Happy start to summer, and welcome to the 1st of our quarterly update! Our goal in these updates will be to provide our Windview clients with a recap of past work, challenges facing turfgrass professionals (mostly weather-related), upcoming projects, scheduling, and highlighting our fantastic staff!

Windview Athletic Fields had a wonderful start to spring, as we experienced a dry winter. This allowed us to complete an entire Oxford Area School District field construction job. We converted their JV baseball field into a Varsity Softball field, which included a new infield mix, soil, sod, and fencing for the Hornets. In addition, we performed several infield improvements for high schools and little leagues in the area, along with our standard infield preparation work for our full-service clients. We also got a jump on our aeration and seeding services for our sports field clients and were able to perform deep tine aeration on greens before golf courses opened for the season.

Then came a nice warm-up in the weather, which allowed bermuda grass to begin to green up earlier than usual. We encountered a cool, dry May, so bermuda hasn’t completely taken off with its growth and recovery. Did you know most places didn’t receive any rainfall for 5-6 weeks from the end of April to early June? This showed any and all inadequacies in irrigation systems and poor soil conditions. We noticed old infields that still had a large amount of infield mix under the soil and turf, old macadam tracks, areas with rock, etc.

If you noticed any issues with irrigation coverage or poor soils, now would be the time to investigate improving your irrigation and/or getting on a topdressing program to improve your soils. Before you take the summer off, if you experience any issues with baseball or softball mounds, lips, etc., consider what improvements you would like for next season. We can perform work for you before Fall Ball or in October/November for the spring of 2024.

While we had to reduce our mowing frequency and raise our height of cuts over the past month, we continued to visit sites to adjust irrigation, run extra zones, make repairs, and begin to put down extra seed in high-wear areas. When Mother Nature brings us rain, we will have a good recovery. During the recent dry spell, most non-irrigated turf went dormant; unfortunately, some will not bounce back. Nevertheless, grass that has not been trampled on or damaged by traffic will likely recover. Our team is closely monitoring conditions and implementing necessary measures to restore our fields to their optimal condition as soon as possible.

Over the next few weeks, you will find Windview out on driving range tees to perform renovations and assist with the popular change of installing bermudagrass. During the slower summer schedule, we plan to renovate soccer fields with newer and better bermudagrass varieties like Ironcutter, Northbridge, and Tahoma 31. This will enhance the quality of the field and improve its playing conditions.

In addition to summer renovations, we will apply our summer weed control products, fungicides, phosphites, and wetting agents based on irrigation availability. We will also continue with our mowing schedules, so if you have summer camps on the fields, please send us the dates.

Did you know? Our outstanding Director of Operations, Jeff, will welcome his first child in June! We wish him all the best as he enters this new chapter of his life with his wife, Melissa. Jeff keeps things running smoothly for Windview, as we are often tasked with adjusting our schedules throughout the year and ensuring projects are completed on time and professionally! If you see Jeff, make sure to wish him the best!