On 3 Apr 2006 04:29:22 -0700, "cliff_the_gardener"
wrote:

I am latching onto your observatio that the lawn is boggy.
Is that because the water is standing or because the kids are running
around on wet grass?

If your lawn is boggy, a top dressing of sand isn't going to solve the
issue quickly. The soile level will have to be raised above the water
table to have an effect. You would have to repeat topdressing for
years to have an effect.


No kids and no standing water. The lawn is on a slope but being over
clay water is held in the clay and doesn't drain down the slope.
Similarly because its on a slope the ground should be above the water
table already. The rationale was to add sharp grit / sand to open up
the structure enough to let gravity do the drainage for me.

I would also incorporate grit sand into the soil to create a more open
soil texture, around 75-100kg m sq.

Cheers that's the sort of info I needed. Despite Steve's whimsically
silly response it was obvious that 1Kg was too little and 1 tonne just
plain silly ;-)

If you feel really adventurous, you could put in a large underground
water collector - solve problems of hosepipe band then!

Actually not so adventurous and has been considered. Because of the
slope I have considered putting a french drain across the bottom of
the lawn which would still be above a patio where I could put water
tanks. Something like;

Lawn Lawn
Clay Clay Lawn Lawn Lawn
Clay French drain
Clay Clay Upper patio

Water tanks
Lower patio