"Gavsta" wrote in message
...
Due to the wet weather and downright drearyness[1] that its been on the
Isle of Man this year, my rear garden is looking very worse for wear and
Im wondering what and when can be done with it.

The grass is looking a bit sparse and yellowish, and there are lots of mud
clods (I guess done by worms) all over the place.

Do I just leave it until the spring, or is there somehting that I can
start now to get it back to its original healthy state.

[1] Its been soaking wet for a good 3 months now.

--
Gavin.

For the road: GSXR600K1
For the track: GSXR400GK76A
For everything else: Citroen Belingo



Hi Gavin,

You don't say if your lawn has been under standing water for many
weeks/months, or if it has simply been excess rainfall which has, in the
main, drained away. If the mud clods are, indeed, produced by worms then
it indicates the latter, as worms would not be able to cope with long-term
standing water. Have a *really* good look at these clods. If they are
shallow heaps of squiggley extrusions, then they are wormcasts - the proper
name for 'mud clods'. In spite of their usually unwanted muddy appearance,
they are actually good news; they tell you that your lawn is not anaerobic,
which it might very well be if months of standing water were the problem.

Next, have a look at your neighbours' gardens each side, to see if they have
the same problem. If they don't, you might have a *very* local drainage
problem, perhaps due to soil compaction. If this is the case, it is fairly
easily resolved, albeit with some effort and/or expense. The yellowing
grass could indicate root rot, so if the yellowing is extensive, you may
have to start again with a new lawn. I strongly recommend The Lawn Expert
by Dr. Hessayon, which is part of an inexpensive series of excellent
easy-reading guides. It will help you assess your lawn and its problems.
If you don't want to do hands-on labour yourself on what may be a large
scale, there are a few lawn maintenance companies around now who could
assess .. repair .. remake, no doubt for a tidy sum. Or you could pay a
local knowledgeable gardener - not a man with a van!

You give even less detail about the rest of your garden, so perhaps that's
not as bad? Do expand on that so we can help.

The most important thing right now is to avoid walking on the soil, or
grass, as this will only make things worse. If you have a solid footpath
next to the lawn, go out during a mild spell (not frosty) and use a garden
fork to aerate the lawn. Simply drive the fork into the lawn as deeply as
you can, wiggle it about to create bigger holes, and even heave it slightly
to get some air back into the soil. This will relieve some of the
compaction. You won't be able to do the whole lawn like this if it's really
too wet, but it will give you a small area to monitor. The simple act of
doing this job will tell you how hard and compacted the soil is beneath the
turf.

By all means come back to this newsgroup, not least to tell us how you get
on, but we all need a bit more information from you before we can help.

Unfortunately, the much-needed uk.rec.dreariness isn't in operation as yet,
so that problem may remain unresolved.

Spider