Evening guys and gals, I'm after a bit of advice from some of you specialist turf care lot.
On one of the larger gardens we manage, there is a large area of grass that hasn't had anything much done to it for at least 15 years other than being cut with a ride on.
The site is on heavy Reading clay, and as you can imagine this area of grass is now quite uneven, I should imagine fairly compacted, and holds a lot of water in winter.
New owner thinks this area lends itself to a croquet lawn. He's quite sensible, and knows it will take a lot of work and isn't expecting it overnight.
I'd like to break some of the clay up before bringing in tonnes of soil to level things and it's going to need more than the regular scarifier and hollow tine machines used on the main lawn.
But what machines? The local turfleet and lister wilder have a lot of kit to hire out. I'm thinking the Charterhouse Verti-Quake to break up some of the clay deep down before hollow tining and gradually improving the soil structure, levels and sward.
I would appreciate any thoughts and advice.
Thanks.
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Drainage would be imperative for something like a fine croquet lawn. Certainly the veri quake might well work but the clay will need to be dryish to 'crack' properly. Lots of topsoil/rootzone and a suitable grass seed mix, fed and cylinder mowed frequently, you should get something better than what you have.
How big is the area? I use sharp sand as top dressing for clay soil, much cheaper than top dressing mix. If areas not to big might be worth rotovating with losts of sharp sand re- leveling and re-seeding. Quicker results than regular maintenance.
Sorting out the drainage had to be the first thing if you are after good grass. Is there a budget for a proper solution? Also Icqookd make sure that you dig in plenty of organic matter to open up the soil. I have just prepared two clay beds for planting and the additional of lots of clay improver seems to be working well.
Sorry for the late reply, thanks for the feedback guys