what’s new


See


needed, just an eye for things. It’s his pallet. It seems that alternating


rolling and cutting is one concession he does make to any kind of repetition and this, he says, has to fit around Tuesday and Thursday training evenings and any home matches.


Ebbsfleet manager, Liam Daish, a former Coventry City player, likes the pitch cut quite short for matches and training. Peter is quite happy with this and duly obliges. As the playing staff are part-time professionals he does, at least, have the pitch to himself during the day. He says it takes him two hours to cut the whole pitch using a Countax ride-on with collector brush. We are a third of the way


through the season and the goalmouths are immaculate. Peter’s recipe for this is, now and then, to sprinkle them ‘like pepper’ - as he describes it - with a little topdressing of 50:50 sand and soil and some seed. It clearly works. He reckons this season - worms apart - the pitch is as good as it’s ever been. The thick sward and sandy rootzone love the rain, and there’s been plenty of it. In summer’s dry spells,


what Peter calls ‘the dog’, his description of a portable irrigator with a 20-metre throw, is used to keep it moist. The grounds proximity to the Thames - barely a mile away - means the water table can be just two and a half feet or so from the surface and this, undoubtedly, is an aid to growing conditions, but there is a downside. Metre deep gravel slits for drainage take most of any excess moisture away but, if the table rises too much after rain, they cannot handle all of it and pumping is necessary. In winter, it can be a nightmare, says Peter. Beat the weather: never get caught in the weather: that’s not only Peter’s philosophy for seeing that his beloved Stonebridge Road pitch is always in top order, it was the catch line of a record he made for the club to mark its appearance - and 1-0 victory over Torquay United - in the 2008 FA trophy at Wembley. It was something of a hit, just like Peter Norton is to the Ebbsfleet faithful. You can see the video at


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v =E8EKFUnacns - it’s well worth a watch.


“This job is like being an artist - no high tech needed, just an eye for things. It’s my pallet”


Peter Norton, Head Groundsman, Ebbsfleet United


at the 51st Doe Show


1st, 2nd, 3rd February 2011 Ulting Maldon CM9 6QH


The UK’s largest groundcare/agricultural/ construction dealer show


     


     


 ECLIPSE 322





 


Ernest Doe & Sons Ltd Ulting, Maldon, Essex CM9 6QH


Tel 01245 380311 


www.ernestdoe.com 47


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