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Marsh Lawn

Posted by Scott Kinnear on April 18, 2013 at 10:43pm in Turfcare

Hi folks,

I was wondering what suggestions I could get towards a lawn that is soaking underneath. I have a customer in a new build house, built on a once field. the ground is absolutely sodden. I used my fork to prong holes in it today to hopefully let the air in a bit. but I wondered if any fellow members could offer any suggestions in how I could improve it. or would it mean lifting all the turf and starting again?

Thanks

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  • Dan Frazer Gardening April 19, 2013 at 7:37am
    Chances are its a mixture of clay and rubble/sand from building. In short, there's no easy solution. Aerating will probably not last as the cosy just closes up again. It probably needs a soakaway drain installed.

    After that I'd aim to rotovate in a load of good topsoil and returf.
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    Robbie April 19, 2013 at 8:29am

    If it's really sodden drains are the only thing that will work IMO
    Hard to say without pictures?

  • MWJONES April 19, 2013 at 9:06am
    If it was once a field then may be they have gone through field drains when building the house.

    The farmer or farm worker who owned or worked on the land may be able to assist in advising and drainage routes.
  • David Cox April 19, 2013 at 9:26am

    Check your local Internal drainage board for land drains, and check the BGS site to find out if your over the top of clay.
    I have a number of similar houses where the builders re-graded the site, lowering the level of the ground by half a meter, meaning the gardens are now 2inches of soil over 3ft of solif blue/grey clay - useless, In this situation a soakaway is the first point of call, followed by in my case 2 tons of sharp sand and 4 tons of compost top dressed over the lawn, reseeded, to give another inch and half, of friable growing medium.

    MWJONES said:

    If it was once a field then may be they have gone through field drains when building the house.

    The farmer or farm worker who owned or worked on the land may be able to assist in advising and drainage routes.
  • john jones April 19, 2013 at 11:06pm

    Dig a hole and have a look at what's in it. ie the soil profile if there is one. Or the rubbly mess if there isn't. If you use a post hole digger you can go deep with very little mess. Hollow tining followed by a sandy top dressing can work wonders in the right situation, and be a lasting solution.

  • Scott Kinnear April 22, 2013 at 7:40pm

    Thanks everyone for your feedback/suggestions. much appreciated.

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