On Monday of this week we verticut and lightly sanded the greens. This agronomic process is necessary to help smooth out the greens and also help keep our thatch level in check. Initially the greens can actually speed up right after the topdressing, but once the mower has been used a couple of times they tend to slow down due to the dulling of the bedknife on the mower. The very fine sand dulls the mower very quickly. Once we feel the sand has worked down a bit into the green, we place our walking mowers out to get the speed back up again. This can take several days as the sand is still present and keeping the mowers from cutting as good as they can. We will sharpen them after a few days once we know the sand is not being picked up by the mower. The speeds should increase as we will roll them as well. Thanks for your patience during this time, we try and keep the greens as consistent as we can and this process helps in this area.
We are in the planning process of becoming a Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary. As one part of the process we are forming an Resource Advisory Group. The purpose of the group is to assist us in the planning and implementation of various projects and offer technical advice. Group members also help to disseminate information and help to publicize our efforts. Group members can also volunteer time or labor to help monitor enhancement efforts and help with developing an inventory of plants and animals on the property.
If you are interested in getting involved as a Advisory Group member or just want to volunteer for some of the projects, please send me an email at john.hicks@ourclub.com. You can also call me on my cell phone at 805-433-4643
Additionally, if you know of anybody locally outside of our membership who has some expertise in this area and would like to be involved please let me know, we could use the help.
Thank you
