On 05/02/2016 19:57, Mathew Newton wrote:
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!).


I'm wondering, when you got rid of the the patio and sub base did you
clear it right away at the edges so that you were into soil or did you
just clear the bulk and leave the edges?
If you left the edges then you have probably created a semi pond so that
the water is being slow to drain into the surrounding ground.
at 2ft you most definitely have a clay subsoil and wont be able to dig
through to break the pan.
You will have to try to remove the edges though your neighbours might
not like the thought of extra water at first, but they probably have the
same problems to some extent.
This drainage problem is probably why there was a patio there and not a
lawn.
The "Grubs" you have found wont make it ant better for the grass.
Looking at your pictures again it looks as if you have built a brick Dam
on the right hand side with no gaps between the bricks for water to
drain out, and it's this; right hand side; that looks the worst hit.
I wonder if this is the lowest point of your garden.
On the bright side the chances are that after this winter we wont have
another prolonged soak like we are having for several years so over
sowing in the spring could well give you a good lawn back.
Don't worry about the worms, you just need to brush off the worm casts.
We uses to use a birch broom swished across the grass to disperse them
on bowling greens.
Hope this helps a little.
David @ a yet again wet and windy side of Swansea bay