Long before the days of television gave us “Extreme Makeover,” sod was pulling off exactly that feat—totally transforming the look of a site in short order. It may be tempting to think that sod is magical; just lay it down, and what once was a mess of dirt and weeds will forever more be a lush bed of green grass. Not so fast.(continue)

Greens need coring or aerating to keep them healthy. Golfers may not always appreciate the timing of coring, but they sing the praises of the greens and course superintendent when their ball rolls true on the surface. (continue)

The art of infield maintenance is focused on consistency. At all the baseball fields I’ve managed, I’ve always looked for the same kind of infield mix, testing out in the range of 60 percent sand, 20 percent silt and 20 percent clay. Those percentages aren’t the complete equation.(continue)

What do we do with all these chips? It’s a dilemma that’s faced generations of tree care professionals, and there still seems to be no magic solution. In the past, many companies sent their chips to the landfill, but that option is expensive and is being regulated out of existence in many parts of the country. (continue)

Today’s fireplaces and fire pits are more high-tech than the simple circle of rocks used by our ancestors. The construction process is driven by a number of factors, including the clients’ wishes and budget, as well as the skill and experience of the contractor. Most installations make some use of prefabricated products to make the job go faster and work better. (continue)

In the automotive world, "exotic" is a term usually reserved for sleek sports cars from Italy. In the Christmas tree industry, exotics are species native to many parts of the world that offer an alternative to the trees traditionally grown and harvested in the United States. (continue)

With labor shortages and immigration and H-2A woes, it seems there is no end to the difficulties growers face in hiring workers. If you learn of a reliable source offering quality laborers at a reasonable cost, you likely would be interested, but be aware that a new wrinkle has emerged; those workers may not be who they seem. (continue)

The only good thing about being at the bottom is that there’s nowhere to go but up. Assuming that the forest products industry—hit as hard as any industry in the recent economic downturn—has indeed reached the bottom, then there’s hope for improvement. (continue)