march

Part 3 Winter projects. Build a putting green!

- by John Quinn, Master Greenkeeper

This one is not for the squeamish, but if you feel comfortable hiring and operating a small excavator and have a reasonable budget to play with, it is possible to undertake a variety of interesting (exciting even!) projects through the winter months. One of these which gets the golfers going is the prospect of their very own putting and/or chipping green.

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Here are March’s lawn care tips from Greenmaster’s Managing Director and Master Greenkeeper John Quinn.

In this months tips we conclude our 3 part look at building a putting green and move on to getting your spring lawncare program underway.

In the previous two issues we looked at the steps involved and started to apply some of our learning to the groundworks required to create a green. This month we look at some pointers on shaping, drainage, installing the rootzone and finishing off.

Shaping basics

As discussed last month all of the shaping work should be carried out in the subsoil levels, leaving a relatively easy job to simply re-spread topsoil or rootzone materials to a uniform depth over the new shapes. This should ensure that the shapes you created don’t disappear after topsoil re-instatement.

A couple of things to look out for here are:

  1. Don’t be too conservative with your subsoil shaping as the process of re-spreading the topsoil/rootzone will have the effect of smoothing curves out to some degree, so be a bit bolder with your shaping to account for this effect.
  2. Remember that you will have to maintain the area from now on, so make sure you don’t create too many “chocolate drop” mounds and bumps that will cause your mower to dig in or scalp the high spots. You should always attempt to make your shaping look at least semi-natural and allow a large surrounding area to blend it in to the existing contours. Otherwise, what started life as a nice mounded feature can end up looking like a dumped load of soil that didn’t get moved in time before the turf went down

Drainage Basics

When installing pipe drainage always ensure that you have a positive outfall at the low end and that the effect of the water collected from the green isn’t going to cause a flood elsewhere due to the channelling effect of installing the drains. Some hot tips here:

Drainage basics
  1. Lay drains in a herringbone fashion as above.
  2. If you can’t tie your drains into an existing field or storm drain, dig a large sump to lead the main pipe into and fill with large rubble. This is called a soak-away and works best in non-clay soils.
  3. Ensure that you have a minimum fall on your drains of 1:100, meaning that for every metre of length, your drain should slope downwards by 1 centimetre. This will ensure that you get a good flow through with minimum blockages.
  4. Don’t be tempted to put too severe a slope on drains as a gentle, gradual fall will perform much better over the long term than a severely sloping one.
  5. Make sure you have someone to hold the pipe down in the trench as you backfill with gravel as plastic pipe has a mind of its own and will try to spring back up above the gravel until there is sufficient weight on top of it to hold it down permanently.

Re-Spreading the Topsoil/Rootzone

When re-spreading the topsoil and/or rootzone, it is important to make sure that you lay a uniform layer over the whole site. Some tips for doing this well are:

  1. Hammer in some 1” (25mm) square pegs in a grid pattern. The size of the grid will depend on how you intend to move the topsoil to the site. If you are using a wheel barrow you can afford to have a tighter grid than if you are using larger, motorised transport.
  2. Mark the pegs with tape at the desired level above the subgrade.

    3. Top Tip: Make another mark on the peg 50mm above finished level for topsoil and rootzone as it will consolidate downwards during preparation and this should help you avoid having to continually top up during preparation.

  3. Don’t remove the pegs until you are happy that the shapes and levels are all correct and properly consolidated.
  4. You will have to reinstate the peg holes as you go with some loose material.

Final Preparation

To finally prepare your green for turfing you will need to rake and consolidate two or three times to get the desired seedbed. Consolidation on a big scale is done using a tracked excavator due to its low ground pressure and evenly spread weight. On a small scale you can do it with foot power. In the winter months you can still see greenkeepers all over the UK marching in formation over a new tee or green as they prepare the ground for turf. The routine is to firm the soil by walking, marching or shuffling (you choose) over the ground until it is just a mass of footprints. At this stage you then re-level the surface by lightly raking over the whole area with a wide wooden or metal rake until all of the footprints are gone and you have a perfectly smooth surface. Then guess what? You march all over it again! Repeat this process until you are happy that no further sinkage will occur and finish with the rake prior to turfing brickwork fashion as explained in a previous newsletter.

Top Tip: Choose your time wisely for this as it can look rather strange if the neighbours happen to have loud music on at the time!

March Lawncare Jobs

Last months tips promised a look at automatic irrigation systems. As this is a fairly involved subject we will look at this as a special issue in the next month or so.

Moving on to March maintenance work now and although the weatherman says its snowing and freezing, it will soon be spring time and some vital lawn preparation can get underway at this time.

Moss

If you have a moss problem you can apply lawn-sand (containing Ferrous Sulphate) to knock it back. This should be followed by scarifying in 7 to 10 days to remove dead moss and thatch.

Mowing

The first cut will be completed this month. Take care not to remove too much leaf at one time. Remember the rule of no more than a third at one time. Also take care not to scalp areas that have been heaved by frost during the colder months.

Rolling

If you have a cylinder mower then this will have rolling effect on the turf and should be used to firm and smooth the surface without mowing too closely.

Edging and Repairing

It's still OK to trim up edges with an edging iron (half moon). For a nice straight edge use a board, or if you are trying to create a curve or bend then a rope laid out to the shape you want should help you to achieve a good finish.

Next Month:

Top-dressing, fertilising and weeding.