Ground maintenance update.....
Pitch Drainage and Turf Improvements. May 2008
After last Septembers initial limited investment in pitch drainage we have seen a significant improvement in the speed at which water dispersed from the surface on those areas we worked on last year.
Keith Kent The Head Groundsman at Twickenham visited our pitches in early November having been on a tour of Kent club pitches that day, he was mightily impressed and enthused about the effects that our limited investment had achieved, when he dug a spit of soil out on his spade he demonstrating the effects the verti draining had on encouraging new root growth down the sand cores.
He encouraged us to continue with this regime, hence the committees support in expanding and increasing the budget to allow the whole of the 1st team & 2nd pitches and training areas to be verti drained with the 1st team and training areas having 120 tonnes of sports field sand spread together with new rye grass seed and several passes with a brush and drag to fill the holes with sand. See Drainage 1 – 10 photos below.
We now need rain to make the grass grow!!
Harrowing and fertilising of the playing areas is now carried out on a regular basis. I hope we will all reap the benefits of this investment.
Mark Scott. Leader of Ground Committee