Description

"Best practices" for turf management includes avoiding the top killer of lawns: overwatering. But somehow that message, something we in the agricultural field have known and shared (or tried to, to those who will listen) with stakeholders for over 30 years, still has not sunk in here in West Haven. Sprinklers routinely going in the ball fields when the water is clearly not only not needed, but will -- I guarantee it -- compromise the health of the grass. They have the sprinklers on timers, and though there are staff there right now -- 8am on Tuesday, June 18, -- they won't override them. It's just a lose-lose-lose: increasing the incidence of root rot in the grass (ever pull a plant out of waterlogged pot and seen and smelled how foul the roots are?), flushing fertilizers and pesticides into the beleaguered Old Field Creek that runs through the park, and costing taxpayers money for water. It rained 1/8" last night, and in the past week we've had 9" of rain. It's going th rain this afternoon. Lawn management companies -- the less scrupulous ones -- capitalize on this by setting sprinklers to water too often, then charging customers for the fertilizers and pesticides they wouldn't need but for all the watering they convince their customers is essential. The condominiums on Beach St next to Stowe's are a perfect example of this: their lawn looks like crap, and the sprinklers are on even in the rain, no doubt flushing God knows what toxic brew of pesticides and fertilizers, right into the storm drains which then carry that mess into the Sound, right across the street. I have a gorgeous green lush lawn that I never water, and never fertilize. Hmm.