This is the MARCH installment of Horticulture Week’s month-by-month guide to essential maintenance and management tasks for turf and sports facilities such as bowling greens, cricket pitches, football pitches, rugby pitches, golf, lawns and other recreational and fine turf.
All turf areas
- Check for disease activity and treat appropriately
- Remove dew and worm casts when possible
- Avoid causing compaction
- Check irrigation equipment towards end of the month
- Increase mowing
Winter games pitches
- Continue divoting and maintaining an even surface
- Overmark as necessary
- Apply light seed and sand dressing to worn areas
- Continue aerating with solid tines, brushing and harrowing
- Mow to 35mm for football and 50mm for rugby
Golf
- Mow greens to 8mm, tees to 12mm and fairways to 18mm
- Continue to aerate, gradually moving to solid tines towards the end of the month
- Brush or switch as necessary
- Apply turf hardener
- Deep aerate fairways and carry out any repairs
Bowls
- Mow to 10mm
- Brush or switch as necessary
- Aerate with slit or solid tines
- In the south, apply light topdressing at end of the month
- Start light rolling, twice a week
- Begin thatch control at end of month
- Clean ditches
Cricket
- Reduce mowing to 18mm
- Begin pre-season rolling the square, starting with a light roller
- Carry out a light scarification to the square
- Make any final repairs to outfield
Lawns
- Continue with light mowing to 12mm for ornamental, 18mm for general and 50mm for amenity
- Continue spiking and hollow tine if possible
- Scarify and apply suitable feed
- Begin moss treatments
*Jobs should only be undertaken when ground and weather conditions are suitable and will vary according to location and may vary significantly from year to year. And remember that while the year nicely divides into 12 months, activities often overlap.
