Hi Dave

On Friday, 5 February 2016 19:28:00 UTC, Dave Hill wrote:

You don't say where about you are in the country.

Apologies - I am in Wiltshire (South West).

Some parts of the UK have hardly had a dry day since the beginning of
October so waterloging could be a large part of the problem esp as you
say you have underlying clay.

Yes, it has been very wet. Not flooding by any stretch but seemingly endlessly 'damp'.

Q. Is this a pan of clay or is it a deep layer that you cant break
through?

In all honest I am not sure. When I dug out a deeply embedded washing line pole the clay seemed to go down at least 2 feet (the point at which the pole's concrete based come be removed).

Q. Do you have water lying on the lawn after heavy rain?

Not that I have noticed. I will be keeping a keener eye on things now that I am facing up to the problem.

Q. After prolonged rain can you walk on the grass without feeling as
if you are going to sink into the ground?

I tend to stay off the grass when wet however the one time I did run out to rescue a broken fence I did feel that the ground was very soft. It had been very wet (the broken fence was storm damage) however I put the spongyness down to there being just soil and no grass given any structure.

Q. Do you have dogs or children playing on the grass?

No. Just two cats but they tend to stick to the exact same path each time (and I do mean exact - to the same foot prints every time!).