Lawn Care and Construction

Lawn Care

These articles are written for the English climate unless stated otherwise. The information is given in good faith and is used at your own risk.

Five Simple Tips for a Good Lawn
Lawn Construction and Maintenance
Web Links to Sites Concerned with Turf-care

Five Simple Tips for a Good Lawn

	Keep grass short. encourages grass varieties which thrive when short. creates a tight sward by preventing crowns of grass hiding bare earth. discourages broad leaved weeds (e.g. clover, dandelions and plantains).
	Do not shorten grass by more than 1/3rd of its length per day in a cut. cutting too much off the length of the grass weakens it.
	Remove clippings when cutting the lawn. dead grass creates a mat of thatch which prevents water absorption and facilitates mould and fungus growth.
	Do not water until the grass is starting to brown. overwatering makes the grass lazy and it develops a shallow root structure. This causes weak turf which is easily damaged and susceptible to drought.
	Allow grass to lengthen in adverse conditions. gives the grass more resilience when cold (autumn, winter and spring) or in drought conditions.

Lawn Construction and Maintenance

Guide on the Construction of a New Lawn	Written by Richard Rothwell some time ago, but still relevent to people planning to do the works themselves.
Construction of New Lawns	A specification which details the various substrate layers, drainage pipes and grass types, set out as a commisioning document.
Croquet Court Building Advice	Correspondents discuss factors involved in creating a new lawn.
Sportsfield Drainage	General notes on drainage; types of drain, spacing, soil porosity.
Using Turf for Croquet Lawns	Berkshire Croquet Club's encouraging experience using turf.
Croquet Lawns	A guide produced by the Croquet Association 3rd Edition (PDF)
Croquet Lawns: Construction, Maintenance and Development	A guide produced by the Croquet Association 2nd Edition
Croquet Lawns: Establishment, Improvement and Maintenance	A guide produced by the Croquet Association 1st Edition
Croquet Lawn Maintenance	What to do when to keep a lawn in good condition. Written for the English climate.
Seasonal Work for Croquet Lawn Maintenance	Tables of detailing which operations are to be carried out when, why, how long they take and how much the materials cost
Lawn Care: March - June	Advice offered in the April/May 2011 (issue 331) edition of the Croquet Gazette.
Lawn Care: July - September	Advice offered in the June/July 2011 (issue 332) edition of the Croquet Gazette.
Lawn Care: October - December	Advice offered in the Aug/Sept 2011 (issue 333) edition of the Croquet Gazette.
Lawn Care: January - April	Advice offered in the December 2011 (issue 335) edition of the Croquet Gazette.
Annual Maintenance Programme	A dated but comprehensive agreement with a contractor to maintain croquet courts. Intended to help you formulate a specification for your own uses or plan your own maintenance schedule.
Deep Scarifying/Linear Aeration	Brian Murdoch describes measures for reducing severe thatch in a lawn. Full of useful practical tips
Levelling a Croquet Lawn by Hand	Robin Barry describes levelling a small lawn from an area with a significant slope
Croquet Court Building Advice	A discussion on drainage and court construction
Winter Lawn Use	Comments from a discussion on the Nottingham Llist

Artificial Surfaces

Dos and Don'ts on Artificial Turf	Article on Croquet World about recent experiences with artificial turf by Bob Alman.
Synthetic Lawns	Colin Pickering discusses their experiences in Adelaide, Australia
Bury St. Edmunds	Bury St Edmunds turfs out grass in favour of the first artificial surface court
Problems with Artificial Surfaces	John Riches describes some of the problems with artificial lawn surfaces
Hoops for Artificial Lawns	Don Oakley discusses the forms of hoops he has made for synthetic courts
Hoops for Artificial Surfaces	Correspondents comment on hoops for artificial surfaces
Artificial Courts in America	Don Oakley comments about playing on an artificial surface and appends notes from another correspondent about the costs of an artificial surface
Indoor Carpets	A note on playing on indoor croquet carpets and where to get one
Playing on Asto Turf	Players give their experiences
A Shade Cloth Croquet Lawn	Jonathan Lamb has created a low-maintenance croquet lawn in Uruguay using shade cloth.

Pest Control

Bird Damage on Lawns - Chafers and Leatherjackets	Birds and other animals looking for grubs in grass roots rip up large patches of turf. There are few solutions.
Removing Worms from Lawns	Removing worm casts, discouraging worms and killing worms.
Fox Control	Discouraging and removing foxes from croquet lawns
Rabbits	How to keep rabbits off your court

Lawn Care Equipment

Costs

Core showing 2" root growth. Click image for enlargement. Coin is 1" (25.4mm) in diameter.

Turf structure of the Surbiton courts used for the 2011 British Opens.

The courts ran at 10 -13 Plummers. The mowing height was set to 5mm. Note root structure extends down for ~2".

Turf at Surbiton 2011 British Opens
Coin (22.5mm) pressed onto turf

Roehampton lawns

Left. Superb turf at the 2013 Worlds at the Roehampton Club. Grass was cut to 2.75mm. Woking's grass was cut to 4mm for the Worlds. Clubs would aim at 6mm for normal play.

Web Links to Sites Concerned with Turf-care

This section gives links to sites offering equipment and supplies of interest to people creating or maintaining croquet courts. No endorsement is intended by including a supplier in this listing. Caveat Emptor.

Suppliers are welcome to bring their sites to our attention - use the Webmaster link below, lower left. Suitable sites will be included.

Company	Comment
Duncan Hector Turf Care	Croquet player and turf care specialist. Duncan gives advice on all aspects of croquet lawn maintenance and supplies tailor-made fertilisers. He does not charge fees, but covers his costs by supplying the products for the nutrition programme designed to fit your club's budget.
Turner Groundscare	"Turf Machinery Professionals " - a John Deer dealership
www.lawnsmith.co.uk	UK-based site offering advice on turf care

Author: Dr Ian Plummer

Updated 15.xi.24
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