I want to improve the quality of my lawn. Do you think I should core aerate and power rake my lawn this spring?
— Jason Kim, Park Ridge
Core aeration is an important maintenance task for maintaining a lawn and I prefer it over power raking. A power rake is a machine with rotating tines that mechanically lift and remove thatch, which then needs to be removed from the lawn. You do not need to both core aerate and power rake your lawn. Most lawns in the Chicago area consist of cool-season grasses like bluegrass cultivars and different fescues. These grasses are most vigorous during cool and moist seasons, making spring and fall the best times to aerate lawns. Generally, aerating a lawn once a year is adequate unless the lawn gets a lot of traffic. In that case, twice a year might work better.
Core aeration is done with a machine that puts holes in the lawn, brings up plugs of soil, and leaves them on the surface. The lawn should be moist but not wet for best results. You can rent a core aerator or contact a landscaping service to have the work done for you. The machine is heavy, so you must have it delivered or use a ramp to get it into and off the back of a truck if you want to do the work yourself. Mark any sprinkler heads or light fixtures in the lawn to avoid damaging them as you aerate.
Core aeration is best for a lawn maintenance program because when it removes a plug of soil, it creates air pockets to improve aeration. This, in turn, reduces compaction and promotes healthy root growth. Spike aerators can cause more compaction by pressing soil down to make the holes, but walking around your lawn with spiked shoes is not helpful. Holes from core aeration allow water and nutrients to reach the root system more easily, while helping to break down the thatch layer.
Thatch is a layer of dead and decaying organic matter that builds up on the soil surface of the lawn. Grass roots into the thatch layer as it gets deeper, which makes the lawn more susceptible to drought stress. I seldom see lawns with a serious thatch problem, which I define as a depth approaching an inch. The cores should be left on the surface of the lawn and will break down over time. Core aeration also creates an opportunity to overseed your lawn.
You can check for excessive thatch by using a sharp spade to cut and lift a small section of lawn, especially if you’ve noticed the lawn has been slower to green up this spring. I rarely see lawns that look like they need a power rake. Only one lawn I saw over these many years of gardening would benefit from power raking, but that was for an owner who wanted immediate results. Power raking does remove some live grass, but I have used a power rake to loosen up soil in preparation for seeding. To correct a thick layer of thatch, though, it would take more than one gardening season using core aeration alone.
For more plant advice, contact the Plant Information Service at the Chicago Botanic Garden at plantinfo@chicagobotanic.org. Tim Johnson is senior director of horticulture at the Chicago Botanic Garden.
TEHERÁN, Irán (AP) — Una explosión masiva y un incendio sacudieron la ciudad portuaria iraní de Bandar Abbas el sábado, según reportó la prensa estatal de la República Islámica.
No estuvo claro de inmediato si el incidente, que parecía haber ocurrido en el puerto de Rajaei en la ciudad, causó víctimas.
Videos publicados en redes sociales mostraron una enorme columna de humo negro.
Las autoridades no ofrecieron una causa inmediata para la explosión.
El puerto de Rajaei se dedica principalmente al tráfico de contenedores y cuenta también con tanques de petróleo y otras instalaciones petroquímicas.
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Esta historia fue traducida del inglés por un editor de AP con la ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa.
ESTAMBUL (AP) — La policía en Estambul detuvo a 47 personas a primera hora del sábado en registros vinculados a una investigación de corrupción que llevó al encarcelamiento del alcalde de la ciudad el mes pasado, lo que provocó las protestas más multitudinarias registradas en el país en una década.
Entre los arrestados en Estambul, la provincia vecina de Tekirdag y en la capital, Ankara, había altos funcionarios del Municipio Metropolitano de Estambul, de acuerdo con la prensa local.
La detención el pasado 19 de marzo del alcalde de Estambul, Ekrem Imamoglu, quien es el principal desafío al mandato de 22 años del presidente, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, sacó a cientos de miles de personas a las calles en distintas ciudades para protestar por lo que muchos consideran un caso con motivaciones políticas. El gobierno insiste en la independencia del sistema judicial.
En un comunicado, la oficina del fiscal jefe de Estambul explicó que se llevaron a cabo operaciones simultáneas contra 53 sospechosos, de los cuales seis siguen prófugos. Los cateos continuaban en hogares y lugares de trabajo, añadió.
Las manifestaciones contra el encarcelamiento de Imamoglu y el retroceso democrático se saldaron con la detención de más de 2.000 personas por participar en protestas prohibidas el mes pasado. Muchos de los arrestados eran estudiantes, pero entre ellos también había periodistas y sindicalistas.
Imamoglu, que enfrenta también cargos relacionados con el terrorismo en una investigación paralela abierta el mes pasado, fue proclamado candidato a la presidencia por su Partido Republicano del Pueblo, o CHP, mientras estaba en prisión. Las elecciones están previstas para 2028, pero podrían adelantarse.
