Bill Barnard
As I write this, the summer is winding down and we have completed many of our major projects, with just a few still ongoing. We’ve seen a little bit of moisture the past few weeks with some monsoon storms, but no major damage. Believe it or not, we are getting into our fall season already which means that we will begin two important functions; the overseeding process for our turf areas and start our budget process for 2026.
In Arizona, and other parts of the Southwest, we grow two crops of grass depending upon the season and weather conditions. Our summer grass (Bermuda) goes dormant when the temperatures fall in the wintertime and we seed it with a cool season grass (Rye) that will grow into the existing Bermuda grass bed. This is so we have grass that will continue to grow and stay healthy during the winter months to continue to have the beautiful green look.
Non-overseeded Bermuda grass areas will become dormant during the winter months and have a yellow color to them. The grass has not died, it is hibernating during the cooler months and will come back to life when the temperatures warm up in the spring months. We will be overseeding our common area turf and two of the golf courses this winter. The Tuscany Falls West golf course underwent a turf replacement with a different type of Bermuda grass (TifTuf) that we will not overseed. This grass stays greener a little longer in the season but will go dormant when the temperatures cool down. We paint it with a turf colorant to continue to have the green look through the winter months. The overseed schedule is as follows…
Common Areas:
EN and TF Clubhouse Lawns : Closed 9/29/25 to 10/23/25
Sunrise Park/Merrill Park: Closed 10/6/25 to 10/26/25
Dog Park/Other Areas: Closed 10/13/25 to 11/2/25
Golf Courses:
Eagle’s Nest: Closed 10/6/25 to 10/26/25
Tuscany Falls East: Closed 10/13/25 to 11/2/25
While we can’t control Mother Nature, which is the largest factor of a successful overseed, we do our best to control what we can and ask that everyone stay off the newly seeded grass during the first three weeks of the germinating process. This is necessary to protect the investment we are making to provide lush, green grass conditions during the winter months. Information and schedules of the overseeding projects are on the HOA website.
The other major endeavor that the staff is working on right now is the budget process for 2026. The budget includes labor planning and scheduling of operating hours for the upcoming year, projecting the repair and replacement of reserve funded items, analyzing data and information to form our expense budget, or any new projects we might want to accomplish in the new year. Each department director puts together their portion of the budget and we will create a final working draft of the budget that will be presented to the residents and Board for final review. We will host a homeowner budget meeting in early November prior to presenting to the PCHOA Board of Directors for final approval during the November HOA meeting.
Before we know it, we will be welcoming back our winter visitors, completing our summer vacations, and getting ready for the upcoming holiday season. I hope you are all making it through the summer months healthy and safe, no matter where you are, and we look forward to the busy season ahead.