Drive belt…

One machine down…

Clay…

Ant Hills, Mole hills & more clay.

#SOTG is currently preparing a lawn for some long over due renovation & rejuvenation.

As well as remove & flatten Clay deposits, thick mud pockets, & old hills, as we grade the surface down using 2 machines fitted with a bank of rotating disc blades.  Used to score through the surface, while also catching and raising useless material or unwanted green matter, that has been clogging up your lawn.

This lawn has seen heavy infestation of the named suspects in the sub title.

& no doubt others as we get down into the grass, while we clear out the moss & thatch to see what the surface is like.  It will be a while yet till we are laying some sand and loam soil any where near this lawn.

Which slice though the lumps, bumps, moss, thatch, & other unwanted matter contained in the Grass clusters we do want.


 

This lawn however has more hills from animal infestation than I have seen before, now we have started clearing out unwanted matter.  Josh and I are currently running 2 machines over the lawn Aerating the surface.  One is a Toro 40 cm Petrol Scarifier (54610)], the other is a Cobra s40c.  Running them in each direction in per setting, getting lower as we complete a full set of directional cuts & following blow off with each pass.

Then collecting the remains and removing them, for the next cutting passes of the machines.


 

As we have got closer to the bulk of grass swathe we are trying to to take the lawn height back to, the hills of the animals have started to become more exposed.  Increasing their number, range & effect dramatically.  The damage is fairly horrific, and we are still a few grades of height to drop.

The machines are fighting through it valiantly though, the constants varied direction passes slicing though the soft clay.  Soften till the point of being soggy after 2 weeks of near non stop Autumn rainfall.


 

So much so, today one of the machines Drive belts has shredded given the amount of clay now being tilled up on each pass.  Aside from the fact we’d already moved a half van load of Moss & Thatch, mixed with other Green or shrubby matter, as well as tiny bits of rubbish contained in all these shed mulching’s.

Now contains thick particles of Clay, lumps of clay and great wads of clay, macerated in with the clippings & shredding’s.  To next be taken off site & composted.  The weight of the bags being filled is carefully balanced to allow loading & unloading through tight spaces & for portability.

When the machines blades start catching in the thicker pockets of clay, the drive belt drags over the inner drive wheels, eventually wearing through.

Usually something like this happens early in the day & can be frustrating, so we took it as a Silver lining this happened at the end of the day, just as we were closing into the last hour of light available.  & we were also running out of fuel, so as I was making a call to get a replacement; Josh set about packing up.

I will run the machines up once the parts are in, for their Service, & fitting.

 

We cannot seed the lawn till the Spring, so for now levelling it is all that is required, now it has started to smooth off.

We can at least start walking through the undulations & heel turning heights of some of the bigger hills and valleys between them.

It is still a far cry away from a machine rolling over it smoothly!

Hollow tine aeration will be required also in the near future!