Hi all
Welcome to the Hardyards Water Delivery and Lifestyle Property Services Spring newsletter.
Firstly those new to us, we will not be bombarding you with newsletters or emails and only send one for each of the seasons, so four per year. The idea is to help you with what you should be thinking of doing with your lifestyle block or water supply for the current season. If you do not wish to receive our newsletter please click the unsubscribe button and you will be removed from the newsletter email list however you will still be able to receive our invoices.
We will be exhibiting at the Nelson Home and Garden Show again this year. As a thank you to everyone who has supported us this year, below is a link to a two for one entry voucher to this years show at Saxton Oval 25-27 September - Covid Alert Levels permitting.
We again want to thank you all for supporting us and allowing us to help you out over the last twelve months. We certainly appreciated your business and in many cases the friendships that have developed from it. In light of that we would love your feedback on the newsletter and any ideas on topics you want to know a bit more about.
Water and tanks
This is the time for checking tanks to ensure your precious supply is safe and secure for the summer months. The main reason for this timing is if the tank needs cleaning or repairs, you will have water falling from the sky to replenish your tanks rather than requiring us to fill them for you. You may of course need a start load to keep the supply running but it’s better than having to completely fill the tanks.
Tanks accumulate considerable sediment and sludge particularly but not solely because of roof collection. Many tanks we see have not been cleaned in a number of years and we had one client who did get their tank cleaned. They were very appreciative of the advice as small eel like creatures were found in the bottom of the tank. The Ministry of Health (MoH) recommends tanks are cleaned yearly. Plastic tanks will generally go up to 3 years between cleans, while the concrete tanks, particularly those that are buried are more porous and usually require more frequent monitoring and yearly or bi-yearly cleaning.
Contact us and we will provide you with advice specific to your circumstances and can arrange for the cleaning to be done for you.
We have had a particularly dry Winter and Spring so far and the forecast is for another record breaking drought. The water table has not recovered from the past two years of drought. It pays to plan ahead where possible to avoid running out of water so a very useful tool is a tank level reader. These vary in price and sophistication from those that remotely blue tooth to your mobile phone to a ball on a plastic stick that "floats" out of the top of the tank. Again we can help you with a device and system to suit your circumstances.
Spring pastures
If you have a lifestyle property you want to be thinking about your pasture growth and weed control. Spring is the best time to do this and given the very dry Autumn and Winter we have experienced setting your pastures up for spring and into summer is an important consideration. We recommend the application of fertiliser in the next few weeks to maximise the warmer ground temperatures and the moisture we have in the ground from the rain we have had this month. We typically use a number of liquid fertilisers as there is less waste as the plant (grass) uses the fertiliser applied and there is limited run off.
We also recommend and support the use of growth enhancers. These are generally added to the liquid fertiliser and applied together. There are a number of options out there so check out our Facebook page or website using the links on this newsletter or FaceBook - Hardyardsnelson and website - www.hardyardsnelson.co.nz and on the gallery page you will see some photos of the growth we recorded on our own property. The benefits are not limited to rotational grazing and the cost effective results have been seen with less intensive grazing practices. The boost can be up to 60% additional dry matter production. The pasture sward is denser, with less bare spots and much better pugging resistance. Growth enhancer does not need to be applied continuously and in trials there was no discernible loss of growth response after three or four consecutive rotations.
As the conditions are good for grass growth, they are excellent for weeds also. Therefore prior to an application of fertiliser it may pay to consider looking to control the broadleaf weeds and/or broom, gorse and blackberry that our clay soils are particularly good at supporting. Remembering that a gorse seed can live up to 80 years dormant in the ground, the killing of this years crop will prevent new seeds being formed and spread however will not eliminate the gorse re-growth. Therefore repeated controlling of gorse is necessary.
We can supply the chemical or you can supply it and we have the ability to both boom spray or handgun as methods of application, so just ask us. We can give you an obligation free quote.
