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Leading lawncare expert refutes Monty’s claim

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Leading lawncare expert refutes Monty’s claim: One of the UK’s leading lawncare experts has totally refuted the claim by TV gardener Monty Don in a national newspaper that mowing the grass “is about the most injurious thing you can do to wildlife.”

Richard Salmon, managing director of ProLawnCare UK Limited, dismisses the claim as “utter nonsense” and asks what is Monty’s evidence for making such a claim?

Leading lawncare expert refutes Monty’s claim

Leading lawncare expert refutes Monty’s claim

“Visit any garden where lawns are regularly mown and you will see all manner of birds and insects.   Badgers are particularly fond of such areas as it makes searching for insects that much easier than in long, wild grass,” he says.

“All golf courses are enjoyed by an abundance of wildlife – and they don’t restrict their visits to the rough.  The other factor he forgets is that leaving grass to grow wild and reducing the mowing frequency, means that when you come to mow, it will be more difficult as the grass will be long.  It will take several passes with the mower to reduce to the required height, using more fuel and energy.  Plus it will put additional stress on the grass by reducing its height too much in one mowing operation.

Grass mowed little and often produces more leaf because additional tillers (side shoots) are stimulated to grow.  The more leaf you encourage, the greater the Co2 absorbing capability of the turf is achieved.” 

Richard agrees that all gardens, regardless of size, should leave an area uncultivated but, he points out, many wild flowers cannot compete with rampant long grass, so set aside areas for wildlife and manage them accordingly and leave the lawn as a lawn.

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Scarify and aerate with Cobra

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Scarify and aerate with Cobra: The Cobra SA40E electric scarifier is fully equipped for removing unwanted moss and thatch from lawns, and comes with a scarifying drum and a bladed aerator that can be easily swapped for ultimate flexibility.

The brand proudly boasts the title of having the UK’s largest range of powered lawnmowers and continues to develop its products to further its position as the expert in the lawncare market.  The SA40E lawn scarifier is the latest extension of this.

Scarify and aerate with Cobra

Scarify and aerate with Cobra

The machine is powered by a 1800 watt motor and has just under a 16 inch working width. Debris is collected in a sizable 40 litre collection bag, made from a fabric that allows free air flow, resulting in more compact collection and fewer stops to empty.

The 10 meter long cable ensures scarifying of domestic gardens without the need of an extention lead, and the height is adjustable between four settings from -12mm to 8mm.

The Cobra scarifying drum has a series of sharp spring tines that rotate at high speed and rake the turf, whilst the bladed aerator has 14 high quality steel blades to alleviate soil compaction by cutting into the turf vertically.

Peter Chaloner, managing director of Cobra, said: “Cobra scarifiers are packed with innovative, ground-breaking features to help you maintain your garden with minimum time and effort. The SA40E is ideal for fast removal of unwanted moss, thatch, weeds and other debris. Using it just once a month will result in more room for your grass to grow. This improves water, feed and oxygen penetration that results in better quality, stronger roots, meaning a more resilient lawn.”

For gardeners looking for a solution to end hours of raking, forking and scraping to create the perfect lawn, the SA40E is the ideal option.

Cobra products are available to buy online at www.cobragarden.co.uk or via a network of expert dealers across the UK.

RRP: £159.99

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Toro the right decision for Olton

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Toro the right decision for Olton: Investing in your first fleet deal is a big decision, but after seeing both Toro irrigation and machinery in action, Olton Golf Club in Solihull was confident Toro was the way to go.

For the past ten years Olton Golf Club in Solihull has been slowly turning its fleet Toro red in order to improve the course and stand out against its competition. And now, with the support of the club’s committee, it was decided the time had come to make the biggest leap yet to progress the club and invest in a Toro fleet deal.

