A "lawn expert" at my local garden centre said never to use any type of sand on my lawn except for horticultural sand which has always been washed so is safe.
I have clay soil. Thinking about this logically clay when wet bonds together in clumps and is hard to break apart. Sand sticks together when it's wet but is still freely able to move and spread. SO, mixing sand with the clay with obviously make the clay less able to bond so tightly. Am i right so far?
I bought some horticultural sand which sticks together much more tightly than sharp sand which is pretty hard to stick together with water.
Initally i wanted to put sharp sand in with the soil but after mr lawn expert told me not use anything other than horticultural sand it scared me off.
After reading this am i now right in thinking that sharp sand is perfectly ok to use? It's much cheaper and i've always found it easier to use.
Hello, this is Nik a newbie here at garedenersworld.com
as many wrote suggesting sand amendment not working for drainage improvements, the fact is that adding any grain size sand is going to change composition and add abrasive a porous properties to planting sites of clay soil, but it really works only mixed into soil - not on a top, plus ideally would be layer of sand bellow plants deeply so the waters drains deeper instead slopping in place.
Hi lm trying to sort out a very muddy part of my garden that doesn't get much sun.when it rains the water takes forever to disappear I do go out and make lots of holes with the garden fork.can someone please advise me as to what I should do.😅😕
Hi lm trying to sort out a very muddy part of my garden that doesn't get much sun.when it rains the water takes forever to disappear I do go out and make lots of holes with the garden fork.can someone please advise me as to what I should do.😅😕
What you need to do is work out what's stopping the water draining and then, if possible, remove that thing! A lot easier to say than to do I know
Try digging a hole a couple of feet deep and see if you can spot what's preventing the water draining properly. It might be a compacted layer of soil, it might be clay subsoil, it might be a big piece of plastic (is the house a new build?), it might be a sheet of plywood (it was in my first garden!). Until you know what the problem is it's hard to fix it.
We have a lawn which is about 100mtrs x 40 mtrs on a very slight slope. We're on clay type soil and when we first started caring for the lawn, it used to get very wet & boggy. At the start of the season, as we go into spring I have deep forked and almost lifted the lawn away from the sub strata. Fork deeply and then really pull down on the fork till you hear it 'ripping' away. I leave it a few days for aeration and then roll it back down where the surface has been disturbed by the fork 'pulling' THEN I TOP DRESS WITH ABOUT 7-8 BAGS OF SHARP SAND. I've been doing this every year for the last 4 or 5 years. The lawn now drains so much better, soild doesn't get anywhere near as 'boggy' even after heavy rainfall and the lawn looks splendid in peak season.
@shaunattwoodGzNDtOYB The member has never made another post and as this is a very old thread you would be better starting a new one. Saying that it isn't going to be bulk bags, who puts 7 ton of sand on their grass every year, it would be a beach after 4 years!
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Ok now i'm completely baffled.
A "lawn expert" at my local garden centre said never to use any type of sand on my lawn except for horticultural sand which has always been washed so is safe.
I have clay soil. Thinking about this logically clay when wet bonds together in clumps and is hard to break apart. Sand sticks together when it's wet but is still freely able to move and spread. SO, mixing sand with the clay with obviously make the clay less able to bond so tightly. Am i right so far?
I bought some horticultural sand which sticks together much more tightly than sharp sand which is pretty hard to stick together with water.
Initally i wanted to put sharp sand in with the soil but after mr lawn expert told me not use anything other than horticultural sand it scared me off.
After reading this am i now right in thinking that sharp sand is perfectly ok to use? It's much cheaper and i've always found it easier to use.
Mr lawn expert probably wanted to sell you an expensive bag of something.
I don't think lawn sand is just sand, I think it's got something to kill something as well.
In the sticks near Peterborough
Listen to them here drnh. They know stuff!
Hello, this is Nik a newbie here at garedenersworld.com
as many wrote suggesting sand amendment not working for drainage improvements, the fact is that adding any grain size sand is going to change composition and add abrasive a porous properties to planting sites of clay soil, but it really works only mixed into soil - not on a top, plus ideally would be layer of sand bellow plants deeply so the waters drains deeper instead slopping in place.
Regards
Try digging a hole a couple of feet deep and see if you can spot what's preventing the water draining properly. It might be a compacted layer of soil, it might be clay subsoil, it might be a big piece of plastic (is the house a new build?), it might be a sheet of plywood (it was in my first garden!). Until you know what the problem is it's hard to fix it.
The member has never made another post and as this is a very old thread you would be better starting a new one.
Saying that it isn't going to be bulk bags, who puts 7 ton of sand on their grass every year, it would be a beach after 4 years!