New topsoil is like cake mix
Sandy Loams
Posts: 3
Hi All.
I've recently started laying a new lawn and it's not going at all well. The entire place was covered in thick concrete which I pulled out. The ground is boulder clay about 2ft thick, so I put the rotorvator across the whole lot and mixed in a tonne of sand and a tonne of well-rotted manure. The site is approximately 10m x 7m. Next I dug a huge sump in the centre, through the clay and into the sand beneath. I filled that with 20mm pebbles and a membrane on top. Then I dug four trenches radially outwards from the sump, to the four corners of the garden, each of which I lined and covered with a membrane and filled with 80mm slotted pipe and 20mm pebbles.
Finally, last week, I brought in four tonnes of a very nice sandy loam topsoil and levelled it out. Before I'd had chance to compact it down, I was forced inside by Storm Brian which dumped a trillion gallons of water all over my lovely topsoil. It now resembles chocolate cake mix and it's almost like a sponge because of all the organic content - it doesn't even drip when I lift up a spadeful. I planned to have some turf down by now, but I can't see a day coming in the next six months when it will be anything other than utterly waterlogged.
Yesterday, in a fit of teeth-gnashing and furious rage, I half-dug another small sump in a particularly bad area. Defeated, muddy and thoroughly miserable, I crawled off inside to describe my wretched plight to the family.
I feel like I need some good advice on what to do to remedy this predicament. Help!
Damian
Posts
Oh dear ... sorry to hear that .......... I'm afraid my best advice is to take the winter off, put your feet up and pour yourself a glass or mug of something heartening and wait until spring ... you're never going to beat the British weather.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I agree. You seem to have done very thorough preps and just been defeated by bad weather.
Leave it now till spring when increasing sunshine will evaporate excess moisture and grass will get away faster. Try sowing seed instead of laying turves. It'll be cheaper and, since you can't walk on new turves for a few weeks anyway and they need copious watering, it'll probably be just as quick to sow seed suited to your soil.
The one consolation is that clay is really very fertile and does improve if you can add plenty of organic matter as a mulch on beds every autumn. There are also plenty of plants that love clay and moisture retentive soils and will look great offset by your lawn when you do finally get one.
My sincere condolences ; have you thought of Astroturf ???
(Couldn't resist that) .
I've seen Astroturf floating off a flooded garden and down the River Deben ............
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Perhaps I could put up a fence, book some bands and charge everyone 200 quid to get in.
Go for it!!!!!!!.........A sodden Glastonbury springs to mind !
I was going to suggest a rice paddy.
Thanks for the advice so far. If I do leave it for the winter, would it be any use covering the area with a waterproof sheet to stop more water getting in?
I usually hate covering the ground with plastic - it provides a cosy home for slugs and prevents the air and sunlight from doing their good work on the soil as well as the wind from drying it. My instinct is to leave it uncovered and keep everyone off it. However others with more experience with this sort of problem may advise differently.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I would keep off it, and rotavate and seed in March, provided it has dried out by then.