Have you awoken each day, the flickering light of consciousness just beginning to penetrate your sleep-addled brain, when suddenly, you've wondered: Could this be it? Could today be the day that someone finally tells me what's going on with the grass killed in Prospect Park during GoogaMooga?
Yes, Virginia (or Sebastian or Colin, I don't know your name, OK?) today is that day. Prospect Park Alliance spokesperson Paul Nelson told us that the sizable dirt patches that scar the surface of the Nethermead will finally be reseeded at the end of this week, the process having been delayed by heavy rain. (Although as we look out the window, we're unsure how today's weather is an improvement?)
As we learned when speaking with Frank Rossi, a professor of horticulture specializing in grass at Cornell University, sodding would have been a significantly speedier solution. Reseeded grass requires up to six months before it's ready for use—what good is freshly sprouted grass going to do us in December?
"Sodding requires much more watering, and we don’t have an irrigation system in place," Nelson told us, adding that sodding "also requires fertilizer, and we don’t use fertilizer in the park." He was unsure what sort of system would be employed to water the grass saplings [graplings?].
Rossi originally told us that although sod is faster, it's also much costlier than reseeding. We asked Nelson how much the Alliance organizers Superfly will have to shell out to reseed: He said he didn't know.
As for next year, Nelson said he's unsure whether GoogaMooga will return.