Toro the right decision for Olton

Toro the right decision for Olton

As the club’s first ever package deal it was far from a snap decision, explains course manager Mark Smith: “Moving the club from purchasing one or two new machines per year, to investing in a full five-year package deal with a mix of lease and purchase machines took a lot of time. The Toro machines we’ve been adding to the fleet throughout the years were proving themselves but the benefit that level of commitment to one brand would bring is something I’ve been bringing to the table for ten years. With the help of a forward-thinking committee, it’s finally become a reality.”

With an abundance of clubs in the local area, the committee and greenkeeping team have been working hard to improve the course in order to stand out and Toro has played a large part in that.

“Securing the package deal is our next big step in improving the course, but before that we already knew Toro was the way to go,” says Mark. “Over the years we’ve been steadily replacing machines in the fleet so we could have majority Toro equipment. Toro machines are reliable and high quality and give us the confidence that we are in safe hands. It made sense with our drive to continuously improve the course that we would continue to invest in Toro.”

And before agreeing the Toro package deal, the quality of the Toro brand had been proving itself on the irrigation side too.

Mark says: “The year before we agreed the Toro machinery deal, we decided to improve and expand on our irrigation system and added Infinity and Flex800 sprinklers across the greens, surrounds, aprons and around 50 percent of the tees. After that it was time to turn our attention to our control system.”

And with confidence in the quality of the Toro brand at a high, Mark says: “It was logical to look at the options from Toro and after a demonstration of the Lynx Central Control system by Reesink Turfcare, we were sold immediately. And so far, it’s been great. It’s incredibly easy to use, particularly the mobile app.”

Further proof of Mark and the club’s commitment to improving the course is that they are now increasing their use of Toro sprinklers further, Mark confirms: “We’re currently trying to phase them in across the rest of the tees so we have a complete Toro irrigation solution.”

With both Toro irrigation and machinery now on board to help improve the course, Mark sees bright things for the future of the club: “We really pride ourselves on presentation, and with these new Toro machines alongside Toro irrigation I foresee big improvements to the course. We’ve trialled many brands over the years, but Toro has always outperformed them all. The course here stretches 90 acres and is largely made up of undulating land which Toro deals with brilliantly. One of our new machines is the Groundsmaster 3500-D triplex rotary mower and is a perfect example of a Toro machine built to perform excellently on undulating terrain. The contour following is superb!”

Mark concludes: “We really needed a fresh start with our machinery in order to make the improvements we wanted. With this new five-year agreement, not only can we achieve this in the near future, but we can continue to upgrade our front line cutting equipment every five years, ensuring we get the latest and greatest technology to keep on improving.”

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New Dennis ES-860 gets Nice seal of approval

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New Dennis ES-860 gets Nice seal of approval: Scott Brooks, Grounds Manager at OGC Nice in France, believes that when it comes to battery-powered cylinder mowers, there is nothing that compares to the new Dennis ES-860.

After an illustrious start to his career in the UK, which included positions at Tottenham Hotspur FC, Arsenal FC and St George’s Park, Scott is now carrying out the upkeep and the development of OGC Nice’s training pitches in the South of France.

New Dennis ES-860 gets Nice seal of approval

New Dennis ES-860 gets Nice seal of approval

He was specifically head hunted for the role after the French club visited the Football Association’s national training centre for a pre-season summer tour and were impressed with Scott’s unique philosophy on keeping players injury-free. That was over a year ago now and it is evident that he is making some vast improvements to the pitches in Nice.

Scott first started introducing battery-powered products into the operations at St George’s Park and claims that he was keen to continue embracing this technology in his new role. It was towards the end of his spell at St George’s Park that he first heard that Dennis was launching a range of environmentally friendly mowers called the E-Series.

“I never got the opportunity to get one at St George’s Park,” said Scott. “I had every faith that it would be a good machine because I saw the prototype at SALTEX and I could see the benefits of it straight away.”

For many years, turf professionals have been choosing Dennis Mowers for their superb cut quality and reliability, and anticipation quickly started building when the company announced its new battery-powered range.

