my lawn still looks depressingly horrendous, wqater just sitting in parts of it. i've been out every few weeks and raked moss up, stuck fork in 6 ins deep all oer, i am now going to try the test drainage hole, resow april and if no improvement am honestly going to look at fake grass (which i've always turned my nose up at)
Dealing with bad drainage on clay is never easy. This year has been very wet as we all know. I'm considering telling those customers I have with similar problems that lawns may not be the future of British gardens. Either that or raising the level of their lawns and providing a sub strata which would allow better drainage. Adding gravel, and yes its washed most of it, you can specify which type before buying it, is a partial solution but adding strawy manure in addition is better again, but all this needs to be done in early autumn for best results in my experience. To be honest some of these lawn companies provide quick, but often not long term solutions to these problems. They really aren't some of my favourite people. I know most people want a lawn, but maybe we should consider different solutions. One thing though, grass is the most plentiful plant on the planet and one of the toughest can plant breeders help us? Maybe we should be asking them.
We have the same, our garden is a clay quagmire every winter but is great all summer and soon recovers. We have deep puddles all over ours all winter but in spring it all dries up and the non shade grass is lush again.
We just have to keep off the grass in winter, as we use the summer/winter house a lot we're getting some sunken circular steps put in so we can walk across the grass in winter without disturbing the soil.
Clay grows lovely plants and as long as you improve the beds with compost and so on they are fine, we have great soil in the beds now although in new beds I've made it's like beige modelling clay to start with.
This is my lawn in summer after having been almost completely submerged in water all winter. Bearing in mind it's also clay shade it's not bad. I chuck some seed over it in Spring.
With the amount of rainfall I would think most gardens with lawns are suffering with a muddy , waterlogged mess. Best thing is not walk on it and give it a bit of time to dry out . I favour a hollow tine fork for making drainage hole it the worst areas and then top dress in with loam soil and fine grit to keep the holes in place and create a drainage pocket. But, in saying that, my lawn that's laid on unforgiving clay and acts as a pathway through large boarders and measures on average 4 ft wide in old money always seems to bounce back in early summer.
Wow lou12 that is the shape as my garden, just without the summer house.
I am in desperate need to sort out a shaded muddy patch in my garden, reading through this I think I will hollow tine the area and add the sharp sand as suggested. Maybe look for sone grass seed suitable for that area and shove a conifer in the corner see what water that can remove for me.
We had the same problems, our clay soil is something a good potter would kill for! In the end we dug up the lawn and laid it to gravel, with lots o pots, seating areas etc. The bonus is I have much more time now to spend on the rest of the garden.
We've just moved in and we have a septic tank and soakaway in our very wet boggy garden so I can't make holes in it! I was thinking of planting it up with grasses/meadow/wild flowers (can't plant much over the tank&soakaway) with some gravel paths and digging up the enormous pampas grass as I'm worried about its roots damaging the pipes. Anyone else tried planting over septic tanks/ got any ideas what would/wouldn't work to try to improve the bogginess without damaging anything beneath?
Posts
my lawn still looks depressingly horrendous, wqater just sitting in parts of it. i've been out every few weeks and raked moss up, stuck fork in 6 ins deep all oer, i am now going to try the test drainage hole, resow april and if no improvement am honestly going to look at fake grass (which i've always turned my nose up at)
Dealing with bad drainage on clay is never easy. This year has been very wet as we all know. I'm considering telling those customers I have with similar problems that lawns may not be the future of British gardens. Either that or raising the level of their lawns and providing a sub strata which would allow better drainage. Adding gravel, and yes its washed most of it, you can specify which type before buying it, is a partial solution but adding strawy manure in addition is better again, but all this needs to be done in early autumn for best results in my experience. To be honest some of these lawn companies provide quick, but often not long term solutions to these problems. They really aren't some of my favourite people. I know most people want a lawn, but maybe we should consider different solutions. One thing though, grass is the most plentiful plant on the planet and one of the toughest can plant breeders help us? Maybe we should be asking them.
We have the same, our garden is a clay quagmire every winter but is great all summer and soon recovers. We have deep puddles all over ours all winter but in spring it all dries up and the non shade grass is lush again.
We just have to keep off the grass in winter, as we use the summer/winter house a lot we're getting some sunken circular steps put in so we can walk across the grass in winter without disturbing the soil.
Clay grows lovely plants and as long as you improve the beds with compost and so on they are fine, we have great soil in the beds now although in new beds I've made it's like beige modelling clay to start with.
This is my lawn in summer after having been almost completely submerged in water all winter. Bearing in mind it's also clay shade it's not bad. I chuck some seed over it in Spring.
With the amount of rainfall I would think most gardens with lawns are suffering with a muddy , waterlogged mess. Best thing is not walk on it and give it a bit of time to dry out . I favour a hollow tine fork for making drainage hole it the worst areas and then top dress in with loam soil and fine grit to keep the holes in place and create a drainage pocket. But, in saying that, my lawn that's laid on unforgiving clay and acts as a pathway through large boarders and measures on average 4 ft wide in old money always seems to bounce back in early summer.
Wow lou12 that is the shape as my garden, just without the summer house.
I am in desperate need to sort out a shaded muddy patch in my garden, reading through this I think I will hollow tine the area and add the sharp sand as suggested. Maybe look for sone grass seed suitable for that area and shove a conifer in the corner see what water that can remove for me.
clay soil is the way to go
We had the same problems, our clay soil is something a good potter would kill for! In the end we dug up the lawn and laid it to gravel, with lots o pots, seating areas etc. The bonus is I have much more time now to spend on the rest of the garden.
Not the answer for everyone, but works for me.
We've just moved in and we have a septic tank and soakaway in our very wet boggy garden so I can't make holes in it! I was thinking of planting it up with grasses/meadow/wild flowers (can't plant much over the tank&soakaway) with some gravel paths and digging up the enormous pampas grass as I'm worried about its roots damaging the pipes. Anyone else tried planting over septic tanks/ got any ideas what would/wouldn't work to try to improve the bogginess without damaging anything beneath?
Thanks!