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Greenkeepers, groundsmen and amenity space managers should apply more than just nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium to their green areas this autumn, with magnesium and iron essential to maintaining healthy, disease free grass swards throughout the winter.

At Moor Park Golf Club in Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, the club’s mission is to be recognised as one of the top private members’ establishments in London and the Home counties. For the 23-strong greenkeeping team this means constantly improving the club’s 36-holes and various practice areas.

For the Wildernesse Club near Sevenoaks in Kent, two key competitions in June – the Club Captain’s Prize and a regional qualifying tournament for The Open – provide the focus for greenkeeping efforts each year.

Following complaints from residents on a new housing development in Basingstoke about the poor appearance of a strip of land separating their homes from a public open space, landscaping and specialist grounds maintenance contractor, The Grounds Care Group, has recently been appointed to remediate the offending area by establishing a colourful strip of wildflowers.

When the first generation of commercial creeping bentgrasses (Agrostis stolonifera) was introduced to the UK in the 1970s, it was quickly decided that they were only suitable for golf courses with adequate budget, manpower and machinery to meet the species’ high maintenance requirements.

Landscapers should use specialist slow release fertilisers in favour of conventional compound products, not only to enhance the health and vitality of grass swards, but also to protect watercourses and to reduce the overall cost of landscaping projects.

As tightening input budgets and the trend towards earlier cutting at low heights puts increasing pressure on browntop bents and fescue swards, greenkeepers should consider how the latest generation of ‘super bents’ can improve the quality of their putting greens.

Germinal has added a high phosphorous foliar fertiliser – which improves plant health and increases disease resistance – to its expanding range of amenity specific fertilisers and sward conditioners.

Germinal Amenity has updated its leading sports pitch seeding and renovation mixture, A20 Premier Ryesport, with the introduction of the UK’s top-rated perennial ryegrass cultivar, Europitch