When you've spent more than 25 years looking after some of the country's busiest school sports facilities, consistency becomes invaluable. For Adam King, Head of Grounds at Radley College, that's exactly why MM Seed has remained his first choice for more than two decades.
Set within the Oxfordshire countryside, Radley College is home to an extensive range of sports facilities. The team maintains 14 rugby pitches, which become 16 football pitches during the winter, nine cricket squares, a nine-hole golf course and extensive college grounds, supporting around 770 boarding pupils throughout the year.
"It's all about making sport happen," says Adam. "The boys are at their happiest when they're out playing. They learn just as much about teamwork and life on the sports field as they do in the classroom."
Keeping those facilities performing at the highest standard demands products that can be relied upon year after year. For Adam, that relationship with MM Seed began with a visit to one of the company's production facilities in the Netherlands, where he saw first-hand the research, development and quality control behind every seed mixture.
"It really opened my eyes," he explains. "You realise just how much research goes into developing new grasses. Some of the work they're doing today has been ten years in the making. Seeing how clean everything was and the care that goes into producing the final product gave me a huge amount of confidence."
That confidence has only grown over the years.
"The cultivars within the MM mixtures have always been excellent," says Adam. "They've consistently stayed at the top of the list. We've trialled individual cultivars over the years as well, including Melbourne, which I absolutely loved for cricket. It's been great having that relationship where we're able to trial new grasses and see what works."
Perhaps the greatest endorsement comes from the fact that, despite trying alternative products over the years, Adam always finds himself returning to MM50 for cricket square renovations.
"We've used MM50 for more than 20 years," he says. "Every now and again we've renovated a square with another manufacturer's seed just to make sure we're still getting the best product. Every single time we've gone back to MM50. That's testament to its consistency."
That consistency is evident in every stage of the renovation process.
"We get excellent wear tolerance, strong recovery, good germination and a healthy sward going into winter. Those are the things that matter."
Even during one of the driest summers in recent years, when renovation timings were dictated by prolonged drought, Adam remained confident in the seed's ability to perform once moisture returned.
"This year has been really challenging," he explains. "We renovated early but then had virtually no rainfall. Once we started getting some moisture back, the seed came through well. We've seen similar conditions before and MM50 has always established strongly once the weather turns in our favour."
Alongside MM50, Radley College also uses MM60 alongside MM Tetrasport across winter sports pitches and MM9 on the golf course, giving Adam confidence across every area of the site.
For Adam, however, it isn't just about one successful product.
"I think there are three things everybody wants from seed: good cultivars, good germination and cleanliness. MM consistently delivers all three."
He has also become a firm believer in MM Seed's Headstart coating technology after initially approaching coated seed with some scepticism.
"I was probably like a lot of people and wondered whether coatings really made much difference," he says. "But when you compare it with an uncoated seed, the plant just seems stronger. You get that little bit of extra vigour during establishment, whether that's quicker rooting or stronger early growth. Sometimes that's all you need to give the grass the best possible start."
With increasingly unpredictable weather patterns, Adam believes flexibility has become just as important as product choice.
"We can no longer stick to a fixed renovation calendar," he says. "We have to work with the weather and adapt our timings. That's just part of modern grounds management."
What hasn't changed is the confidence he places in MM Seed.
"When you've been using a product for over 20 years and you keep coming back to it, that tells its own story. It's the consistency that makes the difference."
Visit the new and improved MM Seed website at www.mm-seeds.co.uk
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