Thanks are due to Sue Allsworth who provided this report of the last meeting of the Gardening Club which was held at the Gog Magog Golf Club, when a talk was given by Andrew Howarth, the Estate Manager.
“We met at the Club early evening and sat outside in the sun. After a little while we were collected by Andrew who took us over to the putting green. Here he gave us a very informative talk on how he and his staff look after the greens and keep them in tip-top condition. He showed us the feeds and explained when and how they are used, and had on show the very sophisticated mowers and all the fixtures and fittings for them, including the scarifiers, rollers and aerators and explained how they look after all this machinery. I think we were all surprised and impressed by the number of times a week the greens are mowed, and just how short they have to be kept (4mm). They really are in superb condition. He also explained how the greens are managed during both wet and dry conditions.
Andrew also told us a bit about himself and his career before coming to the Gog Magog, including his time at the Royal St. Georges Golf Club in Sandwich.
After about three quarters of an hour, he led us inside the Club house and explained about some of the problems that have to be overcome including some of the common weed problems (mostly no chemicals, hand weeding!) animal incursions and damage caused and how they deal with them. He then took any questions from us, but there were not many, as he had been a very informative host.
We followed this with a very nice meal of lasagne, salad, chips, garlic bread and wine with coffee afterwards. The club staff were very attentive and efficient, so we had a lovely evening, in a most beautiful setting.”
Thank you Sue!
