New twist to turfgrass

A sheaf of new grasses and mixes is announced by DLF Johnsons in its latest catalogue highlighting the Sports Seed ranges for tennis, cricket, football, rugby, golf and equestrian turf. Designed to meet stiffening demand from both private and public sectors for high quality products, the new turfgrass cultivars are set to play a key role in the maintenance programmes of grounds professionals and greenkeepers.
Introducing no fewer than ten new mixture formulations, one new mixture and six new cultivars, the world’s largest grass breeder and producer has introduced fresh thinking on how to prepare optimum playing surfaces all year round.

DLF’s Rescue Spring and Autumn extend the sowing window by as much as four or five months by creating cool season renovation mixtures that include the latest turf type annual and tetraploid ryegrasses such as Double 4Turf, which delivers exceptional disease resistance and winter greenness. Sombrero, which tops the smooth-stalked meadow-grass table for sports use in the `Turfgrass Seed 2012` buyers guide to independent test conducted by the Sports Turf Research Institute, is a key cultivar in Johnsons JRR (Rhizome Rescue) mixture.

Meanwhile, the new Chardin and Columbine ryegrasses are proven in independent tests to deliver even greater performance in the improved Johnsons J Premier Wicket and J Premier Pitch mixtures.

With its cultivars in the top five of every major turfgrass league table listed in `Turfgrass Seed 2012`, DLF Johnsons can deliver the right varieties across the spectrum of sporting and amenity requirements.

Despite challenging market conditions, aggravated by local authority austerity measures, DLF continues to buck the trend, reporting a healthy 15% upswing in sales of its Johnsons seed range in 2011. ”The increasing move among buyers to high quality seed is an indication that in a tough economic climate, value for money is of overriding importance,” sais Derek Smith, DLF Johnsons Amenity Sales Manager.
“Better quality seed in turn delivers better playing surfaces that mean fewer cancellations in winter and higher intensity of use, which raises annual revenues.”

Full details of the spread of solutions that DLF Johnsons provides across sport and amenity, are found in the latest catalogue - `The 2012 Guide to Quality Grass Seed Mixtures` - which features a handy mix selector, developments to the highly successful iSeed system, and the options available for those maintaining football, rugby and cricket pitches, golf courses, tennis courts and multisport areas.

For further information contact Derek Smith Amenity Sales Manager on 01386 791102 or email on dsmith@dlf.co.uk

Signed, sealed, delivered . . . and sown

Two leading sports and amenity contractors have newly signed up as distributors for the world’s largest grass breeder and producer.
MJ Abbott Limited and Phil Day Sports Ltd have now formally teamed up with DLF Johnsons as official distributors for the increasingly popular Johnsons Sports Seed range.
“We agreed the contract with DLF Johnsons late last autumn following the close of the sowing season – and announced it at BTME Harrogate in January,” said Adrian Abbott, Technical/Sales Director of MJ Abbott Ltd.
“We’d always dealt with DLF Johnson as we’re a large contractor in the golf and sports sector but felt we needed to find a way of maintaining links with our customers on a longer-term basis once we’d finished the initial job, which led to the launch of MJ Abbott Direct 18 months ago – a new arm of the business that acted as a portal to sell products to the amenity markets.”
Aligning with DLF Johnsons makes sound business sense for Abbott, who was “won over by the sheer scale of DLF’s operation”.
“I drew confidence from the scale of research and resource of the company. It can deliver on a big scale and, more importantly, on time,” he added.
A similar sentiment was sounded by Phil Day, Managing Director of Phil Day Sports Ltd, who firmed up their deal with DLF at the tail-end of 2011.
“We’d been buying Johnsons seed for some time so signing up to become an official distributor formalised our relationship,” he said.
“The scale of R & D at DLF Johnsons has enabled it to consistently deliver the top cultivars in the Sports Turf Research Institute’s independent trials, facilitated by their tremendous breeding programme. We’ve long thought of Johnsons as the premium seed producer, and one whose products our customers demand.”
Innovation has brought some of DLF Johnsons products to the forefront of the market in the last few years - notably iSeed and J Rescue, and it is developments like these that have impressed leading contractors such MJ Abbott Ltd and Phil Day Sports Ltd.
“DLF have shown themselves to be innovators,” Adrian Abbott added, “and we’ve found that customers are asking for products like J Rescue more and more.” We’ve also noticed the demand for iSeed is really building - this season especially - following the widely publicised success of some of its early adopters.”
Phil Day too has also noticed the trend for Johnsons latest ranges.
“A few products have always been very popular with our customers. The J Premier is number one among our customers and the J Rescue has shown to be very successful through the winter months achieving good growth in cold weather.”

