April/May 2019

Published on 16-05-2019

So, Trump hasn’t been impeached, the Sri Lankan extremists have proven themselves to be as mad as any other extremist group, Winstone has created post CGT “issues” for our Colgate Kid as the Sydney Morning Herald refers to our Prime Minister and it looks like the AB’s are off to the World Cup in Japan with only two first fives ….. haven’t we been there before?  On that occasion a valiant Stephen “Beaver” Donald had to step up to the plate with a late call up. At this rate, they’ll be asking Grant Fox to lace up his boots!….

March 2019

Published on 16-05-2019

Thankfully your lawn won’t be worried about any of these things as it has struggled for survival during the “big dry”.  So, here are a few tips to assist in caring for your lawn over this next period;…

December 2018

Published on 16-05-2019

Today, I was contemplating the jolly, fat man with a white beard, dressed in red costume coming down my chimney. It struck me that a millennial could possibly be devastated by such imagery. A white beard implying racial undertones in that the beard was neither brown nor black.  Father Christmas no less implying a male gender, when indeed the person in the red suit could be a he or a she or indeed anyone else from the LGBTQ community!  Then we come to the word “fat” which could be highly inflammatory, particularly if you are somewhat on the chubby side!  So you see, the simplest of things are no longer simple but instead these are replaced by cavernous voids that house conflicts at every turn or crevice! It’s enough to keep one awake at night!  Fortunately, our lawns are something less complicated than the mind of a millennial!….

October 2018

Published on 16-05-2019

I was informed yesterday by a person who, whilst being somewhat capricious, is normally knowledgeable about these things, that there were only 68 shopping days until Christmas.  This “titbit” of knowledge stopped me in my tracks as I had only got used to adding the numerals 2018 to dates in my correspondence! I am advised that this phenomenon of years apparently diminishing in perceived time with increasing age is simply a matter of relativity. Thus, for the 80 year old, the experience of 365 days is but one of eighty. Conversely for a 12 year old, 365 days is a larger sum of experiences relative to their small period of time on this planet. Another mystery solved!   Let us now segue (pronounced segway) into uncovering the mysteries of your lawn…

June/July 2018

Published on 16-05-2019

Winter is coming! …. No …in actual fact it is already here with the chillingly grey shadow of none other than Winston himself now occupying the parliamentary “big chair”.  No, not the illustrious Sir Winston Churchill but a rather more taciturn and many may argue a less gifted parliamentarian in the form of our very own Winston Peters! I recently discovered that Churchill published the last volume of his grand book “A History of English Speaking Peoples” in the spring of 1958 at the age of 83. And despite his huge appetite for vast quantities of whiskey, champagne as well as enormous numbers of massive cigars he lived until the ripe old age of 90.  It leaves me in a somewhat sombre disposition contemplating the next couple of decades if his namesake Winston Peter’s persists around the Beehive chambers for such an inordinate length of time!

April / May 2018

Published on 18-04-2018

Yes, it’s that time of the year again and once again the Chiefs are winning and the Blues are losing. More surprising to many is that fact that the Warriors are winning! Meanwhile Trump is still beating his chest and the Russians are trying to quietly poison their former spies in sleepy and ancient towns like Salisbury. Now, if you’ve never been to this wee town in Wiltshire, it is the home amongst other architectural wonders such as the Salisbury Cathedral, of the old hilltop settlement of Old Sarum (circa 3,000BC) and is close to the Neolithic sites of Stonehenge and Avebury.  I think this is rather fitting as the Russian are indeed, yet again behaving like Neoliths!

Now on to more serious matters like your lawn!

February / March 2018

Published on 21-02-2018

The weather has been fabulous for holidays over the past 3 months and whilst December was extremely dry, recent rains have alleviated the soil moisture deficit.   In the broader news, the NZ Breakers have made the playoffs again ….yehaa! Team NZ have won the Halberg and so they should have done and …..

December 2017

Published on 09-02-2018

That’s right! …..FINELAWN is celebrating the 30^th anniversary of its birth this month! We’d like to celebrate this milestone with you, our loyal clients.  As a result, all turf orders delivered in December will receive a wee gift parcel.  Likewise, loyal long term clients who come to the office will also receive this gift.  But most of all we wish to congratulate all our customers that have provided us with incredible support over the past 30 years! Well done and thank you!

