After two weeks of pitch hire and a week of renovation at Boundary Park the surface has undergone its planned pitch maintenance work.
With a programme in place to help improve the quality of the pitch, the grounds team will now be busy for the coming weeks and months to make sure it’s up to their usual high standards ahead of the 2021/22 campaign.
For the first week (starting 24th May) the equipment on the pitch used was called a ‘Koro Topmaker’ which with its first pass, that was completed on Day 1, took off around 23mm.
Over time an organic matter build up occurs that makes it more difficult for the surface to grow grass. It also creates a slime-like coating which impacts drainage and slows water movement through the pitch.
This procedure was needed to also remove the unwanted grass species, which is predominantly annual meadow grass.
Works for the rest of the week, which went according to plan, included a second ‘pass’ with the machine to clean up any remaining material from the surface, the spreading of new sand, raking of the pitch to ameliorate the sand into the existing pitch, verti-draining and then reseeding to begin the process of growing the pitch for the start of the season.
The Chapel Road training ground is also a part of the pitch improvement programme with contractors Bancroft Amenities, where grass coverage will hopefully start to be seen after the next 10 days.