Natural turf, why it remains the natural choice for

football, sports and playing surfaces

Read the ESA (european seed association) report -here

Uneven European Harvest and

Good Consumption

In Europe, the harvest 2011 of most grass and clover species has almost been completed,

and we are getting a picture of the size of the harvest.

The harvest period 2011 has been very wet in Denmark, especially July and August.

The weather has been a tremendous challenge for the growers as the harvest has been

frequently disturbed by showers. There has been a vast variation in geography and

between species, but as an overall view the harvest is now below normal. Holland has

also experienced a wet harvest and in addition also had a dry spring which means that

the harvest will be approximately 10% below normal.

For the rest of Europe, our local market intelligence information tells us that France

has seed yields that are about 25% below normal. Germany has low seed yields in the

northern part, and close to normal in the southern part. Poland has been hit by the same

low seed yields as northern Germany.

In general, Europe seems to have low seed yields and on an acreage reduced below the

normal level.

In relation to this we are convinced that we will continue to see a fi rm market for grass

and clover in EU27. Consumption has been good throughout the season 2010/11 and our

conclusion is that we have a much more positive balance between supply and demand.

Despite the economic turbulence on the fi nancial market, the risk of a direct impact on

wholesale prices, as in 2008, is less likely.

The general feedback from the market indicates that we have less seed in the distribution

chain and as explained above the uneven harvest is also going to create some challenges.

However, taking the Danish harvest into consideration we do believe that we are in a

good position to serve you. Do not hesitate to contact your sales representative for more

information.

Seed trials spark fresh thinking at Sussex CCC

Turf maintenance may never be the same again at Sussex County Cricket Club after tests with coated seed proved unexpectedly successful.
Sussex currently hold the prize for the best wickets in one-day First Class cricket so are no strangers to working at the top end of turfcare. Now in his fourth year in charge at club headquarters in Hove, West Sussex, Andy Mackay has once more raised standards by moving over to a new form of coated grass seed not only in his practice nets but also on the main square. It is the dramatic results he achieved earlier in the year trialling Johnsons Ji premier wicket iSeed mixture that have prompted him to shift to the mix across the board. The 13 practice nets at Hove are used intensively year-round, with each rotated three times during any season so the pressure’s on to turn wickets round quickly therefore, Andy says. The main square comes in for a battering too, he adds. ”We have just 11 first-class wickets on the main square but only nine were available this year as we are in the midst of relaying them all. ”Added to that, most of our home fixtures were crammed into the first half of the season so by the end of June, we had used them all and desperately needed to overseed with a mix that would produce a fast turnaround.” He learnt of iSeed from Matt Merchant, head groundsman at Old Trafford, when the two met at the England and Wales Cricket Board’s spring conference for first-class cricket groundsmen, held at Derby CCC. ”I remember the date, 14 February, Valentine’s Day,” recalls Andy. Was it a case of love at fist sight then for his encounter with the coated seed mix? “Initially, I was sceptical of the claims being made and was perfectly happy with our existing choice but decided to test it out after reading and hearing about Matt’s experiences.”