August / September 2017

Published on 09-02-2018

So, whilst we are mucking around in the wintery mud the politicians in Wellington are mucking about trying to secure our votes.  Not surprisingly Jacinda has captured the minds and hearts of predominantly female urban voters who were formerly star struck by John Keys impeccable smile.  Sadly, it appears that the celebrity politics that has swept the rest of the world is about to pounce on our own electorate system. If this continues then political parties will be vying to secure the star credentials of the likes of Sam Neil, Rachael Hunter & Dave Dobbyn to assist them! Maybe the Greens have missed a trick in not signing up Lucy Lawless who seems insistent upon getting herself arrested whilst trying to save both trees & whales ….. however, just maybe she needs to embark on a good bit of old fashioned benefit fraud to appeal to that sector!    To put this all into perspective I quote the famous British comedian Stephen Fry who once drily suggested that “…….you shouldn’t vote for them as it simply encourages them….!”

April / May 2017

Published on 09-02-2018

Mother Nature has gone haywire! Whilst we normally bask in late summer conditions during Autumn, this year the weather pattern in terms of rainfall resembles a monsoon season. Not only have had several unseasonal heavy rain incidents but the volume in any one of these occasions is similar to our monthly averages for this time of the year. The outcome of these unseasonal circumstances is a range of outcomes many of which are  extremely peculiar for this time of the year.

So, here are a few tips to assist in caring for your lawn over this next period;

February/March 2017

Published on 09-02-2018

Since our previous correspondence the political face of the globe has changed.  John Key has resigned for a more leisurely and in my opinion at least, well deserved existence in the balmy temperatures of Hawaii, the UK faces Brexit under the leadership of a new Prime Minister who is indeed a woman (Yahoo!) and for better or worse Trump is now the purported leader of the “free world”. Now, I have no understanding of what that last phrase means …… what for heaven’s sake is the free world …. does it costs money to be a human being in Russia, Somalia or Afghanistan.  I think not and are they free to clean their teeth and go to work in the morning …. I probably think so. Are they free to be follow Judaism, Orthodox Christianity, Papal Christianity or the Prophet Mohammed…….  maybe not in some parts of Central Asia, the Middle East and the Lower Caucasus.  But, just maybe being President of the US of A isn’t as all encompassing and powerful as in the post WWII era when this term originated. What I do know is that the sun will come up in the morning and it will be scorching hot and this will have implications for your lawn!!

October/November 2016

Published on 09-02-2018

Thank God that spring upon us once again with the prospects of long, hot, lazy summer days just around the corner!  I must be getting old because despite the allure of skiing I really don’t “get up” for winter anymore preferring to hide in warmer places as much as possible.  Also, it seems to me that winters are wetter than I can recall as a youth growing up on Auckland’s North Shore. Nowadays the rain seems to starts in mid-May and continue through to October as one long shower somewhat reminiscent of the monsoons of Asia! ………or am I just getting old and grumpy!!

August / September 2016

Published on 11-09-2016

Great skiing weather at the moment! ……….although it appears that half of New Zealand’s population have sought out the charms of warmer climates with many “Posts” coming in from either Europe or the Pacific Islands at the moment……if only!

However, these cold condition also keep the soil temperatures low.  This has some important implications for the care of your lawn as low soild temperatures effect the manner in which plants uptake nutrients.  As a result these are the tips I suggest for having your lawn looking great a this time of the year:

June / July 2016

Published on 04-08-2016

Despite the balmy conditions that were still being experienced by mid – May, winter was always going to come……it was just a matter of when it would arrive!  Well, it has certainly arrived now with far colder temperatures and frosts to mark the beginning of June. This followed a period of almost monsoonal conditions in the Waikato where rain was experienced for 21 days straight!

May 2016 Newsletter

Published on 07-06-2016

In case you hadn’t noticed it, given the exceptionally mild conditions we are currently experiencing it just about winter!  Yes …….this is hard to fathom when ambient daytime temperatures are still 21 – 23^oC and we’re still applying sunscreen on a daily basis! However, the late summer conditions refuse to budge and we’re still shifting irrigators daily on the turf farm which is bizarre given that in the previous 30 years of turf production Finelawn has never previously operated the irrigation system in the month of May.  

