbs per 4000 sq. ft., apply Tom’s 16-8-8 Seed & Sod Starter Fertilizer at the rate of no less than 25lbs per 5000 sq. ft. then apply your seed or sod directly on top of the product just applied.
If seed was used then covering your seed would be recommended using a product such as peat moss, fir sawdust, Gardeners & Bloom Soil Building Compost or a lite soil mix.
Keep area moist watering 3-5 time a day for 3 to 5 minutes per setting avoiding so much as to let water to puddle.
Allow new seed or sod to grow to about 4" tall before mowing the first time and eventually adjust watering to achieve the rate of 1" of water once a week.

I hope this helps and if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask we are happy to assist you.

Tom Krupicka
Tom’s Garden Center