Los casos en su contra, que incluyen varios anteriores a las pesquisas de marzo, podrían derivar en su inhabilitación para la política.
El periódico Cumhuriyet, que apoya al CHP, reportó que entre los detenidos el sábado estaban el subsecretario general del municipio de Estambul, el secretario privado de Imamoglu y el jefe de la compañía de agua de la ciudad. Gokhan Gunaydin, un destacado diputado del CHP, afirmó que las detenciones estaban «dejando al ayuntamiento prácticamente inoperativo».
La esposa del asesor de Imamoglu también fue arrestada el sábado. El asesor fue uno de los aproximadamente 100 aprehendidos en la oleada de arrestos de marzo y sigue en prisión.
Las manifestaciones contra lo que la oposición llama el “golpe de Estado del 19 de marzo” continúan, aunque a menor escala. La oficina del gobernador de Ankara dijo el sábado que 30 personas fueron detenidas en una movilización la noche anterior. El CHP tenía previsto celebrar un mitin más tarde el sábado en la ciudad mediterránea de Mersin.
El partido ganó en varias ciudades importantes en las elecciones locales de 2019 y amplió su presencia en los comicios del año pasado. En Estambul, la victoria de Imamoglu puso fin a 25 años de control del partido de Erdogan y sus predecesores.
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Esta historia fue traducida del inglés por un editor de AP con la ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa.
1941: The Chicago Cubs became the first Major League team to have organ music
at a ballgame.
But the Tribune reported organist Ray Nelson had to cease playing at 2:30 p.m. “because his repertoire includes many restricted ASCAP arias, which would have been picked up by the radio microphones hooked up a half hour before game time.”
Zoo keeper George Lewis polishes Ziggy the elephant’s tusks at Brookfield Zoo in 1938.(Max Arthur/Chicago Tribune)
Also in 1941: Brookfield Zoo’s Ziggy the elephant
threw down his keeper George “Slim” Lewis and tried to gore him. Lewis stunned Ziggy with a punch to the eye, jumped into the enclosure’s moat and escaped.
The zoo’s management wanted to put Ziggy down, but Lewis begged that the sentence be commuted to life imprisonment, indoors. Ziggy remained chained to a wall inside the Pachyderm House for 29 years.
More than $15,000 in donations (or more than $132,000 in today’s dollars) was raised to build an outdoor enclosure for Ziggy to roam. On Sept. 23, 1970, Ziggy got his long-deserved taste of freedom
.
Chicago Mayor Martin Kennelly beams as Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s motorcade passes the State Lake Theater on April 26, 1951, in Chicago. (Chicago Tribune historical photo)
1951: Gen. Douglas MacArthur, ousted
from his Far Eastern command weeks earlier by President Harry Truman, thrilled a vast audience at Soldier Field with a fighting defense of his stand on the war in Korea. He had been welcomed to Chicago earlier that day with a parade down Michigan Avenue and State Street.
Throughout his dramatic speech, MacArthur was interrupted 19 times by “tumultuous applause,” the Tribune reported, for calling for a “realistic” policy that would be aimed at ending the war with a minimum loss of lives of American troops.
David Danielson, left, executive chef with Calihan Catering in Chicago, works with Christophe Pouy, executive chef from the Ritz Escoffier School at the Ritz Hotel in Paris, as they prepare foie gras for a party for Alliance Francais on May 14, 2008, in Chicago. (Nancy Stone/Chicago Tribune)
2006: The Chicago City Council voted to ban foie gras
— the fatty livers created by force-feeding ducks and geese — effective Aug. 22, 2006.
“The City Council will be sitting in your kitchen to determine … what you should (eat) on a Sunday after church,” Mayor Richard M. Daley
complained. He began working on a repeal soon after aldermen approved the ban.
Chicago celebrity chef Charlie Trotter
brought local attention to the issue of foie gras and animal cruelty when he announced in March 2005 that his famous namesake restaurant would no longer serve the delicacy. Trotter said his visits to foie gras farms convinced him that the force-feeding process causes the birds to suffer.
Ald. Joe Moore, 49th, led the anti-foie gras charge
in the City Council, saying it caused the “torture of innocent and defenseless creatures.” In September 2005, he introduced an ordinance banning the food.
Former “M*A*S*H*” actress and animal rights activist Loretta Swit
appeared at a City Council Health Committee meeting on Oct. 25, 2005, and compared the practice of raising foie gras with the abuse of detainees by U.S. soldiers at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison.
The foie gras ban was mocked on “The Colbert Report,” and TV food personality and author Anthony Bourdain
said it made Chicago look like “some stupid cow town.”
Several restaurants still offered foie gras on their menus in defiance of the new ordinance. The ban was repealed
on May 14, 2008.
