BOWLEDOver! The bowls and
croquet greens at the prestigious Hurlingham Club in London
performed better last year than in recent years. Grounds Manager PETER CRAIG explains how and why.
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EVEN though I say it myself, the bowls and croquet lawns at Hurlingham looked and performed as well last season as at any stage during my eight years in charge. There are many reasons for this, the most significant one being the commitment, skill, attention to detail and sheer hard work shown by my team during a climatically challenging summer. But, as will always be the case here, we cannot and will not rest on our laurels. The aim this year, as in all previous years, is to improve on past performance. The major task we have undertaken on the six croquet lawns and two bowling greens over the last five years has been to introduce a far greater percentage of sand in to the soil profile. This has been achieved through a pre-season and post- season (as well as occasional in-season) hollow tining and sand top dressing programme. In that time we have been successful in changing the ratio of sand soil in the top 100 millimetres from something
like 30/70 to around 60/40. Whilst this form of soil
exchange/amelioration is highly effective, hollow tining on such a regular basis makes maintaining surface levels and integrity very challenging. Bowls and croquet lawns should be perfectly flat and any deviation in the surface will quickly show in the track of the ball (not to mention the language of the player delivering it!). So, I have been looking for an alternative to bi annual hollow tining for some time. Having read lots about the growing popularity, particularly in the golf world, of the “little and often” topdressing programme, and after discussing the pros and cons with my consultant agronomist David Whittaker, we have decided to adopt this programme at Hurlingham for the coming season and beyond. To this end we have purchased a TY-Crop
Pro Pass 180 gator-mounted topdresser, which can apply dressings in the same disc spread way as the standard cyclone fertiliser
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