Housing directives

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MOUNTAIN HOME AIR FORCE BASE, Idaho --  SPRING HAS ARRIVED

LAWN CARE - The Do's and Don'ts


Spring has arrived. Now is the time for base housing occupants to think about lawn care. With very little effort, there are several things we can do to maintain our lawns and have them looking great.

The 366 Civil Engineer Squadron Self-Help store has a thatcher and aerator for your use; all you have to do is stop by the store on Liberator St and check one out. This is the best time to thatch and aerate your lawn. Benefits include:

- Thatching removes dead grass and also thins the grass to promote new growth
- Aerating opens the soil to allow the ground to breathe and absorb water better
- Allows fertilizer and mulched grasses to continually feed your lawn

The housing office discourages housing occupants from fertilizing their lawn to avoid over application and to prevent lawn damage due to extreme summer temperatures and lack of rain. However, should housing occupants choose to fertilize their own lawn, it is recommended to use a fertilizer that does not exceed 16% nitrogen, 8% potassium, 8% phosphorus and 4% iron. It is recommended housing occupants only fertilize during the month of May. High temperatures experienced during the summer months combined with excessive fertilizing can result in burning and permanently damaging grass when fertilizing is done between June and September.

The self help store has Round-Up and Weed-B-Gone available for weed control. Occupants are authorized one bottle of Weed-Bgone per season (spring, summer, fall) and one bottle of Round Up per month.

Proper lawn mower height is extremely important in a desert environment such as we experience here at Mountain Home Air Force Base. For optimum results, we recommend lawn mower blades be no lower than 3 inches. This keeps the grass at a height where the sun cannot easily burn your lawn. Taller grass shades itself; therefore, it requires less water while conserving one of our natural resources and protects itself by making it less susceptible to disease.

It is recommended to mulch your grass clippings, rather than catching and bagging them. Mulching allows finely chopped clippings to remain on the lawn. Grass clippings are natural fertilizers containing many of the micro-nutrients essential for growth, vigor, and disease resistance. When mulching your lawn, the best method is to mow clockwise. In doing so, you will continually re-cut your clippings, thereby grinding them into pulp. Mowing in this fashion prevents large clumps of grass from appearing after you have mowed. In addition, when mowing your lawn, alternate your mowing pattern each week to help prevent the grass from matting or lying over and allow for a cleaner cut.

Now that you know several tips to having a luscious green lawn, just how do you continue to keep your lawns looking like an "oasis" when the local annual rainfall is only 8 to 13 inches annually? Your oasis comes with a heavy sacrifice of a precious resource - water from deep within the earth.

In an effort to conserve water, the base watering policies are simple:

- Occupants residing in the 8000 housing area (Desert Skies), I the New Gunfighter Manor area and on Gunfighter Circle/Court will water on odd numbered days (i.e., May 1st, 3rd, 5th)
- All other housing areas will water on even days (i.e., May 2nd, 4th, 6th)
- Watering is only be allowed between the hours of 0500-0900 and 1800-2200
- Hand watering of bushes, shrubs and flower gardens is authorized at anytime
- If you have a sprinkler system, it is preset and maintained by housing maintenance. If problems are encountered with your system report them to maintenance at 832-4643.

By complying with these watering policies, we all help to reduce the amount of evaporation caused by the extreme heat experienced in the summer months. Historically, the average daily consumption of water during the winter months ranges is only one million gallons, compared to as high as six million gallons per day during the summer.

Don't forget to trim your bushes and decorative grasses. They should be cut back yearly to lengthen their life expectancy. Pampas grass should be trimmed before the new green shoots start coming up. They should be rounded off close to the ground in the shape of a ball.

Finally, don't forget to be prepared for weekly yard inspections by the housing staff. Most inspections are conducted on Tuesdays, but may be conducted anytime. If everyone works together and show home ownership, we will be able to make our housing areas a place we can all be proud of.


Posting of Yard Sale Signs


Attaching unofficial signs, such as "yard/garage sale," to utility poles, traffic signs, or other structures are strictly prohibited on Mountain Home AFB. This is not intended to discourage garage sales, but to eliminate a safety hazard and improve the base appearance. Personal signs attached to traffic signs or along roadways are hazards to traffic flow. Nails left in power poles are a danger to utility workers. The Self-Help Store has signs, which can be used to advertise your garage sale. Please return all signs to the Self-Help Store on the Monday following your sale. For questions, please call the housing office at 828-2781 or the Self-Help Store at 832-7006.