First Snow

The course was in need of some natural precipitation, and last night we finally got it!  Rain began last night and turned to snow overnight.  We came in this morning to 3 or 4 inches of new snow on the ground with snow still falling.  The forecast is calling for around 8 inches total with this storm, so we the plows on and the shovels out for snow removal.  There is no better source of moisture than mother nature, as much as we strive for uniformity with our irrigation system, natural rainfall insures that every inch of the course receives ample moisture.  The downside to all of this wet snow is that most of our trees and shrubs haven't lost their leaves yet, so some fallen branches are pretty likely.  We will do our best to have the mess cleaned up by the time we reopen, assuming the weather cooperates. 

Compost is Complete

We finished topdressing compost on fairways approaches and tees!  It took a little while with our schedule split between our two courses, but we got it knocked out.  120 yds were spread over 26 acres for a rate of approximately 4.6 yards per acre.  This is a little lighter than our rates in the past, but we are confident that we will have good green up in the spring and that our nutrient levels will stay strong without a synthetic winter fertilizer application to these areas. 

We are toying with the notion of including rough in our future applications of compost and foregoing any synthetics if possible.  That isn't to say that we won't use any slow release sources, but to this point, we are very pleased with the results and hope to expand our program even further.  For more information about the benefits of compost check out the United States Composting Council website.  On a side note, Chris Johnson has been asked to give an hour long webinar for the GCSAA in January on our compost program here at Legacy Ridge.  We are all looking forward to viewing it and are proud of the notoriety Chris and Legacy Ridge are receiving in the matter.

Nursery Update

The 1/4" Nursery has grown in nicely and will likely be ready for sod when we complete some of our tee additions this winter.  It has been dropped in height down to 3/8" in the last week or two and is now part of the approach mowing order.  It was core aerated with approaches and tees this fall and has been topdressed regularly with sand and compost.  In a way it will be a shame to have to reseed and grow it back in when sod is cut from it, but such is the life of a nursery.  For our efforts we should have a good source of in house sod at a moments notice and at a fraction of the cost of purchasing 1/4" sod.  There is also piece of mind in knowing that it will thrive in our soil conditions and under our agronomic practices.