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

"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

Sparce and yellow sounds like poor drainage. This is not the time of year to remedy. If you get a few dry days you could try lightly brushing the worm casts (if that's what the clods are) to disperse them.
I think you need to do the old fork and wiggle regime all over the lawn in March/April and brush in some sharp sand to improve drainage. Then sprinkle on some lawn feed and leave for about a month. Then re-sow any thin patches.


For the road: GSXR600K1
For the track: GSXR400GK76A
For everything else: Citroen Belingo[/quote]

Hi Gavin,

Hi Spider, thanks for the detailed reply, Ill try and answer as best I
can inline for consistancy.

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.

No standing water as such, but very very wet almost constantly.

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'.

Thats exactly what they look like, I went out tonight and had a quick look.

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.

OK - thats good news then.


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.

Where I live is a new build of houses, the gardens are all originally
feilds and therefor are all the same, having looked all the gardens look
the same as afar as I can see, but I cant really go next door and have a
dig round

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.

The yellowing is not that bad really, but its not the lush deep green
that Id expect it to be - but its had a rubbish couple of years.

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!

Ill order the book, Im not afraid to get my hands dirty


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.

In a nutshell, wet. We have borders round the outside that have a few
plants that are doing OK, a gum tree and manx palm are doing great, a
lot of the other bits and bats I wouldnt expect to be doing much at this
time of years any how - Id say its OK.


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.

Ill aerate as soon as is possible, but I dont think itll be to compacted
as its so new (5 years), but hey, what do I know, if I knew the answer I
wouldnt have posted in the 1st place.

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.

Thanks again, Ill keep at it.


Spider


--
Gavin.

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

Spider wrote:
"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

Janet Conroy wrote:
Sparce and yellow sounds like poor drainage. This is not the time of
year to remedy. If you get a few dry days you could try lightly
brushing the worm casts (if that's what the clods are) to disperse
them.
I think you need to do the old fork and wiggle regime all over the lawn
in March/April and brush in some sharp sand to improve drainage. Then
sprinkle on some lawn feed and leave for about a month. Then re-sow
any thin patches.

2nd vote for forking holes in - I shall do that as soon as it dries out
a bit, thanks!

--
Gavin.

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

"Janet Conroy" wrote in message
...

Sparce and yellow sounds like poor drainage. This is not the time of
year to remedy. If you get a few dry days you could try lightly
brushing the worm casts (if that's what the clods are) to disperse
them.
I think you need to do the old fork and wiggle regime all over the lawn
in March/April and brush in some sharp sand to improve drainage. Then
sprinkle on some lawn feed and leave for about a month. Then re-sow
any thin patches.


wouldnt use sharp sand unless ur soil is sand based as u will create a root
break.
Brush or rake the worm casts off before cutting . Sounds like u need a good
spike on the lawn then a feed or a dose of iron will help regain the
greeness of the grass.
If the worms are a problem apply some lime to deter the worms or ask ur
local golf/bowling greenkeeper if he can spray fungicide which is also a
worm deterent.

"Gavsta" wrote
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.


With a new build you never know what you might find under the grass. Our
front had obviously been used as the storage area for building materials and
dumping ground for waste so when we decided to make a deeper border we had
to sieve all of it to get rid of the glass, concrete, plastic and bricks and
incorporate the layer of sand into the rest of the soil. It had simply been
turfed over. All the sand makes that border free draining which is unusual
around here. (Thames silt/clay)

--
Regards
Bob Hobden

"Gavsta" wrote in message
...
Hi Gavin,

Hi Spider, thanks for the detailed reply, Ill try and answer as best I can
inline for consistancy.

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.

No standing water as such, but very very wet almost constantly.

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'.

Thats exactly what they look like, I went out tonight and had a quick
look.

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.

OK - thats good news then.

Without having seen the lawn, and therefore onl;y speaking in general terms,
is that evidence of worm activity indicates the soil is normally in ok
conditions. Worms activity can help things like drainage and soil structure.
They can also help to dispose of organic matter in the grass and help
maintain the humus in your soil. Some folk who have trophy lawns do not like
worm clods on their nice clipped grass. having gotten to learn some about
worm I welcome their existence in my lawn. I mow with a fairly high setting
so the worm clods is not really a problem. The odd patch where the earth
gets squished I can quickly remedy by levelling the mound out and dropping
in a handful of grass seed. This however is only general advice from my
perspective and does not address the drainage issue.

