Busy Times

Since my last post I have taken delivery of 56 tonne of Boughton loam and my first tonne of Grass seed for resale. Facilitated the IOG/ECB Foundation Course for Cricket Groundsmen part "B"  had two nights away in Northumberland at a Wedding as well as making a pitch for the seconds for Saturday and cutting the outfield.

 Ready for the IOG/ECB Groundsman's Course on Thursday morning.

The IOG run these courses throughout the country and I always try to arrange the one at Kirkstall  in mid August which means that Groundsmen have time to go away and order materials they require for Autumn renovation before its too late. Please try not to put your supplier under more pressure, by ordering late he wants to keep you happy and will be very busy when the season ends, believe me.

  

Ian Brewster checking the depth of scarification 

 I think we had 17 guys I hope they enjoyed it and learnt from the day, I got some positive feed back which is always good.

We had a visit from Ian Lacy, Head of Professional Services at the IOG. It is a while since I have seen Ian so it was good to catch up with him.

We got some publicity out of the Olympic circles I cut into the outfield, here are a couple of photos posted on Face book.

We also got a feature on The LCA page link below.

http://www.thelca.co.uk/news/2012/kirkstall-educational-cc-hit-by-olympic-fever/?fb_action_ids=10151394771229572&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=246965925417366/

Its strange I spend hours week in week out trying to produce the best pitch possible and make the ground look as good as I can. I then spend about an hour and a half cutting some circles in the outfield and every one comments and loves it, maybe they just don't understand how long getting a ground ready for a game takes. I just want to believe it was the Magic that staging the Olympics created and although we were well away from the venues we did have a good number of contestants from Yorkshire and they did very well.

I had been sceptical about the staging of the game but when they started I soon changed my mind.

I have now managed to up load photos from my smart phone above is one I took on the 27th July of the seed trials I am doing you can see the date of sowing and at the time they had been cut twice. I am so impressed with the Top Gun that I have included it in my best seed mix for the Autumn. The fineness of the leaf, speed of establishment and colour are all excellent. It is an American cultivar  from Harrell's Seeds and has not been through the STRI test but there is nothing like experiencing things for yourself, it is growing in Boughton Loam.

I have been so busy that I have not had time to get my price list sorted for the autumn so I just cobbled up a special list for Cricket and it is below for those of you who I usually post out to.

David Hodgson

Cricket Ground Specialist

Grounds Maintenance Service and Materials Supplier

Special Cricket Price List Autumn 2012

Loams

                                                                                                                      Collected             Delivered

Boughton Kettering                                                                                        £3-90                    £4-60    

Boughton Club                                                                                               £4-00                     £4-70

Boughton County                                                                                           £4-20                     £4-90    

Kaloam                                                                                                           £4-40                     £5-10    

Surrey                                                                                                             £4-40                     £5-10

Ongar                                                                                                             £4-50                     £5-20

Fertiliser

Spring & Summer  11-5-5                                                                        £20-00/25kgs     £22-50/25kgs

Autumn Winter Everris 4-12-12                                                               £20-00/25kgs     £22-50/25kgs

Autumn Winter 3-6-8+4%Fe                                                                    £22-00/25kgs     £24-50/25kgs

Other fertilisers available including the full range of Everris speciality fertilisers

Grass Seed Mixes

David Hodgson special for top quality cricket squares, mixed by Harrell's

35% Top Gun, 35%Cachmire 30% Carnac                                               £88-00/25kgs     £98-00/25kgs

Please note for any price comparison my seed is packed and price in 25kgs not 20kgs as most other suppliers.

I have been able to secure a very competitive price by bulk buying of this special mix which is reflected in the price so I have dropped my economy mix as it would have worked out similar price

Other mixes available on request.

Other products available include: Drag Brushes (hand), Tractor Mounted Brushes, Germination Sheets, Magic Sponge, Bowling Green Top Dressing and Seed.

Services include Deep Scarification, Top Dressing, Seeding, and Spiking of Cricket squares.

All above prices are plus VAT at 20% except grass seed which is exempt.

David Hodgson

Phone/Fax 0113 2692674, Mobile 07831 715355

E-mail: david.hodgson9@btinternet.com

Unit 2, 67 Wensley Road, Leeds LS7 2LS

Please dont hesitate to contact me for prices and delivery I am here to help groundsman and Cricket Clubs.

Till next post
Hodgy