Turf Grasses for Your Play Areas

(c) 2011 by Tom King

Introduction

Kids are tough on lawns. They tend to beat down paths, compact the earth and generally make it difficult for grass to maintain healthy growth. A variety of grass species lend themselves to children's play areas. Properly cared for, these deep rooting grass types provide a soft impact surface that reduces fall impacts. Watered, fertilized and mowed as recommended for the species, these grasses resist damage and bounce back after wear and tear. Periodic overseeding also helps thicken playground grass.

Bahiagrass
Bahiagrass is a dark green turfgrass that prefers moist acidic soils. It prefers full sun or light shade and lots of warm weather. It turns brown in cold weather. One disadvantage is it's three to four week germination period.

Bermudagrass
Bermudagrass grows quickly, sprouting in just four to twelve days. It's blades are fine and thick and grow best in moist, acidic soils. Bermudagrass prefers full sun and doesn't do well in shade. It's often use for ball fields in warm southern climates.

Bluegrass
Blue grass has fine blades and grows as a thick turf. It prefers well-drained dry and acidic soil. Bluegrass grows better in cool northern climates in full sun and isn't suitable for hot climates or shady playgrounds. It can take from six to 30 days to germinate after planted.

Common Kentucky Bluegrass
New plantings of common Kentucky bluegrass take two to four weeks to sprout. Dark green with fine blades that grow thickly. Kentucky bluegrass prefers cooler climates, good soil drainage and acidic soil. While useful for open play areas, this variety doesn't do well in shade.

Improved Kentucky Bluegrass
Like common Kentucky bluegrass, the improved variety germinates in two to four weeks and prefers well drained, but moist acidic soil. This variety grows in full sun or light shade in the cool climates preferred by the bluegrasses.

Blue Gammagrass
A gray-green color, blue gammagrass has hairy characteristics like bahiagrass, but prefers dry alkaline soils, full sun and cool weather like bluegrass varieties. Best used for ball fields and open sunny play spaces. Blue gammagrass takes 15 to 30 days to sprout after planted.

Buffalograss
Buffalograss is another cool weather, temperate climate variety turfgrass. Gray-green fine and hairy, buffalo grass turns brown in hot weather. Again, this variety works for open play areas, but not in shady spots. Buffalograss takes longer to germinate, not sprouting for 25 to 35 days from planting.

Improved Bermudagrass
Fine and thick like regular varieties of bermudagrass, improved bermudagrass germinates in 10 to 20 days. It has a medium green color and prefers dry, acidic soil. Like all bermudagrass, it requires full sun and a warm climate and doesn't work well for shady play areas.

Creeping Bentgrass
Creeping bentgrass sprouts in just 7 to 14 days in well-drained, acidic soil. Bentgrass can handle either full sun or light shade, but grows best in cooler climates.

Red Fescue
Red or Creeping Red Fescue is a dark green, fine and thick turfgrass. It prefers well-drained dry and acidic soil. It sprouts in 10 days to three weeks. Fescue like cooler climates but does grow in full sun, light or full shade and works well in shaded play areas.

Tall Fescue
Tall fescue grows quickly, germinating in 10 to 14 days. Dark green, the tall variety of fescue grows thick and coarse, preferring well-drained acidic soil. Fescue prefers full sun, but will grow in light shade. Tall fescue is particularly tough due to it's naturally deep root system and resists wear and tear if cut taller when mowed,

Annual Ryegrass
Annual ryegrass is a coarse green rapidly growing grass that works well for winter overseeding. It germinates in just three to seven days. It prefers moist, acidic soils, full sunlight or light shade and cool climates. In cool climates ryegrass can be overseeded in spring and summer.

Turf-Type Perennial Ryegrass
Turf-type perennial ryegrass is a finer thickly growing grass. It prefers moist, but well-drained acidic soils. It also prefers cooler climates and grows well in full sun or light shade and germinates in three to seven days, making it a good species to use for overseeding anemic lawns.

Wheat Grass
Wheat grass is a hairy blue green grass that prefers dry and alkaline soil. It needs full sun and prefers a cool climate. Wheat grass sprouts in 14 to 30 days and makes a good field grass in dry cool climates.

Zoysiagrass
Zoysiagrass is a more recently developed grass species. Dark green to gray green in color, zoysiagrass is tough, resilient and adaptable to full sun, light or full shade and handles warmer climates. It prefers well-drained, acidic soils and is one of the better fine, thick playground turfgrass.

References:

Accurate Building: Lawn Care Guide
Yardener: Choosing Lawngrass Seed
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents: Grass As a Play Area Surface
Ohio State University Extension Fact Sheet: Managing Turfgrass Under Drought Conditions
Utah State University Extension: Basic Turfgrass Care

How to Handicap Archery

Like golf, the handicapping system for archery allows less skilled archers to compete meaningfully with more skilled archers. A handicap, once established for a certain types of bow, the handicap can be used in all types of competitions with that bow type. The handicap number is simply added to shooter's raw score. If you compete with more than one bow type, you'll need to establish a separate handicap for each type.

Acquiring a Handicap

For a bowman to obtain a handicap, he must shoot and score a minimum of three recognized standard archery rounds. Once he provides all three score sheets, signed by a witnessing archer to his archery club or society's recording officer or secretary, the recording officer will calculate a handicap rating for each score with special archery handicapping software or by hand using official handicapping tables. The average handicap value of all three is totaled and averaged and then rounded up to the nearest whole number. This number will be your first handicap.

