A finishing off week

This is what I call 'A finishing off week' this is exactly what it says,we try to get loads of little jobs finished off!

At the start of the week I was so impressed with the way the course was drying out, I even started to worry about the plant wilting. I carried out my normal moisture tests and soil temperature test to see how the grass plant was doing. The moisture levels had gone down to 30%. Anything below 25% we would start to look at applying some water. I can't remember the last time the levels got that low. The soil temperatures were around 4.4 again this is very low for the time of year and this means that there will be practically no growth. Soil temperature (not air) need to be between 6-9• depending on the grass plant for good growth. The growth rates seem to be about four weeks behind at the moment. This feeling might be me just thinking of last years super hot March (which triggered the hose pipe ban). I am hoping we get some warm dry weather soon...

This dry start to the week allowed us to get the course cut and finally chance to get the drain across the 7th trenched. This was then piped, stoned and topped up with root zone. We have had to wait a while for this due to the wet conditions but it will be worth it. We will carry out more drainage in this area during the late end of the season but for now I just want to get jobs finished off and get the course ready for the coming season.

Another job we finished off this week,was the topping up of soil and seed to all the tree stump areas that were left below ground level when they were ground out. These areas were over seeded with fescue to match the rest of the roughs. These areas will remain white lined until the seed is through and we are happy with the sward coverage.

During the middle of the week I took full advantage of the dry spell to aerate the greens. We only vented them really (this means aeration above 4 inches). This will help the roots by allowing them to breath air and improve the soil by adding air to the structure. We then rolled the green after with the new Toro turf Iron we had on demo. We hoped by doing this the surface disruption would be kept to a minimum.

As the weather turned back to the wet /cold that we have become accustomed to of late, especially Friday with over 20mm of rain falling we turned our attentions to finishing of the varnishing of the course markers and getting them finished for the season. We also started to sand down the ball washers ready for there new paint job.
Doing this to all of our course furniture brings them back to life and helps keep the course looking good.

By getting all these little things finished off makes me think the season is just around the corner and I can't wait, bring on the sunshine!!