Leaving no stone unturned, Dennis Mowers spent three years working with carefully selected partners to develop a range of quality battery-powered equipment befitting of the Dennis badge. The aim was to provide a reliable and long-lasting solution with the ultimate performance that helps professionals meet sustainability and environmental initiatives, reduce carbon footprint, emissions, running costs and noise without any range anxiety.

Ever the perfectionist, Scott first insisted on putting the Dennis ES-860 to the test against other battery-powered cylinder mowers.

“I had other mowers on trial for a few weeks and this enabled me to assess them side-by-side,” said Scott. “For me, there was no comparison and there was only one winner – the Dennis ES-860 was the machine I wanted.”

Users of the Dennis G860 cylinder mower will no doubt see familiarities in the new ES-860.

New Dennis ES-860 gets Nice seal of approval

New Dennis ES-860 gets Nice seal of approval

This 34” battery powered turf management system delivers maximum versatility and the range of 13 interchangeable cassette options provide a solution to many day-to-day maintenance tasks such as cutting, scarifying, brushing, slitting and verticutting. Furthermore, traditional G860 cassettes will also fit the ES-860, meaning that customers will not have to purchase additional cassettes.

A robust LCD keypad screen is an integral feature of the handlebar console providing the operator with a multitude of information options including speed, clip rate, service checks, lifetime running reports and battery information.

“The battery life on the Dennis ES-860 is excellent,” continued Scott. “We were able to cut two pitches on one single charge, whereas we were struggling to complete one pitch with others.

“The charging capacity on them is incredible. For example, if we have a big day ahead and everything is getting hand cut, then we know that we can bring the Dennis ES-860’s in at lunch-time and charge each of them for just twenty minutes. In this short amount time, we know that we will get enough recharge in them to go back out and finish the job.

“Aside from battery power, I felt the Dennis ES-860 was a robust and solid unit that was ideal for continuously using on the training ground – it is an excellent piece of engineering.”

“The Dennis ES-860 is also so much easier to operate and the interchangeable cassette system is so simple to change cassettes.”

After the side-by-side trial, Scott purchased four Dennis ES-860 mowers and uses them regularly throughout the week as part of his maintenance programme.

Typically, Scott relies on the brushing cassette to brush the debris off the pitches after every use; the verticutting cassette to remove any organic material and the 8-bladed cutting cassette to provide a quality cut before a match or a training session.

Scott and his team have been using the Dennis ES-860’s for a prolonged period of time now and he certainly has no regrets.

“There were quite a few reasons for going down the battery route,” he said. “Firstly because of the environmentally friendly benefits, but also from a noise pollution perspective. Prior to having the Dennis ES-860’s we kept getting asked to stop mowing because the noise was disrupting the training sessions. However, now with the ES-860 mowers we can be on the pitch next to the players while they are training, and they are so quiet that they do not stop us. It is a vast improvement in productivity.

“I also wanted the team to be more comfortable and with these mowers you do not have any fumes, there are less vibrations and also less noise.

“Battery-powered technology is developing and progressing all the time, but it is important to be an early adopter because if people don’t take it up then no one else will. It certainly seems to be the future.

“The club’s owners encourage the sourcing and implementation of more sustainable and environmentally friendly practices in the way we operate which this purchase obviously supports.”

For further information or a no obligation demonstration, please contact Dennis 01332 824 777 or visit www.dennisuk.com

For more news, reviews and insightful views, you can follow Dennis on Twitter and Instagram @DennisMowers and like the company’s Facebook page – www.facebook.com/DennisMowersUK You can also view the latest Dennis videos by visiting www.youtube.com/DennisMowers

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Council protects parks and green spaces

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Council protects parks and green spaces: Liverpool residents will be guaranteed access to park and green spaces, forever, removing the threat that any might be built on or sold off, in a new strategic partnership between green space charity Fields in Trust and Liverpool City Council. Liverpool is the first local authority to ensure local access to green space in perpetuity for all its citizens by legally protecting each of their eligible parks and green spaces.

