EDUCATIONAL ESTABLISHMENTS
Hazlegrove Preparatory School is situated just outside of Yeovil, within a beautiful rural Somerset location. The school is steeped in history that stretches back to 1519 and, as part of the The King’s Bruton Foundation, Hazlegrove is part of an educational lineage that spans nearly fi ve centuries. Graham Kitley is the school’s Head of Grounds, responsible for managing twenty-two acres of grounds - maintained and manicured to perfection. Lee Williams caught up with him recently
T
he striking lawns and gardens are the school’s main focal point at the front of the 18th-century house, but Graham and his staff also maintain four boys’ cricket squares, three girls’ pitches (recently added) and a six-hole golf course and putting green. Also, during winter, the outfi elds are split into fi ve rugby pitches and seven training grids. Artifi cial surfaces include two synthetic pitches and an eight-lane cricket net system. Being set in rural parkland, the soil profi le is made up of heavy clay, which Graham tells me is not the easiest to work with. “In winter, it holds a lot of water and, in summer, it dries out very quickly. Compaction causes major issues, so we verti-drain, slit and ProCore as much as possible (at diff erent depths) to avoid creating a pan. We have undertaken a vast amount of aeration which has had a positive eff ect on root growth in most areas and we have had some positive feedback
recently about the pace, bounce and carry of the ball.”
“The golf course is set around a multitude of large old oak trees which also causes a few problems as all our greens and tees suff er from shade. Our smaller artifi cial pitch also has shade issues, causing algae and moss problems and sometimes it does not thaw out during frosty periods.” Graham talks me through the general maintenance and fertiliser regime of his natural surfaces. “We try to stick to routines, but weather and general school life makes that hard. All greens are cut three times a week at a height of 5mm, using the Allett Shaver 20, as it’s small enough not to scalp in some of the undulations we have. The new borehole enables us to irrigate more regularly. During autumn and winter, we spray monthly with Turfi te 20:20:30, liquid turf hardener and Seamac ProTurf to reduce plant stress and disease. Granular feeds are
PC April/May 2021
75
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