Grass Clippings
Around our grounds
Autumn has finally arrived, and hopefully, plant life has also got the memo and is now beginning to react by moving to dormancy before any real cold spells come our way. Certainly, the colour displayed from the trees on the course is now starting to provide a striking display of reds, ambers and yellows from all angles.
There has been only one real frost on the estate so far, which compared to previous years is quite an anomaly. By now we are usually receiving below freezing temperatures on a weekly basis. Great for keeping the thermostat from being turned up, but we do need to knock pathogens into check and turn off plant diseases which affect the grasses.
Disease prevention on the traditional grasses used on a parkland course is one of the major efforts that turf professionals have to face each winter. At the start of my career, over thirty years ago, at this time of the year greenkeepers would reach for the fungicide bottle to help relieve the pressure of disease on greens. Due to the restrictions and reduction in material to control turf diseases, this is not the solution available today.
Even with the few products that are left on the market, the weather conditions; constant rains and mild temperatures equate to less efficient disease control. The combination of moisture and mild temperatures exacerbates the spread of turf pathogens, on a plant which is actively growing instead of being in a dormant state. One of our aims is to incorporate other fine-textured turf grasses into the greens, which have better resistance to turf diseases and help to minimise turf damage.
We are now regularly overseeding with these new strains in the summer, to allow these new cultivars to germinate and establish into the greens and gain a foot hold to achieve uniformity within the surface. It was encouraging to see good growth of the bent grass this summer and a good indicator that although this is a long-term project, it is having a positive effect.
Hopefully in the future, we shall have a good percentage of new grass strains in the greens which are more resilient and can outgrow many of the winter diseases that we experience in the UK.
Renewed roots
A tree which is thought to be 250 years old, is sprouting new growth after being felled by contractors for the HS2 line, en route to Birmingham. The stump and root ball of the tree which was a sampling during the reign of George II, was moved by contractors and replanted in a field 100 metres away from the new rail line and it is now sprouting new shoots and leaves.
The Guardian newspaper reported that locals believe the stump is regrowing because it was planted in heavy clay soils that stayed moist during recent dry summers. A cutting was also taken from the tree and Paul Labous, a horticulturist at Shuttleworth Agricultural College grafted the cuttings to new rootstock. Fruit trees are often grafted onto more vigorous root stocks to given them better viability to produce abundant fruit.
The high-speed line passes through South Cubbington Wood and HS2 has planted 12 hectares of woodland near South Cubbington Wood and around a further 18 hectares across the wider Cubbington area.
Royal Horticultural Society recommendations
During the 2024 Chelsea Show the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) will launch an exhibit which will highlight water’s effect on gardens in the UK as the Met Office, predicts by 2070 winters will be 1-4.5°C warmer and 30% wetter and summers will be 1-6°C warmer and 60% drier, but with more ‘extreme’ downpours, cold snaps and heatwaves.
The RHS is promoting wet and cold resilient trees after the trend for drought-tolerant trees backfired in December 2022 and February 2023 when cold snaps killed many of them. A RHS spokesperson commented ‘the key to this year is resilience to weather extremes and changes, cold and wet and not just drought-resistant, which is rubbish and dangerous. Catalogues of 50 years ago were a better guide to plants that have stood the test of time than lists of modern heat-loving trees. This does not just mean ‘boring natives’ however’.
The lead up to Chelsea 2024 has already begun and many of the themed gardens are well underway, in terms of planning and plant cultivation, ready for the big week of Chelsea next spring.