Portable Heater to Dry a Mound?

When the weather has been favorable, we've been building some bullpen mounds on our larger ball diamonds.  Unfortunately the 3rd base bullpen on Field 9 is in a spot where the field drains to an stays pretty wet.  Because of the wet winter weather that we have here in Central Kentucky, it's been extra challenging for us to finish.  The mound clay just soaks up all the ground water and will not harden to be able to build up.  So we were brainstorming one day and came up with the idea of using a portable heater to dry out the clay enough to finish the mound we started.  We used some old pallets and created a box around the mound and used a tarp to create a tent over it.  We then placed a 350,000 BTU heater on one end and let it run for about 5-6 hours.  

We left an opening in the back to vent and let moisture escape the  "tent"

The following day was sunny and warm (55 degrees).  We were able to finish up before we received another winter rainfall.  It was still a bit soft down the landing area but overall it compacted good.  

Fall Seeding Progress

Happy New Year!  I just wanted to show a couple photos of some progression on some fall seeding we did on a couple of the ball diamonds.  Four of the ball diamonds were originally seeded with a turf-type tall fescue and Kentucky bluegrass seed blend back in late fall 2011.  Ideally in this part of the country you can start seeding around the beginning of September or earlier depending on the weather at the time.  Those four fields were originally seeded the last week of October in to the first week of November.  That is about the end of your window of opportunity for good germination and establishment in this area.  The beginning of November usually brings the heavy frosts and sometime sub freezing night temperatures but that of course varies year to year in Central Kentucky.  You can continue to seed past this point but may or may not see any germination right away.
This past fall, 2012, we hosted baseball event well into October but we were able to start inter-seeding into the existing turf in late September / early October.  We also plan to go back and hit some bare spots in mid- February to have the seed in the ground for when temperatures rise.  Here are some before and after photos of the progression.

Field #9  - October 5, 2012

Field #9 - January 8, 2013 

Field #12 - October 3, 2012
 ( We just ran the aerifier through this area and because of extreme compaction and overzealous of the sports turf manager it looked like it was tilled up!)

Field #12 - January 8, 2013

As you can see, we still have some grow-in to do but with the warmer weather set for this week, we continue to fill in and should be good to go opening day!