The
Problem Areas:
- overgrown infield
turf; I mean way overgrown 5 to 6 feet past the edge;
- extensive weed
and turf growth in basepaths, warning track, and into the infield dirt;
and
- some thin
and weak areas in the turf
Fixing It
So, where do we start?
This
project is really a version of the 10 step turf maintenance program.
Except in this case, we didn't use topdressing since we had used this
extensively twice before. The turf had a good base. The field
just needed the usual spring time facelift.
Important!
For best results in the spring, you really have to do a few things in
the fall just before winter.
Here's what
we did in November: (probably would have been better to do this in October,
but, hey, we didn't get to it)
- Cut the grass way
back.
- Remove as much
of the new grass growing in the infield dirt as we could.
- Aerate the infield
in a criss cross pattern
- Use a thatcher
to get out the weeds in the infield turf area and lightly 'till' the
top 1-2 inches of the dirt.
- Spread grass seed
and fertilizer
- Pulled a drag
over all this to mix it in and help smooth it out
Then it rained during
December. But, January was one of the coldest and driest months
on record. So, not much grew that month. But in anticipation
of the new season, we held the first work day on the last Saturday of
January.
And here's
what we did for this project in January: (it was cold, so we
only worked from about 9-11am.)
- Aerated the infield
turf
- Removed weeds
from the mound
- Threw out some
more seed and a little fertilizer on the infield
Most of the spring
turf maintenance project was completed during the first half of February.
The weather was nice, so we were able to finish up the entire spring maintenance
project.
Here's what we did in February:
- Edge all grass
areas with a sod cutter (infield, foul lines, outfield edge, infield
mound, and the warning track)
- Overseed and fertilize
- Rebuild the bullpen
mounds
- Spotseed a couple
weeks later
This was all completed
in time for the opening day game on February 25.
I know. Some of you live in areas where there's still snow on the
ground in February. I grew up in northern Montana. The only way
we played baseball in February was to wrap electricians tape around the
ball so we could see it in the snow!
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Overgrown
turf during
the winter
aerating the infield
in November
thatching the infield
aerate and seed the
infield in late January
a series of
pictures to see how
edging is done
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