Villas News - May 2009

 

Warmer days are here and the grass has left its dormant state. The Board of Directors (BOD) wanted to get Shenandoah's assessment of our investment last fall and invited Gordon and Robert Ashley from Shenandoah Landscape services to attend the BOD meeting on Thursday evening, April 23, 2009. They spent about an hour with us. We gave them the floor, then Board members asked questions before we had an owners forum with the audience. It was unfortunate that only a small number of owners attended this meeting.

 

Gordon Ashley began his presentation stating that they were satisfied with the project overall. He noted that there were bare spots, muddy spots, and additional weeds. He noted that many of the muddy areas are the result of cars driving over the grass; people walking in the same spots on the grass repeatedly; and Verizon digging up areas to do their installations. He stated that they have already taken soil samples for testing to see how effective the extra lime applications were this past Fall.

 

He explained that they did do some additional seeding this Spring and had plans to do more in the early fall. He said that normally seeding projects are not guaranteed, but that they did give us a guarantee when the BOD requested it. For that reason, the Association will not be charged when they reseed in September. At that time, they would like to work closely with Garyn from WCC to insure that watering requirements are met.

 

In response to a question about fill dirt versus top soil, Gordon explained that they used the top layer of a river bed on property they owned. He stressed that it was top soil of high quality. He averred that any top soil will have some stones and weed seeds, but that once the grass takes over strongly, the weed problem will become less and less.

 

With regard to proper length of grass, he stated that 3" was optimum, but they were mowing a little longer at the current time to allow the new, shorter grass to have shade until it grows longer. He said this length was suggested by both Virginia and Maryland horticultural agencies for this area. He stated that there is no thatching at this time because our grass is not healthy or thick enough for it to occur.

 

There were several questions about identification of weeds. The first regarded one that has heavy foliage with a long stem topped by a yellow flower. This was identified as 'turnip greens' and all parties agreed that the application of broad leaf pesticide took care of this culprit. The second (with a sample provided by Kathy Pergerson) was identified as broom straw. This is more problematic because it is a grass. Killing it off would require that all the grass be killed—something we would not want to do. The other option is to dig it up which is very tough because of the root system. Currently, there is no provision for Shenandoah to do anything with the broom straw.

 

When does the straw placed over seeded areas go away? Gordon said any straw should be left in place. He stressed that it will break down and add to the soil as it composts.

 

This was a great meeting and I personally want to thank the Ashley brothers, the BOD, and our owners for attending and providing such an interesting discourse.

 

-Sherri Burke