Horticulture Corner



I have been asked how we take care of our Geraniums here at the club. I would like to share a few important tips.

1.  Geraniums can do well in both containers and in the ground, but they will need to have well drained soil.

2.  Geraniums can handle hot and dry conditions, they will need a minimum of 6 hours of full sun.  They do like some afternoon shade on very hot summer days.

3.  It is important to let the soil dry out completely in between watering.

4.  Use a complete soluble fertilizer like Miracle-Gro, use it at the higher end of the label rate on the package.  Geraniums love fertilizer and need it to produce those huge blooms, so fertilize your geraniums about every third watering.

I have also included a PDF file with more information on this beautiful and popular plant.

The Kenmure Garden : From Seed to Table

The tools and knowledge needed to produce fresh vegetables are something that is readily available to all Golf Course Superintendents .  Having an understanding of soil chemistry, fertilizers, and botany combined with the tools, land, and irrigation that all golf courses possess make it a very simple step to move toward the cultivation of a garden for use by the Country Club.

The Idea

The planning for the Garden began back in early February after watching a very good webcast on the topic of creating a vegetable garden for your golf course.  This webcast was given by Kathy Antaya, a Golf Course Superintendent from Michigan.  It is very informative and well presented.
 

http://www.gcsaa.org/education/webcasts/on-demand/grow-your-own-establishing-a-golf-course-vegetable-garden
 

I just so happen to have a wonderful person in my life who is a very avid gardener, so after talking with her and re-watching the webcast, we began to make plans for the Kenmure Garden.  It was not long after this that Holly Haynes developed the master plan and map for the what would become the garden that we have today.

The Plan

Holly has always sprouted seeds and planted gardens every year for well over a decade, this would be the largest garden that she ever planned.  I suggested using a computer program to help with the planning and mapping and it turned out to be a wonderful tool.

 



http://gardenplanner.kgi.org/garden-plan.aspx?p=640570

 

 

Sprouting The Seeds

 

Seeds were purchased and planted in mid march.

 

One of the mini greenhouses used for seed germination.

 

Seedlings Progress

 

 

Getting Closer

 

 

 

Garden Site Preperation



 

 

A good site was selected near the Tennis Courts, this site had been used as a garden previously 9-10 years ago.  The site was tilled and prepared for use.  This garden will be 4508 square feet. 3 raised beds have also been constructed for growing herbs.

 

 

 

 

Planting the Garden

 

The garden was planted on the Monday after Mother's Day.  It is good to wait till this date to plant to avoid any killing frosts.  This is especially important to us as we will be using delicate seedling when we plant.  Not all the things we planted were pre-germinated.  Many things like the corn, beans, carrots, radish, and other root vegetables were directly sown.  The garden plan map was to exact scale, so we painted in the lines to match the plan.



 

 

Finishing Up

 

After everything was planted we erected a fence to keep out all the varmints!  The garden was then watered and the work will be ongoing.  We mulched all the pathways to create a visually pleasing garden.  The mulch also provides a barrier for weeds and will provide extra organic material to the soil when it is tilled in next year. The plants will get bigger and start growing in and it will become be a very attractive site.  I will continue to update the blog with more posts as the garden progresses.

 

 





 

 



Kenmure Golf Maintenance

 

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www.facebook.com/kenmuregolf

 

The new tee on #14

This year during early spring we renovated the small white tee on hole #14.  This tee served as the primary location for the white and gold tees.  It received far too much traffic than it could handle.  This was another successful project that has been well received by the membership.  Here are some pictures I took during the construction.

Sod has been removed from old tee and plans are discussed.

 

This old tee surface was too small to handle the traffic it received.

 

Boulders brought down from the latest road construction.

The old sod was re-used in the rough around the new tee.

It was also used to patch many spots around the course.

Many dump truck loads of soil are brought to the sight.

 

The new soil is spread out and compacted.

 

 

The new wall turned out terrific!

The slopes are firmly compacted.

Another look at the front of the wall.

 

Simple drainage is added to the tee surface.

 

4 inch drain pipes are connected and gravel is filled.

 

The crew is beginning to cover the surface with the root zone mix.

 

Root zone material is spread out evenly across the surface.

 

Old sod is returned to site to form the tee surrounds.

 

New irrigation line is installed for new sprinkler head.

The new tee is taking shape.

All the sod is now back in place around the tee.

 

The new tee is now ready for the new sod.

The crew works carefully to install the new bentgrass sod.