Patchy Muddy Lawn
Ben Greenwood
Posts: 9
Hi everybody,
I live in a new build house & we've had no end of trouble with our garden, with flooding & moisture, moss, poor quality soil, building works etc. But hopefully with no new works planned things will improve.
The lawn was re-laid about 16 months ago on top of what seems to be a 50/50 sand / soil mix to prevent flooding. I fed the lawn around October with an autumn / winter feed and in places its looking as good as it ever has but there are still areas which are just mud.
I don't believe this is due to traffic as no-one really goes on the lawn except for myself & my dog. I've kept the dog off the lawn now for a while & i plan to re-seed the patches.
I've made holes with a fork and put some fresh soil / compost down to try improve soil quality but i don't know if this is any help?
Is there anything else i can do to prevent mud patches or is this due to poor soil? What should i be doing to combat the mud?
Thanks
Ben
Posts
Not in any particular order but possible causes from my own experience.
Dog Urine
Shade
Tree Roots
If from turf, then possible that the square of turf ad dried out roots before laying.
Compacted Soil.
I add sand to areas that need repatching before sowing the seed.
In general I find that applying Seaweed meal once of twice a year to the lawn and raking in a bit with a leaf rake is great for the lawn.
Thanks Paul,
Just to help i've got a photo of one of the worst patches...
Cheers
That picture is very similar to my experience Ben and in my case I put it down to Tree roots near the surface.
Thanks again paul, i can say without any doubt there are no tree roots, there are no trees within 100 yards probably more of the garden.
Do you think i need to dig down if you think there is something underneath?
I know there are land drains but i think they are about 2 foot down?
Cheers
Ben
Ben, when you say 'mud' do you mean as per the pic i.e.no grass or are these areas particularly wet, more so than the rest of the lawn which you say is OK?
Looks like it could be leatherjacket damage from the pic.
Id say its fairly consistent Dave, the lawn is still fairly wet / soft as we have had so much rain but it is drying out, the areas with grass seem slightly dryer but i guess thats natural as the roots will absorb the moisture??
After reading what a leather jacket is... i have to say at certain times of the year we do get a lot of daddy long legs, so that could make a lot of sense.
If you dig a small area - you only need to go down a few inches - you'll find them if they're about.
I'm a 101 gardener as my posts will confirm
but I have had leatherjacket damage and it looks similar to your pic.
Thanks Dave,
I dug up a couple of small area's and couldn't see any sign of leatherjacket's
I'm going to go for the re-seeding and keep the dog off the lawn, hopefully that should at least improve the situation if not fix it completely.
I did notice though the soil is very shallow in some places, possibly an inch or 2 of soil & then a mix of sand & pea gravel. Is that too shallow for grass?
Hi Guys,
Back again... i have now seeded the "bald" areas (about 10 days ago) & im starting to see some green shoots, my plan was to put fertilizer on (slow release 3 month) and then mow at about 16-20 days.
Does this sound right? or should i wait and mow then fertilize?
Cheers
Ben