A very wet lawn what can I do?

diluvsdiscounts

Two weeks ago I got four lovely chickens. My DH converted our shed to house them.
The problem is whilst he was working on the coop and the run he has churned up the lawn and it is now very muddy.
I know the answer is not to walk on it but I have no choice as I have to walk on it to get to the chickens,feed them,let them out etc.
I was wondering if anyone had any bright ideas on how to solve this.
I have got two bags of top lawn dressing and I was going to throw that on but my mum thinks it's the wrong time of year to do that.
Now DH is saying our garden will be ruined because of the chickens so I'm hoping for a quick remedy, I do wish it would stop raining and snowing!!
Thanks in advance.
Di x

Suzy_M

Husband walking on it has probably compacted the top layers of soil. Use a garden fork to spike the affected areas thoroughly so the ground can drain off - then keep off it as much as possible.

Leave for about a month, until the grass starts growing then reassess the damage.

WestonDave

By the looks of it you have two problems to resolve. Firstly you need a means of getting to and from the chickens without wearing a track in the lawn - as you are going to have to do this every day whatever the weather, I think you need some kind of hard wearing path material. My suggestion would be to set some paving slabs into the lawn as stepping stones to enable you to get there and back without walking on grass. You can get all sorts of varieties - log pattern ones, round ones etc, and if they are laid into the grass (i.e the top is no higher than surrounding ground level), you can just mow over the edges.

Once you've sorted that I suspect the short term problem of the lawn looking unhappy will resolve themselves with a bit of general TLC - spiking, fertilising etc.

diluvsdiscounts

Thanks for the replies!
Unfortunately my DH didn't want the chickens in the first place
1/ smell,flies in the summer
2/ The mess they would make in the garden when let out

I assured him that they would be paying for themselves in no time at the moment they need to lay 600 eggs each(4 chickens) to break even!!

I know a path is the answer but more time and expense are not high up on the suggestion list at the moment but they have given snow again for next week and I know walking on grass when covered in snow.
I could cook him a nice meal,nice bottle of wine and then make him believe he suggested the path idea now that may work!!
Thanks for your help.

diluvsdiscounts

Suzy_M wrote: »

Husband walking on it has probably compacted the top layers of soil. Use a garden fork to spike the affected areas thoroughly so the ground can drain off - then keep off it as much as possible.

Leave for about a month, until the grass starts growing then reassess the damage.

Thanks for the advice I have been over the area with a fork as suggested and it seems to have helped its alot drier it also hasn't rained which is a huge help!
Thanks again.

Joly_Roger

To concur with some of the posters above I would suggest spiking the soil and adding lawn sand, trying to level it with a broom. That would definitely help drainage and create a drier, less muddy lawn.

I need to do the same thing to an area of my lawn, where I access an outbuilding I have the same problem. Just haven't got round to it yet!

oldsam

You could use wood chippings as temp method after a time they can be added to the garden soil also around the chicken run .