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

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]

"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

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

"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

"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