Club
Croquet
Wrest Park
Top dressing 1 October
The view from the container roof, showing the barrowloads of top dressing being deposited at fixed points and spread out across the surface of lawn 1. Eric Audsley (fourth from left) is spreading grass seed on the bare patches.
This year it was lawn 1’s turn to receive 10 tons of top dressing. The lawn was prepared by scarifying diagonally in two directions, after which it was swept with the leaf sweeper and given an application of autumn fertiliser.
A typical shovelful was weighed, giving 4kg, with 10 shovelsful per barrowload making 40kg, so 10 tons worked out as 250 barrowloads. The deposition points were marked by rows of bisques across the lawn. The grid allowed for the fact that there would be a small surplus, and this went along the west boundary to reduce the slight fall that had often resulted in anyone shooting at an opening tice having their ball veer off the lawn well before its intended destination of corner 2.
The early drizzle left off and the team, equipped with numerous barrows and shovels, completed the job in a few hours. Many thanks to everyone involved. Later in the afternoon there was time to mow and spread fertiliser on lawns 2, 3 and 4. A large number of red kites hung around all day, perching in the poplars and dropping into the maize field (which had been harvested a couple of days before) in search of food.
The timing could not have been better; not only was it done at the beginning of October rather than the end as last year, giving the grass more time to grow through, but on the following day the remains of Storm Amy brought the rain to wash in both the top dressing and the fertiliser on the other lawns.
All done -
A red kite above the maize field.
© Wrest Park Croquet Club