The city council’s Cabinet, on Friday March 19th, committed to legally protect 100 much-loved parks and green spaces across the city, totalling over 1,000 hectares and sets the ambition that every resident will live no more than a ten-minute walk from a high-quality green space. Protected parks include local recreation grounds as well as well-known city centre destination parks and children’s playgrounds. (see attached) This landmark decision ensures there will always be local parks and green spaces available for current and future generations of Liverpudlians to enjoy.

Council protects parks and green spaces

Council protects parks and green spaces

Parks and green spaces have been vital over the last year as places to play, exercise, relax, reflect and the only safe place to meet loved ones and connect with friends and our neighbours; they will continue to be important as part of our recovery from the Coronavirus pandemic.

As part of the wider City Recovery Plan Liverpool’s Acting Mayor, Councillor Wendy Simon has committed to work with Fields in Trust and secure legal protection of Liverpool’s entire portfolio of green space. The decision is based on evidence of the health, wellbeing and community benefits they deliver. Councillor Simon said “Liverpool is blessed to have so many stunning green spaces, and this new initiative means we can ensure everyone has access to free, local outdoor spaces for sport, play and recreation, forever.
“The health, wellbeing and community benefits these locations deliver are priceless, demonstrated so clearly during this pandemic where they have become such a central and important part of our lives.

“And the benefits aren’t just health related. Access to green spaces improves our neighbourhoods, tackles climate change, supports education and economic growth and they frequently become the stage on which we host many of our hugely popular cultural celebrations.
“Our partnership with Fields in Trust is a ground-breaking, forward-thinking approach to protecting our parks and green spaces and we look forward to working with them to secure the future of these vital assets.”

The Covid-19 pandemic has affected Liverpool more severely than many parts of the UK: both in the number of cases and the rate of infection. Research conducted by Fields in Trust has demonstrated clear physical health and mental wellbeing benefits from regular use of parks and green spaces, yet these vital community assets are not equally distributed.

Fields in Trust’s evaluation of Liverpool’s green space shows that there is around 25.3 square metres per person, around a quarter the size of a six-yard box on a football pitch. Yet only four hectares of Liverpool’s parks are currently protected leaving them vulnerable to loss or building development. This new commitment will protect green spaces in every one of Liverpool’s 30 wards and guarantee they will remain as green spaces forever. This is vital when 1 in 6 people in Liverpool (16%) have no access to a private or shared garden, compared to 1 in 8 people (12%) across Britain as a whole. Additionally, the average size of Liverpudlians’ private outdoor space (144.4m2) is less than half the average across Britain (332.7m2). (Source: ONS)

Fields in Trust Chair of Trustees, Jo Barnett said: “Through the pandemic we’ve realised just how valuable parks and green spaces are to our health and wellbeing, yet across the UK only 6% of parks are protected and access to them is not equitable. We welcome this pioneering commitment by Liverpool City Council to recognise the proven physical and mental health benefits of local parks. These are valuable places; places where we can all move, breathe, run and play. We need to champion and support these precious spaces by protecting them for future generations to enjoy. Because once lost, they are lost forever.”
With the population of Liverpool set to increase by 10.3% over the next 20 years, any future loss of parks and green spaces would disproportionately impact the most disadvantaged and underrepresented communities, who would be missing out on these health benefits, as well as opportunities to get out into nature, have a kickabout and connect with their neighbours.

Fields in Trust have been conducting development work in Liverpool, using an evidence-led approach to make the case to Liverpool City Council for the legal protection of their green spaces; as well as contributing to Simon O’Brien’s green space audit, becoming a partner of the Liverpool City Region Year of Environment and supporting local Friends of parks groups. At the 2019 General Election, MP for Liverpool, West Derby, Ian Byrne, along with 37 other MPs took Fields in Trust’s “Parks Protector Pledge”, committing to championing parks and green spaces within their constituencies and across the UK.

Full details of the pioneering agreement between Liverpool City Council and Fields in Trust can be found on the Fields in Trust Website www.fieldsintrust.org/liverpool

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