In April, Andy started trialling the seed in the nets area at Hove in direct competition with his favoured mix and pre-seeder fertiliser. As iSeed comes coated with quick and slow release fertiliser, he had no need to apply any additional feed,” he says. In fact, fertiliser accounts for half the weight of iSeed. To compensate, rather than oversow at 75g/m2 as he had done with his usual mix, he increased the rate to 120g/m2 - a strategy that has paid off handsomely for him. ”The iSeed germinated at the same speed as the competitor but really kicked on around day 10,” says Andy. “After two weeks, the renovated wickets were like chalk and cheese and I was amazed by the vitality of the grass plants: they were thick, upright and actually felt stiff underfoot. ”The colour also bears out the health of the plant and we are achieving superb density of cover. We were achieving pretty good results with our previous seed - a three-cultivar mix of dwarf perennial ryegrass - but even the players are noticing it and commenting.” The test results in the nets prompted Andy to rethink his choice of mix for the mid-season renovation. “I needed to revisit every wicket on the square and had a 16-day gap in the fixture list to resow everything,” he recalls. On day nine, the Hove ground played host to Elton John, leaving Andy an even tighter deadline in which to complete the renovation. He reseeded throughout with iSeed and by the end of July could survey what he describes as “a very healthy-looking square”. The price per bag for iSeed is slightly more than the existing mix, says Andy, but adds: “The extra cost kg for kg of seed is more than recouped I believe by the savings in fertiliser and most importantly the benefits to be gleaned. This is a big thumbs up from Sussex County Cricket Club.”

Andy was able to extol the virtues of his new find to 45 cricket club colleagues around the county at a Groundsman`s Association meeting held at Hove recently. “I can't believe I ever doubted it but until you see something with your own eyes, you never know.”
He recalls a moment a few weeks ago when a visiting player walked into the nets carrying his bag, got halfway across a wicket that had been recently renovated and stopped. “He put down his bag and proceeded to examine the grass and to stroke it,” says Andy.
As many a groundsman can confirm, once your players are behind you, you’ve cracked it.

For further information contact Derek Smith Amenity Sales Manager on 01386 791102 or email on dsmith@dlf.co.uk
www.dlf.co.uk

Diary date: IOG Saltex Thursday 8th september

10.00-10.45am

The ryegrass revolution!

Focusing on the new turf type annual ryegrasses and the very latest introduction new turf type, Tetraploid rye grass. The history, what’s new, how do they work, when and where should they be used.

Presented by Derek Smith

DLF Trifolium

New Seed Varieties Brochure

Available

The new edition of seed Varieties includes a signifi cant

number of new varieties of forage and turf.

Forage:

The major improvement is a common relative

scale for lateness (heading). It allows comparing

across species to optimise choice of straight

varieties or to compose mixtures.

Turf:

Most species now have a column showing the relative level of

salt tolerance compared to average for the species.

Finally, you will fi nd some new species and several small

improvements across the brochure.

Please go to www.dlf.com to get your copy or contact

marketing@dlf.com.

Microclover®

“Strong Enough for an Elephant”

Testing Microclover® at the Little Rock Zoo, Arkansas, USA

we discovered that the wear-ability is strong. Strong enough

for our 6,200 pounds elephant, Ellen, to walk on daily. Our

goal is to use an evergreen turf that stands up to heavy

traffic and stays green all year. Our field was planted in early

October 2010 and the germination was good and the clover

is well established. The area receives

southern exposure, full sun most of

the day,” says JJ Muehlhaussen, Work

Controller Tech of Little Rock Zoo.

“The Microclover® has grown well

and withstood many different conditions. Our region of

Central Arkansas, USA, received several inches of rain and 2

heavy snowfalls totaling 11 inches this winter. None of these

conditions slowed the growth of the Microclover®; it is resilient.

And Ellen enjoys

her strolls through the Microclover® and the

pleasure

of this sweet treat for a morning snack.

iSeed® is the Best Innovation

I’ve Ever Seen”

Bernard van den Bosch – Field Manager of the year - on the football pitch

Sparta stadium in Rotterdam.

since the introduction of iseed® on sports pitches 4 years

ago, the product has made a big impact in The Netherlands.

