Compacted soil

kelloggs36

I am a very newbie gardener, so if I ask stupid questions, please bear with me! I have been living in my house for 13 years, and only really paid lip service to the back garden - it is about 60ft long and about 20 feet wide. It has been getting worse and worse in terms of quality of grass; there are lots of weeds, almost mini trees (very thin that pop up all over the lawn - I have a couple of sloe trees so it may be them!), and lots of moss growing. I have now decided that enough is enough and I want to get it sorted out. I have invested in an aeriator in order to try and aeriate the soil as I understand that this could be a major cause of the moss and bad quality grass (yellows very quickly). The trouble is that despite the very heavy downpours for the past couple of days, I cannot for the life of me get the spikes into the ground! It is a handy one with springs underneath - you are supposed to use the foot bar to push it into the soil, but it just won't go in! I have tried bashing it, which works to a point, but I wondered how deep I need to get the holes for it to be effective? I plan to fill them with top soil - perhaps mixed with some grass seed to try to replenish some of the bald patches. Is there anything else I need to do along with the aeriating? I have tried weed and feed, but I thought I would do the aeriating first and then feed it afterwards. Am I on the right path or not? What else can I do to try and soften the soil?

a1cat

Rotavate the lot at the end of August would be my advice - and lay a new lawn.

Jony

is it a heavy soil? ie clay? if so they can be like concrete during dry spells, and don't assume all this rain will have got through, I have got dry patch in my lawn where the soil is repelling water, I am trying to sort myself by forking and watering with fairy liquid before I get greenthumb to fix it.

If it is clay soil then it probably is compacted, is it a hollow-tine aerator you have or solid tine? the latter wont help for compaction. I would also advised against filling the holes in usually except in extreme cases as it kind of defeats the object of removing the plug in the 1st place, just rake the cores off and leave to close up naturally.

3v3

Jony wrote: »

...

If it is clay soil then it probably is compacted, is it a hollow-tine aerator you have or solid tine? the latter wont help for compaction. I would also advised against filling the holes in usually except in extreme cases as it kind of defeats the object of removing the plug in the 1st place, just rake the cores off and leave to close up naturally.

I have heavy clay soil and the advice I was given was: after aerating, brush some grit or course sand into the holes to aid drainage.

gardenroute

The small trees are probably suckers from the blackthorn. Good for wildlife, look pretty in spring, sloes for gin/jam etc; but their suckering habit, dense shade and evil thorns make them unsuitable for smalll gardens.
The grass probably isnt poor quality, if its yellow its because the moss is taking all the nutrients.
If your soil is still dry after rain its because the moss has absorbed the water like a sponge and/or the rain can't penetrate the soil - this would be due to compaction.
Most lawn work is best carried out in the autumn when the soil is softer and the grass is naturally thickening up so any gaps will fill in.
I disagree with Jony, if you hollow-tine you should brush a sandy loam into the holes. But saying that, removing all the cores and filling in the holes is a big job over a large area, it might be easier to just leave the holes and let them close over.
Soil compaction is usually only a few inches deep, but the deeper you aerate the better.
A photo would help - there are different mosses caused by different conditions, and dominate weeds in the lawn will indicate certain soil conditions. At least then you will know you're doing the right thing.

Rotovating the area and starting again may not help; you may be back to square one next year. Again this comes down to treating the causes of the moss instead of trying to kill it all the time.

Why not by a packet of sulphate of iron from a garden centre, put a handful into a watering can with a rose and pour it over the lawn. This will kill the moss very quickly. Its easy to do, cheap, and non-toxic.

Jony - any tining will put air into the soil and reduce compaction - even scarifying will do this a little bit. Hollow tine is best, but over a large area I can't see this being practical.
What's the fairy liquid for?

earthlysparky

Fairy liquid can be used as a wetting agent, reducing the surface tension of water. This can allow the water to penetrate soil more efficiently, especially clay soil that has formed a hard pan. You only need to use a drop or two of fairy liquid in the water.

I'm assuming this is why Jony has been using it, otherwise I'm stumped!

Jony

^^^ spot on, patches of my lawn had become hydrophobic as I didnt water over the dry period and no matter how much I watered it after it just never penetrated through.

and yes solid tining (spiking) will get air into the root zone but if the lawn is that compacted the only effective way to help with compaction is to actually remove the core, with solid tine once it quickly closes up once again its near as dammit the same as it was before, and if its a large area then hire a machine that will do it in minutes! I do however agree with you for figureing out why you are getting moss in the 1st place and getting rid of the cause rather than just the moss, for all we know it could be acidic sandy soil!

and if its REALLY heavy clay then yes some sand in the holes will help but if its just average soil or just slightly clay there is no need really, just allow it to naturally close up.

kelloggs36

I have chalky soil, so it is very well drained, and the garden is a south facing. I will put some pics up when I get the chance - the lawn is greener at the moment as it has been raining for the past few days, but it normally doesn't last!

gardenroute

kelloggs36 wrote: »

I have chalky soil, so it is very well drained, and the garden is a south facing.

That leaves three possible causes:

1. Too much thatch - look at soil level for a mat of dead material. This will need to be raked/scarified out.
2. Poor soil - chalky soils tend to leach nutrients. A weed and feed would help with this, but I would kill the moss first (see earlier post).
3. Grass is cut too low. Raise the height you're cutting it. You may be weakening the grass by cutting too low. This allows the moss to outcompete the grass. If you raise the cut the grass will grow more stongly and it will shade out the moss. Over a few months you might find you will have less moss and weeds to deal with if you just raise the cutting height by an inch.

Chalk soils aren't prone to compaction; tining it will not help much IMHO.

Jony

^^^^ what he said, ESPECIALLY the cutting advice, its amazing what keeping abit of length on the lawn will do for it! chalky soils can get compacted but not really to the point of causing bad moss.

Due to the leaching nature of the soil aswell try and get a long lasting coated fertilizer that slowly releases and you may find it lasts better.

you do still need to figure out why your are getting moss though, does it feel spongy to walk on? could really do with some pics to see what its like to be honest.