Most sports fields set to open Friday

The games are on.

Beginning Friday, the city’s rectangular sports fields will be open for use. About 300 staff are mowing, aerating and managing the fields across the city. The city maintains about 1,200 fields, including soccer pitches, baseball diamonds and football venues.

“The majority of the city fields will be open this Friday, and line marking will occur starting next week, along with the opening of our shale (dirt) baseball fields,” Travis Kennedy, the city’s general supervisor for open space operations, said Wednesday.

Dirt diamond baseball fields will take longer to open as officials wait for them to dry, and the city will release more information about that Monday. Grass baseball fields will be open sooner.

The city also outlined plans to deal with dandelions this season after last year’s early approach to weed treatment prompted a wave of complaints from field users.

The city will use a combination of an herbicide, diluted iron chelate, and increased mowing to control dandelions, with up to 60 per cent of the fields getting a treatment about four times during the season. The treatments are expected to start in mid to late May, Kennedy said, and the city will mow fields weekly between May 15 and July 1.

Olivier Le Tynevez-Dobel, sports field supervisor, said regular mowing helps grass grow better and makes it more compact, preventing weeds from pushing through.

“We try to cut it at flower emergence, before it gets to the seed dispersion stage,” he said.

Kennedy said the city allocated an increase of $2 million in the budget for an increase in mowing, and also approved $1 million for

We try to cut (the grass) at flower emergence, before it gets to the seed dispersion stage.

application of iron chelate.

Goats will also return to help with weed control. The goats will be on areas that are tricky to mow, such as steep slopes, wet and isolated areas. And, he said, they are quite effective at managing weeds.

“The goats will not be on the baseball fields,” Kennedy said with a laugh.