Turf!
I have been super lucky this spring, as the team all came together whilst I was away in Madagascar and beyond to re-turf our rearing ponds!
With a few bacterial problems rearing their heads in 2009 and 2010, it was decided to invest in a complete replacement of turf, topsoil and silt trap. We were a bit nervous to go ahead because despite the obvious problems; our B-Ponds are the pride and joy of the Duckery as they are forever green, effortlessly plush, and the envy of quite a few visitors every year.
Despite this, December rolled round and we broke out the shovels. It became very evident early on that doing it by hand would be impossible, so a hired digger soon made short (but horrendously messy) work of digging out the old medium.
When the topsoil arrived it completely and utterly blocked the yard. This shot shows just one of the FOUR deliveries we received!
Our grounds manager Nathan professed an adept hand at turfing; originally claiming 40 mins per pond. After bets were taken in relation to this the claim was quickly changed to 60 mins per pond. As it turned out, 2 (annoyingly sunny) days later, they were finished!
Trust the weather to jump into a heatwave the second we lay turf... We have been starting up a pump-driven sprinkler system early morning and evening for a fortnight in order to get the fresh turf to root. Typical WWT; none of the sprinkler heads rotated and so the boys stood and fought with (Oh I mean fixed them) a good few times before leaving for the night! A hard job well done :-)
Crossed finger for plush grass, no curled edges and a successful breeding use in 2011.