Bernard van den Bosch started years ago with the

forerunner from iSeed®, NutriSeed. He is very enthusiastic

about iSeed®: “iSeed® is a real improvement and gives my

sports pitches a big boost. It creates a dense turf from the

beginning of the season. This strong establishment helps

keep the turf strong during playtime. On training pitches I

have seen that iSeed® creates a more stable pitch.”

This year Bernard is starting to test iSeed® on his new

xtragrass-fi elds, a sports fi eld of 100% natural grass

reinforced with synthetic grass fi bres. he is convinced that

this combination will tackle a reasonable part of the artifi cial

turf market in future.

U21 European Football Chamionship

When the U21 European Championship starts on June 11th in Denmark, the turf is

ready and trimmed for the tournament. DLF-TRIFOLIUM is grass supplier to the

majority of the Danish Superliga stadiums, including the stadiums in Herning, Viborg,

Aalborg and Aarhus.

Thanks to our research activities, our portfolio of grass seed contains varieties with

the best characteristics for sports fields. From our portfolio we have handpicked

varieties for the Masterline mixtures that form the basis of the pitches. The

Masterline mixtures contain wear tolerant and fast establishing ryegrass varieties

and are specially formulated for overseeding on football pitches with hard wear.

The good experience with the grass from last year's championship in South Africa

have resulted in the development of a new Masterline mixture for the Danish market.

This mixture is particularly suited to repair wear and winter damage on the football

pitch, e.g. in the goal area.

- We have combined the best of the two grass species - Perennial Ryegrass and

Westerwold. The specific benefit of Westerwold is that it germinates and establishes

faster than Perennial Ryegrass - even at lower temperatures. This makes it ideal

for early repair of winter damage. With AXCELL A, the bare patches are faster reestablished

and afterwards the permanent and durable general ryegrass takes over.

- We are overseeding the pitches 6-7 times during the season. The recent overseeding

was conducted in early May with Masterline, and the grass looks absolutely perfect,"

says groundsman at Herning Stadium, Anders Nielsen. Herning Stadium will host

the matches between Spain, England and Ukraine in the first round as well as the

semifinal on June 22nd.

MASTERLINE - THE PROFESSIONAL CHOICE

The 2011 Masterline Catalogue as now available as a pdf download here or a hard copy can be posted to you. please email amenity@dlf.co.uk and one will be posted to you.

The Masterline seed range reputation has been built on a determination to deliver the best products and service to our customers at all times. Throughout the organisation, measures are taken to improve efficiency of seed production so that the right product can be delivered on time and at the right price.

Masterline mixtures include market leading cultivars from Europe's top breeders.

Same day despatch for orders placed before 12 noon.

Sound advice on selection and management of all products.

National next day carriage service.

Seed packed in high quality 20kg paper coated polypropylene laminate bags to ensure they arrive in perfect condition.

Johnsons Sports Seed 2011 Catalogue out now

We understand that people appreciate sport and the emotion it generates. Whatever their sport, players deserve a surface that can absorb all they dish out and bounce back for the next fixture. From rugby pitches to golf courses, our grass seed mixtures are designed to cope with the best of British sport and the worst of British weather.

The Johnsons sport seed range is constantly being reviewed and updated and the 2011 range is no exception with no fewer then 10 new mixture formulations, 2 new mixtures and 3 new cultivars! The dynamism of the DLF research programs allows us to continually improve the quality of our products.

Download it here

Turfgrass Seed 2011

Turfgrass Seed 2011 is now available as a PDF download Here

The purpose of the Turfgrass Seed is to report comprehensive results of available varieties in trials designed to test suitability for:

use in winter sports pitches, such as football and rugby fields, and municipal recreation areas.

use in lawns, summer sports pitches, tennis court, turf and general landscaping.

use in the intensive management seen on golf and bowling greens.

