The hard work begins again as the pitch renovation commences with scarifying

The season finishes and work on the pitch begins in earnest again to get it ready for the next one. 

Today, the sand arrived and scarifying the pitch started. The scarifying will continue until next week to remove as much of the debris as possible from the surface. The work will go length ways, cross ways amd horizontally reducing the height until everything possible is removed. It is done multiple times. The more the better

See the photos from today - 3 large loads of sand was delivered first thing following a temporary road way being created for their arrival.

Mick Brown then worked all day on the tractor to make the first impressions on the pitch. Thank you to Ernest Doe for the equipment and instruction to use it.

Ian followed Mick with the drive on mower picking up the large chucks of debris that had been left on the surface

Paul Harrison and myself then followed Ian using the converted lawn mowers to continue the scarifying. The mowers were used to go up and down the pitch over and over again picking up debris.

See photos of some of the waste in the compound. This will be collected by the allotment holders to use as mulch and compost.

The video shows Ian instructing me how to use the machinery safely before letting me lose on the pitch. I created some wonderful patterns but very few straight lines. The bucket needed to be emptied every time we went up and back down the pitch

Lawn scarifiers use steel blades to cut out thatch; hence it is also known as de-thatching. ... Take scarifying a step further by letting the scarifier blades cut into the soil and you will open the soil surface and make an ideal seed bed for introducing new grass seed to your lawn.