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World Soil Day and Natural Greenkeeping

John
Greenkeeper's nous and bowls green performance

The key to a performance bowls green is hidden in the soil's organic matter.

Today is World Soil Day (WSD). A campaign that aims to connect people with soils and raise awareness on their critical importance in our lives.

To mark the occasion The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations has produced a wonderful series of Postcards that highlight the main threats to world soil health. In the UK we don’t do particularly well with many of them.

Threats to World Soils

The main threats to world soils include Salinisation, Compaction, Nutrient Imbalance and Loss of Soil Biodiversity, all terms that are familiar to greenkeepers.

Bowls Central members following the Performance Greens Program are not only improving their greens, but contributing their very own 1500m2 worth of help to reverse the damage we are doing to the world’s soils.

Natural Greenkeeping

Natural greenkeeping can help to show our sport in a positive, forward looking way in terms of soil protection and improvement. And of course, as many greenkeepers are realising it also makes for a better green a more enjoyable and safe job and lower club expenditure.
Have a look at the Postcards below to gain a better understanding of the threats to our soils. You can see the full set and get more information on World Soil Day here.
Loss of soil biodiversity is a big problem in greenkeeping, making greens more difficult and costly to maintain.

 

Soil nutrient imbalance is the norm on conventionally maintained greens. Pesticides, soil acidity and compaction cause greens to deteriorate
A great many bowls and golf greens are acidic and salt laden due to routine use of inorganic fertilisers
Compaction is a term familiar to greenkeepers. It hampers drainage and contributes to anaerobic and acidic soil conditions in our greens

 

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