Turgrass Seed presents the best available interpretation of correctly designed, accurately analysed and independently supervised trials to our collective customer, the professional user of high quality amenity grass cultivars.

Prograss, The Marketing Newsletter - September 2010

The arrival of Axcella 'winter grass' - An additional tool in the turf managers toolbox

Tetraploid Turf Perennial Ryegrass, 'Four' all seasons

Festulolium and hybrid ryegrass helped Danish farmers after unusually long Winter

iSeed® Knocks the stripes off non-coated mixture

Festulolium in South America: The real alternative

Grass seed will increase in price!

Golf delelopment in China

New outstanding varieties for the season 2010/2011

Read it here (5.96MB) pdf

Natural Turf versus artifical Turf

If you're thinking of buying and installing a new sports pitch, then you have many factors to

consider before making that decision - and one of these is whether to choose natural turfgrass

or an artificial surface. The Section Forage Plants and Amenity Grasses (SFG) of the European Seed Association (ESA) has produced what is probably the most up-to-date comparison available for natural versus artificial turf for sports and leisure applications.

New J Rescue - Sow the seeds of World Cup success.

The cultivar at the heart of the playing surfaces triumph at the 2010 FIFA World Cup 2010 has been officially launched in the UK. Axcella, a key cultivar used in the successful overseeding mix for the tournament’s match and training pitches, is an annual Rye grass said to be the first commercially available seed of its kind on the market.

Developed by DLF Trifolium, the world’s largest grass breeder and producer, the cultivar was originally bred for winter overseeding of dormant Burmuda grass and other warm season turf, where there’s a need for rapid establishment and early spring transition. It is now available in combination with the top-rated Bizet 1 perennial ryegrass as a 50:50 mix in Johnson’s J Rescue.

Axcella proved the perfect remedy for overseeding the native low-growing, warm-season perennial Kikuyu grass in South Africa in the run-up to the football tournament. The pitches attracted praise from FIFA, players and media alike for the quality of preparation, playability and their excellent appearance. Combining the qualities of rapid germination at temperatures as low as 3oC, colour, density and fine texture, Axcella was bred from dwarf annual ryegrass plants with greater shoot density, narrower leaf blades, less vertical leaf growth and a darker green leaf. Such qualities will aid grounds care professionals wishing to undertake remedial mid-season work over autumn, at both public sites and private clubs at all levels. It will find a ready application for goalmouth renovation and areas that are needed to withstand high intensity of use.“Axcella exhibits strong seedling vigour for a weed-free turf and requires less pesticide application after sowing,” says Derek Smith, Amenity Sales Manager for DLF Trifolium. “It also has better overseeding quality than most intermediate ryegrasses. “The cultivar is designed to offer fast turnaround on worn areas where a return to a fully functional sward is needed at very short notice,” he adds.

For more information about Axcella, contact Derek Smith on 01386 791102 or visit www.dlf.co.uk

iSeed knocks the stripes off non-coated mixture.

The first field trials ever conducted in Britain on new iSeed have brought dramatic results.

The trials were undertaken by Matthew Merchant, Head Groundsman at Old Trafford, home of Lancashire County Cricket Club. The iSeed is the first system of its kind to coat seed with full strength fertiliser, which is designed to kick-start post-germinative growth, nourishing just the new plant, not the existing sward or any weeds that may be present during overseeding.

DLF, the world's largest grass breeder and producer, has launched iSeed under its Johnson's brand across a spread of sporting applications, including golf and football as well as cricket. The Old Trafford trials mark the first field tests on iSeed since it was unveiled in Britain.

