秘密研究所

Seven Tips for Getting Your Yard in South Condition

---

Posted on March 16, 2017

Jeb Schrenk

---

---

More than 16,000 students, including 3,000 who live on campus, call the University of South Alabama home. Every student wants to be proud of their home, so the landscaping team at South stays busy enhancing the natural beauty of campus. 

The most recent high-profile landscaping project was the, an effort mostly funded by the city. Increasingly, the physical environment is being recognized for its important role in USA's academic mission.

鈥淭he landscaping and the natural beauty of the campus turn heads of prospective students and parents,鈥� said Christopher Lynch, associate vice president, enrollment services. 鈥淪tudents can imagine themselves not just coming to campus to study, but to live. It has a tangible impact on our enrollment.鈥� (To take a tour, visit Enrollment Services.)

With spring arriving, South鈥檚 grounds crews are ready for the growing season. Landscaping Manager Gary Carley, the person responsible for those crews and maintaining South鈥檚 1,250 acres, offers these seven spring gardening tips:

1. Hold off on the fertilizer. Carley said he likes to wait until the first week of April before fertilizing: 鈥淚 like to make sure all the frosts are done and the bad weather has cleared out.鈥� Mobile was under a freeze warning this morning. Need we say more?

   Carley recommends using a fertilizer that is time-released and includes added minerals such as iron, manganese, sulfur, zinc, boron and copper. Check the bag to know the details of what鈥檚 in your fertilizer.

2. Watch your grass. With the weather fluctuating, now is the perfect environment for fungus to start growing on grasses, especially St. Augustine and Centipede.  鈥淲ith the fluctuating weather, that fungus starts kicking up. You many need to use fungicide on brown patches,鈥� Carley said.

3. Plant now. It鈥檚 time to start digging. Don鈥檛 wait until it gets too hot. When planting, make sure the root ball is an inch or two above ground level; you can add pine straw or bark on top. The root ball will sink some, so you don鈥檛 want your plant drowning in water. 鈥淧lant it high, never die. Plant it low, watch it go,鈥� Carley said.

4. Water longer, but less often. Speaking of water, when it comes to grass or plants, water longer, but less frequently, to create a stronger subsurface root structure. 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 need to water established plants or grass every day. But you do need to make sure the water is getting absorbed into the soil,鈥� Carley said. On South's campus, nearly all the water used for irrigation comes from wells. 

5. Save money. Many gardeners dig up the ground and till in peat moss, bark, sand and vermiculite. Not Carley. 鈥淒on鈥檛 create a false environment for your plants,鈥� Carley said. Dig a hole, plant and be confident. 鈥淚 rarely lose plants.鈥� If you must put something in your soil, Carley said, add some bark.

   Another way to save money is to use fewer plants by spacing them apart. Some landscapers place plants too close together for immediate results. Then once the plants grow together, a canopy or dome effect traps in heat and moisture, creating a rich environment for disease. Lastly, save money by losing the weed barriers. Weeds will simply grow on top of them.

6. Think practically. 鈥淒on鈥檛 put plants someplace because you like the way they look in an area where they can鈥檛 grow,鈥� Carley said. If the plant needs sun, it won鈥檛 grow in the shade. While that seems simple enough, Carley said it鈥檚 a mistake often made. He suggests growing native plants that naturally thrive in the area.

7. Be a rock star. Carley likes landscaping rocks, and that comes as no surprise to anyone that鈥檚 been on South鈥檚 campus. They add color, help the soil retain moisture, and, importantly, 鈥測ou don鈥檛 have any maintenance on them.鈥�

---

Gary Carley is the landscaping manager for the 秘密研究所. Carley worked part-time with a landscaper through high school and college. Following Hurricane Frederic in 1979, he purchased a stump grinder and chainsaws to replace damaged trees and plants. He hasn't stopped. 

---