Help - how do I grow a lawn in Clay-y silt?
SlowSteve
Posts: 6
Hello.
I moved house a couple of years ago and now live on an anciet riverbed. The garden is around 1 foot deep of clay-y silt, followed by 7 feet of sand.
All the gardening books say that silt is a fantastic soil to have, but I am finding it very tiresome. When it's not raining it drys very fast and I get a hard crust. When it's raining it turns into mushy clay and compacts very badly.
My main issue now is my lawn. During summer the ground goes rock hard, the grass struggles and only dandilions prosper. When it's raining, it turns into a mud-pit, and as soon as you look at it, it compacts and turns into clay and then the grass just dies - I am assuming due to lack of air to the roots.
Right now, about 1/3 of my of my lawn is either dead or a mud-pit which will die soon.
Do you think there is any way to remedy this by doing some form of top dressing - and if so - what do I top dress with (because sand will make it worse...) or should I just dig out the whole thing to a spades depth and put back a load of decent soil ( although thats expensive and means no grasss for a year.)
Any help you can provide would be enormously valued.
Steve
Posts
Steve with the conditions you have it would be very expensive to remedy. Have you considered astro turf or maybe even going grass free and doing a gravel garden?
I really have. The issue is that it's very expensive ( the money goes into the substrate, not the astro-turf itself - if you do it on the cheap you get weeds coming through in a couple of years) and also I have a young boy who likes to slide around on the grass - astroturf will tear him to pieces...
So - I do need genuine grass. The question is how do I get to it?
Well depending on how big an area you have I'd find your local stables and get as much strawy manure you can get your hands on. Cover the whole area with about 2-3inches of the stuff and then add several tons of grit. Rotovate it in and leave it to break down over the next few months.
When you get to spring you're looking for a reasonable friable soil. When you get to that stage you can lay turf or sow seed. It won't be a quick process, so you'll have to be patient and keep checking your drainage and you may have to do it twice to get there, but, if you do it right it'll last.
I have to agree with Dave here Steve. There's no cheap, easy solution. Shed loads of grit and manure to open the soil and possibly proper drains put in as well. If you absolutely have to have real grass, it's a biggish outlay whichever way you go.
If it's not a huge area, I'd opt for my first suggestion, but you will have to wait a while before it's really ready to lay turf or sow seed. You can do all the donkey work yourself though, which saves a bit.
Alternatively - and without seeing it, it's purely theoretical - you could create a raised lawn with a timber or blockwork retaining wall. You can then fill with a better mix of soil, compost and grit before laying turf etc. Still a bit of expenditure though
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I battle with clay, though I don't have the silt and sand element. The only way to improve it is the muck and grit method, though, over the years, I have added a great deal more than 2to 3 inches. The job is much easier if you can raise the area a little, and you will be surprised how much material you can add without creating a higher level. When you do the job take great care to break up the underlying soil or you will get an impenetrable 'pan' underneath which will continue to cause problems for roots and drainage.