Our bowling season ends on our green the third weekend in September each year. This allows time for new grass seed to germinate because the soil is still warm. It can then get established before the onset of winter.
Our first job is to verti- cut the green in four directions, two ways diagonal and then two ways parallel. This removes the dead grass and moss. It is known as thatch. We removed 12 green garden waste bins of thatch. This takes four men with two mowers working all day.
This is the standard end of season work known as putting the green to bed. This year’s team was P Acott, M Hills, A Elcombe and K Jones.
Every three to five years the green requires major work to be carried out. Overseeding, hollow tining or multi spiking then applying top dressing with seed mixed in at correct rate .
This year 6 tons of sterilized sand /soil mix top dressing was applied with 40 kg of grass seed. This is carried out by a specialist contractor E C Woods and Son who have the machinery to do this in a day. The last time this major work was carried out was 2016 , due to lock down and COVID this work had been delayed.
The video below gives a speeded up look at the process.
The Green photographed on the 7th November 2023 looking good.
