Biscuit Addendum

Funny, we have been discussing biscuits (see earlier blog entry) and in the mail today was a package for Steve. Tea and biscuits from Neil S. in England!

Biscuits

At lunch on the last several Thursdays, Steve has been bringing in a different English biscuit (in America known as cookies) for the grounds crew to rate. We have tasted and rated Hob Nobs, Wagon Wheels, Digestives and Jaffa Cakes. Click on the ratings sheet below and you can see the different categories in which they were rated. Yesterday was extremely controversial as the Jaffa Cakes were rated really high by half the crew and the other half hated them. The "squidgy orange bit" bothered some of the biscuit tasters.

More on Verti Drain

Comments on our aeration.
The severe summer has left us with very short grass roots. They are currently growing and healthy, but not as extensive as they normally are at this time of year. This has affected how we aerate. Using the normal settings on the aerator resulted in huge chunks of the turf being pulled up, so we have had to adjust. We have taken 1/3 of the tines off the machine, operate at a greater speed to spread the holes and we are only going 6 inches deep (last year we went 10 inches deep). Getting the root system back to it's normal size is definitely a challenge this fall, with aeration being one of the key components.

October 26, 2010

A lot going on today.

• Deep tine aeration with the Verti Drain
• Recycling of the old grass court fences
• Post holes for new fences on grass
• Light installation on clay courts

Fall Color 10/25/10

Fencing Begins

Work has begun on the fall fencing installations. New fences are going in for grass courts 1-12 and between the terrace and driveway. Clearing, layout and some post hole digging for today. The LCC crew hand dug all the post holes that were in the area of irrigation lines - we made it through the day without one broken pipe!

Stone Hill Farm

Nate and Steve went up to Stone Hill Farm in Vermont to see the new grass tennis court built by Bill Copeland. Nate and Steve got to meet Bill at the Grass Court Seminar at LCC and had an enjoyable day visiting him at his beautiful Vermont farm. Bill, the court looks great!

NESTMA Fall Workshop

Mike, Tim, Jeff and Jordan attended the New England Sports Turf Managers Fall workshop at Bryant University in Smithfield, RI. The day started with an indoor session with Dr Nathaniel Mitkowski, plant pathologist from URI. He spoke about plant diseases on sports fields. We then went out to the athletic fields for a tour and discussions on natural and synthetic surfaces.

Turf Club Visit

The Turf Club from Delaware Valley College of Doylestown, Pennsylvania was in town today for a tour of turfgrass facilities. They stopped by Longwood for a tour this morning before heading to The Country Club. Their final stop was with Dave Mellor at Fenway Park. It was fun having turf enthusiasts come all the way up from the Philadelphia area to see our tennis courts! (They all were aware that a Del Vall grad - Ben Polimer - is a LCC grounds alum.)

Fences

Getting ready for new fences on grass courts 1-12 and on the south side/driveway side of the terrace. The old portable black fences from the grass courts will be recycled. Lots of vegetation needs to be removed from the driveway fence before it can be taken down and recycled.

HOF

Dan Robillard at the Tennis Hall of Fame sent me this picture of the Horseshoe court. He painted the lines pink for October - Breast Cancer Awareness month.

The retail store at the Hall of Fame

Lunch Entertainment

The grounds crew had a surprise concert at lunch today performed by John Gallagher. He played all different types of music on his beautiful 12 string guitar. We also heard some fun stories about his days at Roxbury Latin. Thanks John!

Poa to UMass

On Thursday Tim went on a trip to UMass to deliver 30, 2 inch plugs of Longwood's Poa annua. Dr. DaCosta and grad student Lindsey are doing research on winter injury of Poa annua and creeping bentgrass. Our grass samples will be subjected to different temperatures, tested for acclamation rates and physiological factors that affect the plants ability to cope with the different temperatures.

Closing Courts

Closing 7 grass courts for tennis. Getting all fall renovation work done in time for the October 23 cricket match on these courts.

October 12, 2010

Wet Courts

Despite the rain, the crew is getting the courts looking good for the upcoming grass court seminar. Hopefully the weather will improve by Thursday - Friday is supposed to be great weather!