rob

[/i][/color]
wouldnt use sharp sand unless ur soil is sand based as u will create a root
break.
Brush or rake the worm casts off before cutting . Sounds like u need a good
spike on the lawn then a feed or a dose of iron will help regain the
greeness of the grass.
If the worms are a problem apply some lime to deter the worms or ask ur
local golf/bowling greenkeeper if he can spray fungicide which is also a
worm deterent.[/quote]

I don't often actively disagree with other's advice, but what Pied Piper has written is rubbish. Sharp sand doesn't break roots - it improves drainage and I've done the fork/wiggle/sharp sand combo on all sorts of soils, including clay. If drainage is improved the worms will be less likely to come to the surface and leave casts. No-one in their right mind would use fungicide to kill worms in their garden (even supposing it works).

"Janet Conroy" wrote in message
...


wouldnt use sharp sand unless ur soil is sand based as u will create a
root
break.
Brush or rake the worm casts off before cutting . Sounds like u need a
good
spike on the lawn then a feed or a dose of iron will help regain the
greeness of the grass.
If the worms are a problem apply some lime to deter the worms or ask ur

local golf/bowling greenkeeper if he can spray fungicide which is also
a
worm deterent.

I don't often actively disagree with other's advice, but what Pied Piper
has written is rubbish. Sharp sand doesn't break roots - it improves
drainage and I've done the fork/wiggle/sharp sand combo on all sorts of
soils, including clay. If drainage is improved the worms will be less
likely to come to the surface and leave casts. No-one in their right
mind would use fungicide to kill worms in their garden (even supposing it
works).

[/i][/color]
Fungicide contains carbenzium which acts as a worm deterent since the
abolition of carbaryl based worm control ,which actualy killed the worms.
Root break is not something that break roots but layering of the sub soil
which occurs when incompatible materials are added to the root zone..This
causes the roots to grow along rather than down thus weakening the plant .
The term is ROOT BREAK.

--
Janet Conroy

Pied Piper - quote me a single reference from any publication or website to back up any of your ludicrous assertions. Sorry, I don't normally get personal, but you are way out of the zone.

"Janet Conroy" wrote in message
...

Pied Piper - quote me a single reference from any publication or
website to back up any of your ludicrous assertions. Sorry, I don't
normally get personal, but you are way out of the zone.




--
Janet Conroy
35 YEARS experience and running my own company that constructs and maintains
golf courses,bowling greens,cricket,football and all sports turf.
I wish I was way out of the zone as it would save me 20k a year in
fungicide.
http://www.nad.ie/amenity_guide/amenity33.html
Also I have written many articles portraying the science of root zones and
particle compatibility .
Also I have no problem with you getting personal but I am certainly not way
out of the root zone xx

There is a massive difference between golf course, etc, maintenance and what one should do in a garden. I was once offered some spare topsoil from a golf club, but advised not to take it as it was full of chemicals. Worms are an indication of a garden's health - it is madness to try to kill them.

"Janet Conroy" wrote in message
...

There is a massive difference between golf course, etc, maintenance and
what one should do in a garden. I was once offered some spare topsoil
from a golf club, but advised not to take it as it was full of
chemicals. Worms are an indication of a garden's health - it is
madness to try to kill them.

U dont kill them the chemical acts as a deterent just for the casting worm.
Maybe a diference with maintenance but grass is grass and my lawn is like a
bowling green.
Soil will not be full of chemicals as the feed etc used soon leaches through
the soil



--
Janet Conroy

Somewhere on teh intarwebs "Janet Conroy" typed:
There is a massive difference between golf course, etc, maintenance
and what one should do in a garden. I was once offered some spare
topsoil from a golf club, but advised not to take it as it was full of
chemicals. Worms are an indication of a garden's health - it is
madness to try to kill them.

Hi Janet. That's what I've always believed too. I'm in New Zealand and we've
only just banned whatever chemical it is that's used to kill earthworms in
sportsfields. There's a big difference between sportsfields and garden lawns
that "pied piper" doesn't seem to get. A garden lawn is more than a
'feature', it's part of a living ecosystem.

I use a mulching lawnmower. Here's a shot of a part of my lawn on a damp
spring night a couple of days after it's been mowed:

http://test.internet-webmaster.de/upload/1230334651.jpg

The worms love my mulcher and do an excellent job of cleaning up all the
very fine grass clippings. I guess if I was in the business of maintaining
"sports turf" I'd be horrified at a pic like that. Then again, I'd not be
giving advice on lawncare in a gardening group either. shrug

Cheers,
--
Shaun.