grass help / clay soil

wellused

The worms will pull it down in time but by digging it in you will speed the process along and prevent a smelly few months.

Leif

wellused wrote: »

The worms will pull it down in time but by digging it in you will speed the process along and prevent a smelly few months.

:rotfl:Yes I hadn't thought about the smell.

oligeo

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. Basically its not an easy problem to solve then!
Sarah

poppysarah

Leif wrote: »

I take it you also mean dig it in, or are you saying pile it on top and it will sink in with time?

I'd just pile it on.

But it depends on how much work you want to do.

If you get well rotted stuff then it won't smell.
If it does then get some soil and try to cover it up.

You can mulch on top of much with grass clippings if you can get hold of some of them, or straw.

Areas under tree will be dry and shaded - so I would def just pile it on that part of your garden and ignore it.

The worms will do a fab job - and you'll get tons more of them - and loads of blackbirds looking for some dinner.

Conrad

I have to top dress my lawns every year, in fact I've spent the last 4 weekends treating the lawns which are about average in size.

Here's my regime which takes place in either late autumn or early spring;

+ Aireate the lawns with a fork (one of those tined implements would be better). This means stabbing down the full legnth of the fork prongs.

+ I also lift the soil with the fork at the same time, about halve inch

+ Vigorously rake the whole lawn - you want to rough up the soil really

+ I buy about 20 bags of fine compost (forget manure - thats a terrible idea as it will take ages to be incorporated and will attract horse flies and all sorts and it also acts like a water sponge, plus it will smell bad - it's fine for beds, not lawns)

+ I buy about 15 bags of sharp sand (not not use finer sand it makes heavy soils worse)

+ I then mix this all up in batches and add LOTS of blood fish and bone and a general grass seed - lots, I needed 2 massive tubs of blood n bone

+ I then top dress the lawn, with a thicker layer for indented areas


+ About 2 inches some years (although firstly I removed all the lawn, added masses of the above (like a foot deep of top dressing), tghe rotavated it a lot, before adding new turfs. Thing is even that foot depth of organic matter and sand was not enough, as the sub soil soon sucks it all down.

+ Sometimes only about 1/2 inch


There are no shortcuts.

IF I WERE YOU RIGHT NOW;

1) Dig up the lawns. Get some people in to remove 2 ft of soil. Get them to add TONS of organic matter and sharp sand (some people will tell you not to worry about the sharp sand - they are totaly wrong, it's the crucial part). You really must add tons and tons if you want a long lasting lawn.

2) Add a top layer of 60% sharp sand, 40% fine compost mixed and about 2 inches deep.

3) Have it re - turfed.

4) Maybe consider soakaways etc

Then infuture to the airating and top dressing every year.

Conrad

poppysarah wrote: »

The worms will do a fab job - and you'll get tons more of them - and loads of blackbirds looking for some dinner.

poppy, the OP has cold heavy thick clay which tends to mean few worms and less microbiotic activity so incorporation could take forever in cold periods and even longer when baked hard in summer. Your method would be suitable if they had already dug the whole thing over down to at least 2 feet and added tons of organic matter and sharp sand.

I think the OP needs to be using tons of sharp sand and fine compost. Heavy clay is hard to deal with, but with commitment and loads of work you can defeat it.