Keen to test the new product, Merchant called in DLF in March to gauge how it performed against a non-coated mixture. Taking Old Trafford's practice areas as his testbed, Merchant sowed Johnson's Ji Premier Wicket in strips running side by side with a comparable non-coated competitor's seed. "We trialled the two mixtures firstly on practice wicket strips for a week, using germinating sheets and our new lighting rigs," he explained. "After seven days, we removed the sheets and found both mixtures were showing a similar colour and growth rate, so decided to return the lights for a few more days, continuing to water both at the same rate." "It was then that iSeed really took off and began to flourish. Compared with the other seed, which started to yellow off, the iSeed seemed to get a second wind at 10 days and we saw a huge difference in thickness, colour and coverage."

The reason behind the surge in growth compared to a non-coated mix comes down to the way the seed utilises the fertiliser coating. Phosphate nutrients - those in fertilisers for example - are generally immobile, so the coating enables such nutrients to be used exactly where the seed wants it, without the need for any additional fertilisers in the early period of growth.iSeed has undergone extensive research to ensure it is not phytotoxic, while it also helps to reduce the additional costs associated with the further feeding that regular seed requires.

The difference between the two seed-types trialled was most startling in the larger test area Matthew employed to sow them adjacently in blocks. "The sheer difference in greenness giving an impression of light and shade," Merchant said. "After ten days, the contrast was so great that I decided to overseed two of the four competitor's seeded strips with iSeed to bring them up to a comparable colour".
"After two weeks of growth, we'd never usually expect coverage as good as this," he added. "The results we found with the iSeed would be comparable to another full overseeding with a non-coated seed, and even then the colour would not be as brilliant as this - we're extremely pleased with the results."
In what are testing times economically for everyone, the trials prove that iSeed can deliver a highly cost-effective solution for turfcare managers.

iSeed: FEEDS THE SEEDS! NOT THE WEEDS

Improved seeding results, guaranteed!

Faster and more uniform emergence

Up to 34% more plants,up to 85% longer roots

Reduced Poa annua and weed levels

Increased wear tolerance

Targeted nutrient application (Feeding the seed, not the weeds)

Quick release phosphorus, enhancing leaf grow

Quick release nitrogen, prolonging these effects

Environmentally friendly (reducing losses of fertilizer to the environment)

Labour saving and cost effective.

iSeed: Years of research and development
Our world is changing quickly, customers are always looking for the best

solutions and high quality grass seed products. However they are also looking to reduce inputs of herbicides, fertilisers and water to preserve our

enviroment.

The R&D department of DLF Trifolium has been working on products that need lower inputs for a long time and serveral years ago began collaboration with the Yara fertilizer company. The aim of which was to combine the best grass seed genetics with all the nutrients needed by a seedling in a single coating, so as to improve the establishment of the plant but also reduce inputs.

After substantial Laboratory, greenhouse and user trails, iSeed was developed and has subsequently been successfully tested in user trials in many Europeon countries.

The Best Groundsman in England

DLF-TRIFOLIUM is main supplier of grass seed at the world championship in soccer in South Africa. Their grass is already at many other famous stadiums - among others the Aston Villa. Here is chief Groundsman Jonathan Calderwood, aged 31 just named the best groundskeeper in England. There is a good reason for this, because when Jonathan Calderwood maintains the football grounds at the football academy, Bodymoor Heath, and the Villa Park stadium he does genuinely care how things are done

First opened in the 1970s, Bodymoor Heath underwent a reported £20m revamp, opening officially in summer 2007 with a mix of indoor training pitches, swimming pool, fitness centre and changing rooms.

Among new £5m-plus floodlit facilities were created three full-size first team practice pitches, one a replica of Villa Park's Desso surface including its camber undersoil heating and irrigation, two Fibresand pitches and various practice areas and a 3G full size synthetic pitch - all established in spring 2008 - while the original training areas accommodate academy teams on seven full size pitches laid on a 70:30 sand:soil substrate.

The fleet of equipment and machinery helps Calderwood and his team maintain the pitches to the premium standards required.

"Millions have been spent on the new pitches and we have a duty to maintain them in line with that level of investment," Calderwood says, "so we now have the confidence to achieve exceptional standards of maintenance."

