The unofficial AFC Rushden & Diamonds messageboard

So another season ends at Hayden Road after the Academy and Community/Charity Day over the weekend, and the work now starts on the renovation of the pitch surface for next season.

This will be the usual scarify (clean up) dead grass etc.. (we recently did some feeding and overseeding to strengthen the grass ahead of this work so there's a good amount already in the pitch.). We'll then top dress and seed - then it'll be some watering (hopefully a few showers etc..).

This year we'll be using a travelling sprinkler more to help save on water, and be more efficient, plus saves moving sprinklers around pitch in the evening and early mornings - as most watering done late evening/overnight where possible, so it gets a chance to soak in more.

Final prep before weekend events on Saturday 13th/Sunday 14th.

Final prep before weekend events on Saturday 13th/Sunday 14th.

Monday 15th - First Day of renovations.

Goals and Netting removed ready for scarification - new nets for next season - existing nets have done 2 seasons and have been repaired quite a few times in various places (clear tie wraps and white tape hide it a bit).

Goals will be cleaned up and parts repainted etc.. as normal maintenance.

Monday 15th - Goals removed ready for scarifying.

RS Groundcare onsite with specialist equipment for the scarification process. We only have limited equipment mower and attachments (drag mat, spiker, slitter etc..)

Day 1 (Monday 15th May) - completed most of the scarifying. Small amount left to do on Weds, along with the top dressing, seeding and feeding.

RS Groundcare - work in progress

This is the thatch and dead grass that gets picked up from the pitch, this stifles any new growth - builds up over the year during cutting etc...

End of Day 1

End of Day 1

Day 2 - Tuesday 16th May

Top soil levelling of far touchlines that had dropped levels. In addition all corner flag sockets were replaced with ones we bought earlier in the year. Existing ones had split and cracked.

Far touchline top soil levels increased.

Far touchline top soil levels increased.

After the initial seeding and pitch top dressing etc.. of course we have had no real rain since - so we've been watering overnight or occasionally during the day on some of the overcast days - or topping up touch lines etc..

We had originally hoped to use the travelling sprinkler - but towards the end of last year Anglia Water dropped most of the pressures in the area - due to sagging pipework etc..and this is still too low to use - we're only getting 1 bar at the end of the hose, and need 3 ideally. It's not simple to raise the pressure without some tanks and a pump, so we've reverted for now to the previous solution of a few sprinkler heads.

These pics from the first few days after the pitch work.

Ttavelling Sprinkler - would have been idea as would do one 30m strip of the pitch end to end overnight.

Reverted to the old sprinkler heads - we have 4 heads over 2 timed zones, so to keep pressure at head we only have 2 on at a time.

2 weeks of overnight watering - using some timers from home - 2 heads between 8:30pm-10:30pm, and then 2am-4am, with another zone of 2 heads offset by 2 hours.

First hand cut - after 2 weeks to ensure grass strengthens up - we've not yet been able to feed the grass due to lack of rain,

Initial 3rd of pitch cut - adjusting mower etc..

Refreshed a few of the older sprinklers with new heads - courtesy of Screwfix.

Using the Dennis Hand mower for initial pitch prep.

Pitch cutting in progress - also a few volunteers have been repainting the inner grey fence as well to protect it, along with other repairs. Work in progress.

Always looks nicer on a sunny day. Tim also gave the bench another coat of Danish Oil

Latest update today - watering continues - hope to get feed and overseed again in the next week or so - hopefully get some showers soon which helps all over versus watering areas at a time.

Far side touchline which was levelled starting to fill in, a bit behind where Mark would like it ideally - with first use currently slated for July 15th.

3 weeks away from the first Home Match at Hayden Road - on 15th July.

Pitch is progressing, and we finally got fertiliser on a week or so back and have since had a couple of thunderstorms and a bit of natural rain to supplement the sprinklers and help wash the fertiliser in. Still probably a week or two behind where Mark would ideally like it at this point, given the pre-season schedule.

Currently cutting with a Rotary Mower to keep the longer stalks down whilst the pitch still thickens up.

Picture yesterday after an initial quick rotary cut to just set mower up - more cuts to go over the next few days.