SOILCARE

Getting pitches into shape to beat the wet
An on-going programme to improve the condition of their sports surfaces helped Wandsworth Borough Council over the wettest year since records began.

Suffolk-based C & P Soilcare have been working with Wandsworth since the beginning of the programme in 1998 involving 15 of the 70 sports pitches. The work started at Wandsworth Common and Wandsworth Park, and then continued at Tooting Common.

"There was waterlogging and panning at numerous points where the ground was so compacted that it did not allow water to go through. It meant we could not effectively renovate the pitches," explains Steven Green, the council's parks manager, contracts compliance.

Wandsworth Borough Council's improvement programme involved treating the soil to relieve the compaction, then cultivating to a depth of 200 mm and adding topsoil as required. More than 500 tonnes of topsoil was used at Tooting alone. Finally a process called hydro sprigging with grass plantlets was used, leading to the faster establishment of new sward.

The project was one of the largest undertaken by C & P Soilcare using the company's Terralift process. "The Terralift fractures and restructures the subsoil to a depth of one metre," says general manager John Warren. "This not only improves drainage and aeration but injects vital nutrients into the soil, complimenting any top surface work that is necessary."

Mr Green says the council is very pleased with the results of the programme, which will now be on going every two years. "It's been very successful. Needless to say, we would never have gone ahead with the work at Tooting if the results at Wandsworth hadn't been so good."
                                                                                   20 April 2001