Dave Saltman gives his monthly update on the state of the pitch
Shrewsbury Town’s Groundsman Dave Saltman is pleased with how the pitch is looking after the first month of the season.
On the pitch, Town have won all four of their home games and the surface at the Montgomery Waters Meadow has held up well.
“It’s all coming on well”, Dave told ShrewsWeb.
“I think the pitch is maturing nicely at the stadium. The old training pitch is coming back nicely after we did all of the work over the summer there with the sand banding and that’s now been taken over by the community.
“The training ground is looking very good. We’ve had play on their pretty much from the end of June right through until now and the pitches have stood up very well.
“We are getting a lot of rain and the drainage at the training ground is coping well. We are doing our normal work in terms of verti-draining, regular mowing – the pitches are mowed most days of the week – and fertilising, so we are really pleased with everything at the moment.”
During the last two home games the stadium pitch has had to cope with a huge amount of rain, but Dave is delighted by how it’s holding up.
“Saturday morning we were getting some massive downpours”, Dave continued.
“All of the track was flooded until about 12 O’Clock on Saturday and the surrounds of the pitch, which are built on heavy clay, had turned into a pudding, but the pitch itself took the water really well.
“The important thing is getting surface water away quickly and if you can do that then you’ve got half a chance of keeping the pitch through the season.
“The pitch won’t flood and that’s because of the cultural practices we do. We are verti-draining now and that’s to keep plenty of holes in there, which isn’t only a benefit for getting surface water away, but also creating airspace for the roots.
“We want to really push the roots down and get a good root mass, up to about four inches, because that will give us a good footing to get through the winter without too many problems.”