If you have been to the Gardens lately for a stroll on these lovely autumnal days, you may have noticed a slightly dirty mess covering the turf and promenade. What is going on here?
Wellfield staff spread screened leaf compost every fall as a step in the fall turf maintenance plan. If you missed our Fall Turf Practices series last fall, click the following links to read more: Part 1: Core Aeration, Part 2: Compost Topdressing, Part 3: Seeding, Part 4: Organic Granular Fertilizer, or Part 5: Compost Tea.
We work with a local company called Soil Solutions, who supplied the compost, and also kindly lent their tractor and Turf Tiger spreader to efficiently spread compost across large areas of turf.
The Turf Tiger is an excellent option as it can spread large and small aggregate material wet or dry, a unique feature among top dresser models. With the work completed, and a good rain in the forecast, the new organic matter will soon disappear into the soil to greatly benefit the grass.
Josh Steffen, Horticulture and Facilities Manager
I can not imagine why, but those contraptions are almost unheard of here. It seems that they are common there. I have seen a few videos of them in action, but only there and in other places. We still do it the old fashioned way here. Sometimes, we do it in isolated problem spots on large lawns, rather than spreading it evenly over the entire lawn. Just a few days ago, we needed to patch some damage to a large lawn, so applied amendment only to that particular spot.
Pretty efficient way for us to cover over three acres of turf given limited staffing. Keep in mind being on top of the city’s aquifer/drinking water, we must be au naturale throughout the year. The compost gives us our turf a nice punch of nutrition going into winter dormancy and helps it to flourish in the spring/summer ahead. Thanks for your engagement, Tony 🙂