The rain finally came, weekend looking good

 

We have had quite a swing in the weather over the past 7 days. From being extremely dry and the mercury trying to touch 100 degrees last weekend, we now are on saturated soils and struggling to get to 70 degrees. The true mark of the growing season is seeing the pool open for business which happens this weekend. Our team finished up the annual flower planting at the pool last Friday, putting in a few 100 more warm season plants.

The rains came on Tuesday and washed out our aeration and composting plan on the Manakin. The solid tine aeration process is a slow one so losing a day was not helpful. This is the only time during the year that we punch holes in the bermuda. We are at a thin gap between pre-emerge weed applications so we try to quickly punch some holes for root growth and water infiltration before crabgrass and goosegrass decide its their turn to cause trouble.

The compost went flying first thing Monday and thanks to a relatively dry day, we got 11 holes completed. After the rain though this process has turned relatively messy, with the aerators falling behind the compost and the clouds and mist keeping everything wet and sticky. We are fighting through it and hopefully by the end of the week everyone will agree that this compost smells great and is the absolute best thing we can do to promote a healthy and strong golf course turf.

A few thin areas on both sides have been selected for sod this week. The bermuda still has not hit its stride yet, although with this rain and the temperatures this weekend and next week things will shape up quickly.

A few final patches are going down on the Sabot as well. It has been tough doing sod work all the way back in November and then waiting until now to see exactly what has survived but that is the way of life for warm season grass in central Virginia.

The Sabot guys continue to dial in a few walkways. New stone is down here on a widened path to 5 white tee.

Enjoy your holiday weekend! There is no extra charge for tracking compost home and shaking it off on your home lawn!