Repair / Fix clay soil lawn?

Question

I have recently moved house and the lawn to the rear of the house slopes slightly down to the patio / house. The soil under the grass is always soggy and appears to be a heavy clay soil. When it rains there is standing water and drainage is a nightmare. I have bought a manual aerator to try and pull plugs from the soil. The soil is so clay like that the plugs dont pull out and the aerator only acts like a garden fork penetrating the soil.
Any help on this would be great as I would like my wee girl to enjoy the garden this summer without the soaked lawn.

Thanks in advance

Answer 1

It sounds as though this was a problem bank and the previous owner turfed it over before selling the house. It can be fixed, but it's a major job and you might decide it's not worth the effort. Basically, you need to put in drainage and replace the top six inches of soil.



Since the ground slopes, the easiest approach is to put in a French drain at the bottom just short of the patio. Dig a trench about 2 feet deep along the edge of the patio and fill it with heavy rubble. Dig out the lawn area and put down a layer of around 2 inches of gravel and then cover this with a mixture of one part sharp sand, one part sifted clay soil and one part general purpose compost to a depth of 5 or six inches. Now leave it to consolidate, hoeing and raking the top couple of inches to stop weeds taking over. After a couple of weeks it will be ready to turf or seed. Give the soil a generous coating of bonemeal before you do.

Answer 2

This is easy to fix and not very costly. Clay soil is a soil that (a) lacks calcium (b) is compacted through weight (c) Has poor structure due to to high cation exchange capacity and low organic matter. Or a combination of the three.

Firstly, DO NOT REMOVE ANY soil. And DO NOT ADD any new "soil". As stated before, clay soil simply has bad structural properties because its missing something, but are that can be easily rectified. So we NEVER remove/add soil, you just add the components your soil needs.

For your first step, The grass has to go for now. Mow the grass very low, then dig the remaining grass through your soil using a hoe or shovel. Secondly is calcium (in the form of gypsum). You can test if your soil is low in calcium by placing a small chunk of soil in distilled water in a jar, if after a few hours the water around the soil is murky or cloudy, you will need to add gypsum. Thirdly, weather you have added gypsum or not, add large amounts or organic matter, like compost or in bags from a nursery. Mix this organic matter through the top 5 - 8 inches of soil. Also if you have access to the product "Multicrop GroundBreaker". I would recommend it. It is a liquid form of clay breaker, if you can get it, use that as your last step. Your soil should have good drainage after a couple of weeks. Finally, sow seeds of your new grass.

In closing, improving your soil will ALWAYS produce better results then removing and adding new soil.

Answer 3

First I would lay out exactly where you want your garden to be. Then yes did out the grass. Then I would build a border around the garden, this can be done with plastic landscaping material, bricks wood etc.I would make this at least 2 1/2 ft. tall. You didn't say what type of garden so am guessing flower.Put down plastic bags over the bare clay, you can use landscaping material that is made for this purpose it is better but not as cheap!Now fill the garden with soil, can purchase this from a hardware or grocery store would be the cheapest. Also if you live near a landfill they sell compose in the spring at a very good price, I pay $15. a yard. Now mix this altogether. You will have to add compose and fertilizer yearly but you will get great results. I know all this because I have the same type of land and if you do not put down the plastic, trust me , the clay will come through all your hard work. tried in the vegetable garden for years before I figured out what to do.This method will work great for vegetable garden too but the only thing is if you plan to grow root plants such as carrots the garden has to be deeper, but will work for top growing plants lettuce, tomatoes etc........Good Luck P.S. they only thing with newspaper it routs the first year and alas up comes the clay again.

Answer 4

Liquid Clay Breaker

Answer 5

Jamesk has given the best advice but I would save the turf you will cut out in squares(keeping it moist and airy) and relay it when the ground is prepared.

It will have to be kept well watered until it roots into the improved soil.