RICHMOND — Oh, yes: the grass at Kingston Turf Farms really is greener. A deep, lush, weed-free greener. And it’s found on both sides of roads here in South County and neighboring Connecticut. With its approximately 300 flat acres of productive fields, Kingston constitutes a kingdom.
And Brock Bouchard, co-owner and office manager whose family started the business in 1967, is lord and master of this verdant realm. Nonmetaphorically, he is a master agriculturalist whose sod is sold throughout the Northeast and beyond.
Bouchard is behind the wheel of his pickup this afternoon, heading northwest from his company’s headquarters on South County Trail in West Kingston.
“This field is a new seeding,” he says, pointing in one direction. “This was seeded this spring, so you can see how it’s just starting to germinate,” he says, pointing in another. “This field is a seeding that was done last fall. There’s a harvested block next to it that’s dirt. And then this field to the left, you can see this is a cover crop.”
Green, green, green, all green save for the dirt — a type of loam known as Bridgehampton Soil, ideal for the Kentucky bluegrass that Kingston primarily grows.
Bouchard pulls onto a field where a harvesting is under way. A futuristic-looking machine moves along, its blade cutting beneath the grass at a depth that delivers the precise amount of soil containing the precise amount of root to ensure that the grass will flourish in its new home.
Older machines required the operator to hand-load 18-inch-wide strips of sod onto pallets, but not this one.
“This machine cuts 24 inches wide and it’s fully automated,” Bouchard says. “It picks the sod up on its own and stacks it onto the pallet. Once the pallet is done, it drops the pallet.” The sod is loaded onto a flat-bed truck — always for next-day delivery. Keep rolled sod around very long, and it begins to self-compost.
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