Filed under: Field Maintenance, Work Days, Volunteers Needed, Miscellaneous
As we approach summer, it would be best for the fields if we corrected some of the damage now that was left from the spring seasons. This includes. . . some thin areas on the Stadium turf in the LAX goal areas, some bare spots north and south in the soccer goals, and some bare spots in the FH/LAX goals.
Delta Bluegrass seems to have a sale on the sod we placed in the south Soccer goal last year: 32 cents/sf for bermuda overseeded with perennial rye. The south goal of soccer is holding up fairly well, so I say we go with a winner. 200sf minimum gets us free delivery; for 250sf, at about $85, we can patch all six of the above areas and be confident it will be green and resilient in the fall.
Saturday, June 20 (the day before Father’s Day), I plan to have the sod ready for us to patch. Let’s start at 8am; we should be done by 10am if there are two or three teams.
Three important first steps will need to be taken, first thing that morning:
1) the areas to be patched need to be shaped to accommodate sod (which comes in straight lines and right angles). This is best done with a flat-bladed shovel.
2) the areas to be patched, if they currently pond water, need to be perforated with 18-inch vertical drain holes at 6 inch spacing. I am planning to buy a soil auger that can drill 1.25-inch diameter holes with a cordless drill; the holes should be filled with a coarser soil than the ground, such as sand. There is a small fine sand quarry on campus that we can use for this.
3) the areas to receive sod should be loosened and mixed with sand or topsoil, to just below the desired level.
Then after placement of the sod, the newly-sodded areas need to be fenced off with poles and orange fencing. Despite the signs, there are several leashless dogs on the fields every day (I’ve seen the paw prints). This is avoidable, so let’s discourage it from happening once this sodding is done.
So, see you at 8am, Saturday, June 20 - bring gloves, steel rakes, wheelbarrows, flat-bladed shovels, and a cordless drill or two. A few bags of topsoil would be helpful for each patch - bring what your field needs for us to use.
Spread the word among your stalwart volunteers. See you then.
Jim Hartley
jhartley07@gmail.com
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