Keep the ball at the ground
Each of the first team pitches was constructed to specifications matching those of other Premiership grounds - "the traditional 70:30 sand:soil mix, the 98% sand-based Desso surface, with its three per cent synthetic inclusion, the Fibresand pitches laid at Old Trafford and Chelsea, for example, or the 3G synthetic surface of the specification laid at CSK Moscow's stadium, where Villa played in the EUFA Cup.

"The philosophy is to utilise the first team practice pitches to acclimatize players to the conditions they'll encounter at other Premiership clubs or in Europe," explains Calderwood. "Players will train on the appropriate surface for three days before an away game to become familiar with it. We can try to reproduce a match day situation every day of the week.

After using Johnson's mixes at Villa Park since he arrived in 2001, Calderwood chose to seed the new surface with J Premier Pitch. "I did my homework and looked at several options, choosing the Premier mix of cultivars because the grass holds good winter colour and has a bristly, upright, hardwearing sward that springs up immediately after its stepped on - in contrast to some soft lush grasses - encouraging really good ball roll."

"It is essential to keep the grass perfect and to cut it in a way that the ball may glide over the surface. Players become better this way, our results hopefully improve and we attract more television viewers for broadcast matches."

No doubt about the fact that Jonathan Calderwood has good conditions given by the owner of Aston Villa.

"They know how important the grass is for our players' performance and consequently our results, so they allow me to do my job properly. They can see for themselves that it pays off," he says.

A great and very young leader
As one of 12 senior managers, Calderwood mixes comfortably with the good and great at Villa and is given the opportunity to do so, he says, in part because of a more streamlined mode of management that encourages dialogue, although he admits that "a suit's not for me".

However, management style clearly plays a key role in Calderwood's success, although typically he prefers to cover his team, rather than himself, in glory.

"I joke that they have a good boss but they see that I maintain very high standards for myself, that I work probably as long hours, if not more, than anyone else and get my hands dirty," Jonathan Calderwood says. "When they appreciate how good the training ground is, that the England under-21s use it occasionally and other visiting teams, they know that's all the motivation they need."

After working closely with Calderwood for some time, DLF regional technical manager Phil Seedhouse respects his work ethic and style:

"Jonathan leaves nothing undone and I believe he probably knows more about the maintenance of grass than anyone else in England, so I fully understand why he has won the award."

Facts:
Jonathan Calderwood's background
Born and raised in Northern Ireland

Gained his NVQ in horticulture from Greenmount Agricultural College, Antrim

Moved to Myerscough College, Preston, to study for an HND in turf science and sports ground management

Worked as Groundsman at Wembley Stadium and later at Wolverhampton Football club

Started as Groundsman at Aston Villa in 2001 and became Head Groundsman in 2006

2010 Barclays groundsman of the year

Barclays Groundsman of the year 2010

DLF are delighted that Jonathan who uses Johnson's J Premier Pitch at Villa Park and the training ground has been recently presented with the 2010 Barclays groundsman of the year award.

Prograss The Marketing Newsletter January/February 2010

DLF scores in South Africa

Break-though in Belorrussia with new forage varieties

New Listing of DLF-Trifolium varieties

iSeed for forage - proven effect in practise

DLF Triple Crown

DLF-Trifolium increase focus on golf courses

China - A growing market for grass and clover seeds

Relaunch of Maison des Gazons

Australia - Promising new grass varieties being registered

World Cup Wonders

Hosted by an African nation for the first time and the first 'Winter' tournament since Argentina in 1978 - the 2010 World Cup has presented South Africa's sporting administrators with a number of challenges

PROGRASS - The Marketing Newsletter

June 2010

Historical low seed harvest and increased consumption

iSeed takes root across the UK

DLF is back on track and on the shelves in Russia

Spring Company day in Czech Republic

Masterline now in Holland and Belgium

Mircoclover - now a confirmed turf species

World equestrian games in Kentucky

Ready for South Africa

New listed forage varieties in Germany