April 2016 Newsletter

Published on 07-06-2016

Gee…..what happened to the month of March and the end of the financial year???  This is a particularly busy time of the year on the turf farm and March kinda’ came and went without a newsletter being published…..my bad!

So, Autumn is now upon us accompanied by cooler day time temperatures and that distinctive nip in the air in the evenings and early in the mornings….boohoo!……I already miss summer!  However, this is a great time of the year to address any issues on your lawn….so, here is a list of some recommended activities:

February 2016 Newsletter

Published on 07-06-2016

Wow! …….isn’t it like Fiji out there at the moment…………….30^oC and really steamy!  Now that’s great if you’re still on holiday but it’s pretty tragic if you’re sweltering in a hot office back at work!  Unfortunately whilst these conditions are pleasant and favourable if you’re a human being, conditions such as this are unfortunately also ideal for the promotion of fungal diseases in turf.  There are many pathogenic fungi that can cause problems in turf grasses at this time.  Periodically, I cover the more common fungal diseases in this news bulletin, however, if you require further or more in depth information then check out our website under the “disease” section for a more comprehensive explanation.

December 2015 Newsletter

Published on 07-06-2016

Summer is here. Yippee! ….sun, surf and loads of fun filled, balmy summer evenings!  It also means that another year just about “done and dusted”……….hard to believe really!  As a wee nipper my Mum used to prattle on about how the years go faster as you get older…and like most typical young males I didn’t subscribe to her theories………how wrong I was!

October 2015 Newsletter

Published on 15-10-2015

After a pretty slow start following an uncommonly wet and cold winter spring is now in full bloom! Your temperate grasses will be growing significantly faster and the subtropical species such as kikuyu and couchgrass will also be starting to flourish in response to increasing temperatures and longer daylight hours.

September 2015 Newsletter

Published on 07-09-2015

The first day of September is traditionally regarded as the first day of Spring and what a magical time of the year this can be! Spring blossoms burst into life, calves and lambs are abundant in the paddocks, birds begin to noisily mate and nest and there is a general sense of new life that can be witnessed throughout our wonderful bucolic countryside.

August 2015 Newsletter

Published on 11-08-2015

At last winter is beginning to lose its grip on our part of the world.  The day length is increasing, there’s a little more strength in the sun and the daffodils are flowering.  All these indicators mean that Spring is on the way…..and we can still ski for the next three months…..even better!

July 2015 Newsletter

Published on 11-08-2015

Yehaa!…..its ski season once again and we can all go playing and enjoy New Zealand’s great outdoors! It doesn’t matter if you’re heading to ski fields in the South Island or the North Island as long as you’re out there doing it!……

June 2015 Newsletter

Published on 01-06-2015

Brrrrrrr……winter bites and we can now only dream about warm, languid summer days unless you sneak to the South Pacific Islands for some respite! These conditions are taxing on our turf grasses as well. In particular the warm season grasses such as couch and kikuyu struggle to adapt to these cold and wet conditions. In extremely cold or frosty conditions they will drop into dormancy ….

May 2015 Newsletter

Published on 01-05-2015

The temperatures are now beginning to fall and the weather is very definitely very autumnal given the recent storms that have battered our gardens. Whilst many soils were hungrily looking for a good drink I suspect that the occurrence of over 100mm of precipitation within a short spell of time last Saturday morning was probably more than most were bargaining for! It certainly changed the feel of the season …

April 2015 Newsletter

Published on 01-04-2015

Cooler nights and higher soil moisture levels coupled with the completion of daylight savings leaves us all with the distinct impression that summer has now departed. Bugger! ….

March 2015 Newsletter

Published on 01-03-2015

The dynamic nature of lawn care is again transparent as we shift from summer into autumn over the next 3 – 4 weeks. The changes are gradual but very noticeable to the casual observer. Those pesky annual subtropical warm season grasses stop germinating, night time temperatures begin to ease and broadleaf weeds begin to emerge as soil moisture (hopefully) increases….