Improving Your Handicap

Your handicap will change over time as you submit new scores for rounds you have shot. Submit the new signed score sheets to the recording officer of your club and he will calculate your new handicap by adding the new score, if it's better than the old one, to the old handicap and averaging the two. The average of the two is then rounded up to the nearest whole number and that's your new handicap. If the new handicap is worse, your official handicap remains the same. The only way for your handicap to get worse is if your club does an annual review in which the official handicap is recalculated based on the average of your entire year's scores.

Calculating the Score

To actually calculate your handicap, you will need either archery handicapping software or a set of appropriate handicapping tables from your region's or country's archery authority. On the tables, look up your total score. Find your score in the score column of the handicapping tables . If you can't find your exact score, just select the next lower score. The handicap value for that score will be found at the side of the table. Your working handicap will then be the average of the first three scores' handicaps. Your score is reviewed annually by your archery club's recording officer, but you must shoot at least 3 standard rounds that year for your handicap to be changed. The average of those three scores will be averaged with the old handicap to calculate the new handicap.

Keeping Score

There are a variety of on-line score sheet generators available through local and national archery associations like the National Field Archery Association, the National. Archery Association, FITA and the National Crossbowmen of the USA. Each of these has local and state chapters you can join. Every country has its own national association which may or may not be affiliated with the International Archery Federation (FITA), the governing body which regulates Olympic archery competition. It is important to use a compatible score sheet when shooting handicapping rounds and to belong to a club that supports handicapping by maintaining proper records.

References and Resources
Double G Archery: Archery Clubs and Associations Links
Archery Handicap Calculator
Gentlemen and Lady Archers of Darlington: Competitions
Supermarine Bowmen: Information
Fuzilogic: Archery Associations
Frome Valley Archers: Competitions
FITA: International Archery Federation
USA Archery: National Archery Association
The National Crossbowmen of the USA, Inc.: USA Crossbow

Simple Homemade Country Shelves

  My son and I built this set of country-style shelves for my wife one Christmas. It took us an afternoon to build it and a couple of days to stain and varnish it leaving time for the varnish to dry between coats. You don't need more than simple tools and a few basic carpentry skills.  Here are the tools you need:

1. Circular Saw
2. Saber Saw with furniture quality blade
3. Drill
4. Philips driver bit
5. #6 pilot bit
6. 1/8 inch drill bit
7. 1/2 inch drill bit
8. Tape measure
9. Nail set
10. Compass
11. Router
12. 1/4 inch quarter round router bit

Here are the materials you'll need:

1. One 12 foot long 1x12
2. Three 8 foot 1x12s
3. One 8 foot 1x6
4. Box of 1-1/4 inch #6 Philips screws
5. Ten six inch 1x2s
6. Glue
7. Box 2 inch finish nails
8. Wood filler
9. Putty knife
10. Multiple grades of sandpaper

Sides

Build the sides first.  Cut the 12 foot long 1x12 in half. Use the compass to round the top of each side. I put a heart shaped cutout and a little dip in the top of the arc as shown in the picture to the right. To cut the cutout, draw the shape you want. I used a heart shape, but you can use any shape you like. Drill a half inch hole inside the area you marked for your cutout shape. Slip the blade of the saber saw through the hole and cut out the shape.  Go around the outside edges of the sides and the inside edges of the cutout with the router. Then sand the faces and edges of the sides and the inside edges of the cutout.




Center the 1x2 shelf rests as shown.

Shelf Rests

Screw a series of 1x2x6 inch long boards to ask as shelf rests. This makes for a much sturdier shelf than simply screwing the ends into the sides.  Set the first pair on the inside of the side boards so they are centered with the bottoms resting on the floor. Drill a #6 pilot hole, but don't go through the sides - just enough into the side boards so the screws will grab.  Glue the shelf rests and screw them to the sides. Put the top of the next pair 18 inches above the first pair. Then, set the third, fourth and fifth pair 12 inches apart. Test fit shelves to make sure they are all level as shown in the picture of the shelf  face below.

Shelves
Cut the shelves the length you want them. I made these 3-1/2 feet long. You can adjust the length, but if they are over 3-1/2 feet long you'll want to add more stiffeners behind the other shelves if you do (see below).
Set the shelves on top of the shelf rests. Apply glue to the top of the shelf rests and ends of the shelves. You can use bungee cords to hold the sides against the shelf while you fasten them in place. Tap finish nails into the shelf rests to hold them in place. Drill 1/8 inch pilot holes through the sides into the ends of the shelves. It will look like the picture to the right underneath each shelf.  Spread wood filler into the nail holes, level with the putty knife and let it dry.  Then sand the nail hole filler the shelves and all the flat surfaces and edges.  After the glue sets, lay the shelf on its back and route the top and bottom of the front sides of each shelf. Sand everything smooth.

Stiffeners


Attach the stiffener to the back of the bottom shelf

Cut the 1x6 into two pieces matching the length of the shelves. Round the top edges with the router and nail one to the back of the bottom shelf as shown in the photo on the right and one to the back of the top row as shown below. Add a screw to each in the center into the edge of the back of the sideboard.


  











Note the position of the top stiffener board.

Finishing
Use a wiping oil stain and good quality polyurethane varnish.  Do three to 5 coats of varnish. Allow each coat to cure for at least 4 hours and sand with fine sandpaper or steel wool between coats. 





Summary:
You can use this anything anywhere. It's cute and even if it comes out a little rough, the oil stain gives it a rustic look that adds to the charm of the piece. My wife loves that little shelf, as much because my son and I built it.

© 2018 by Tom King