Grounds Report - October 2003

Lawn Bowling Greens

During the past month we have been paying special attention to the green surrounds and the overall presentation of the lawn bowling area. The areas that still need attention area:

• Cleaning and edging ditches
• Edging pathways
• Trimming and edging around walls
• Trimming around seats
• Pruning of shrubs and hedges
• Weeding flower beds

In the past these areas have been neglected to a certain degree because the work has been done manually with hand shears, therefore it is labour intensive and takes a long time to complete. The KCC staff are being trained and encouraged to use mechanical equipment that the club has to complete the tasks in half the time.

To help in the repair of worn areas the club has purchased a "Turf Doctor" The Turf Doctor will be used to transfer 8" squares of turf from good areas of the green to bad areas. On Thursdays one staff member from the main ground will also go across to the bowling greens to assist in sprigging bad areas of the greens.

Main Ground

To date we have not had much luck in preparing a good wicket for the weekends. This has been due to the unsettled weather that we have been having, this has resulted in the wickets being under prepared. To assist in the wicket preparation and the training of the KCC staff in preparing good wickets we have secured the services of Australian curator Peter Apps. Peter has been the head curator of Bellrieve Oval in Hobart for the past 5 years. Prior to working at Bellrieve, Peter worked at Lords for 2 years, he will be in Hong Kong from the 7th of October to the 3rd of November.

The six's will soon be upon us, the stand erection is already taking place. This year the ground is a lot firmer so minimal damage should occur compared to last year. All precautions are being taken to protect the ground during the erection and dismantling of the stands.

The general condition of the playing fields is excellent for this time of the year. The renovation work and fertilising that was carried out during the off season is starting to show positive results with the turfs root system now really starting to take hold. I would like to draw attention to the training schedules of some sections. When using the ground for training it is advisable to train in a different section of the ground each time to rotate the wear evenly. For example if the hocky section train in the same area every week the ground is going to resemble a golf driving range not a sports field.