Grass seed can only succeed when the conditions are right. This practical guide explains how to prepare the seedbed, choose the correct mixture and give new seedlings the best chance of establishing on your bowling green.
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Climate Change Challenges for Greenkeepers 5. Growing Pains
As greenkeepers we are familiar with a short list of fine turfgrasses that we use to create the best surfaces for bowling. However, our summers are beginning to behave very differently to the conditions favoured by these grasses. As temperatures rise and rainfall becomes less reliable, our cool season grasses are being pushed into conditions their photosynthetic system isn't adapted to. Growth stalls, roots recede and leaf colour fades, not necessarily because we've done anything wrong, but because the plant itself has reached a physiological limit.
Fusarium. Why It’s Getting Worse, and What to Do About It
Over the last few decades, routine applications of fungicides, high-salt synthetic fertilisers and ever-increasing topdressings of sand have left many UK greens biologically bankrupt. I see it time and again in soil analysis reports: textural classification coming back as just “Sand”. Very little in the way of silt or clay and sparse organic matter. No biological cushion.
Downcast is back and improved
If a product’s real purpose is to kill earthworms then this is now illegal for turf application in the UK. It's always best to stay compliant with UK pesticide legislation, honest with your players and committee, and aligned with a longer-term view of soil health. That’s been the Bowls Central way since day one.
Downcast is a non-pesticidal liquid that deters surface worm activity and encourages it deeper in the profile. It doesn’t kill worms; it helps keep their good work (aeration, aggregation, nutrient cycling) where it benefits the soil without spoiling the playing surface.
🌱 Introducing the Hume Pro Range: Next-Level Natural Nutrition for Soil and Turf Health
Unlike many traditional fertilisers, Hume Pro is designed for rapid breakdown and easy assimilation, ensuring nutrients get to where they’re needed—fast. It’s especially rich in Leonardite-based humic substances, giving you a powerful combination of humic and fulvic acids that improve root zone chemistry and biological activity.