A New Metal Edge And A Stone Filled Gully

Whilst the quad was being scarified Kieron and Callum continued to put in the new metal edge along the back of the banks to support the soil.

Once they had finished the new, wider gully, that had been created behind the metal, was filled with the decorative stone, Golden Flint. The soil on the banks will be levelled and raked tomorrow in preparation for the reseeding next week.

The Scarifying Of The Quad Is Complete

The final cutting height of 12mm has been achieved, a reduction of 9mm since the scarification started on Monday. The amount of thatch being removed from the turf has slowed so, by the end of the day, the scarification of the quad lawn is complete.

The Quad Lawn 6th June 2014 (Before)

The Quad Lawn 10th September 2014 (After)

The Scarifying Of The Quad Lawn Continues

Joss and Simon returned to the quad to continue scarifying it. The tonne bags, strategically placed around the quad, were filled up rapidly all day with the huge amount of thatch and grass cuttings being expelled by the mowers.

Ali spent the day loading the heavy bags into the trailer, transporting them to the compost area and unloading them, creating a huge pile of grass.

The scarifying will continue tomorrow, and the pile of grass will get larger and larger!

The Scarifying Of The Quad Lawn Begins

The project of replacing the grass on the banks in well under way with the new metal edging now being put in place. Whilst this continues on around them, Joss and Simon begin the task of scarifying the quad lawn and will continue to work on the grass over the next few days.

Last scarified in 2011, see blog entries for August 'Two Men, Two Mowers', 'What Has Happened To The Lawn?' and 'Very Brown', Simon uses the Dennis mower with the scarifying cartridge installed, riping out the thatch that has built up over the last three years. Following a few rows behind him, Joss, using the Alllet mover, cuts the grass that has been raised by the scarifying, cutting at a height of 21mm (this height will steadily be reduced over the next few days to a planned 12-13mm). The duo will return tomorrow to continue the scarification.

Stripping The Turf And A New Metal Edge

The grass on the banks has now died sufficiently to enable it to be removed. The stripping of the turf started on Wednesday on the first section of the banks.

On Thursday, Simon and Kieron put a new metal edge in place along the top edge whilst Joss and Callum began stripping the turf on the larger section of banks.

Today Joss and Callum were joined by Simon and Danny stripping the turf until the final piece of dead grass had been removed.

The next step will be to put in a metal edge at the top of this section of the bank, to be done next week.

Potting Up 120 Pansy And 230 Primula

On Monday Ali and Graham spent an hour in the newly cleaned greenhouse potting up the 120 'Pansy Panola XP Purple' that have been grown from seed. Sown on the 16th July and pricked out in early August in to their individual cells they are now ready to go in to small flower pots.

Today the last of the order from Ball Colegrave arrived, 230 'Primula Alaska Bight & Breezy'. Returning the greenhouse Ali, this time with Danny, potted the tiny plants in to larger individual cells. This marks the end of all the pricking out and potting up of the plants that will make up the winter/spring 2014/15 display, a total 1280 plants!

Clipping The Box Balls

Due to the hot, sunny summer the 30 box balls is the Serpentine beds have not been clipped yet due to the risk of scorching. The sun has been hidden behind the clouds in recent days so it is, at last, the perfect conditions to give them their annual clip. The clipping of the balls has the added difficulty of being hidden amongst the grasses and herbaceous perennials that surround each one of them, making them very awkward to reach. To make them more accessible Ali put forks around the base of each box and pushed back the foliage giving her plenty of room to work. After each one was clipped the forks were removed and the surrounding foliage fell back in to place.