Busy time at grass roots
A team of lawn mowers are working an extra 12 hours to keep Wellington’s grass looking nice as it grows at a wild speed.
Wellington City Council’s mowing team covers 813 sites from Tawa to Karori south, cleaning up berms, parks and other green spots. However this year is looking like one of the team’s most challenging ones, its manager says, as spring has been full of rain and warm temperatures – making the city’s grass difficult to maintain.
Staff usually began mowing from 7am and finished at 3.30pm but the rapid growth meant the team was working five to 12 hours of overtime.
Team manager Matthew Beres said the team was made up of 10 fulltime staff and two to three casual workers. A skeleton crew would work through the Christmas and New Year period to ensure play areas were presentable.
The team covered places like Glover Park, Midland Park, Pukeahu National War Memorial Park and areas surrounding play spots. Usually there was a burn-off time when conditions became drier but it had been an unusual spring, he said.
There was some relief in the southern and eastern suburbs but the northern suburbs had grass prolifically growing.
‘‘The northern suburbs still retain a lot of moisture so there’s a lot of growth in those areas. It means the team is taking longer to complete its scheduled runs than during most November and December periods,’’ Beres said. ‘‘It’s quite a struggle.’’
To help with the situation, the team had been making sure their machinery was up to date, had taken on extra temporary staff and had a remote controlled lawn mower.
‘‘Please bear with us – the team is utilising all available resources to bring this prolonged flush under control as quickly as possible,’’ Beres asked.