Improving a clay based lawn - help
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Improving a clay based lawn - help rushdenwolves 03-11-2006
Posted by rushdenwolves on March 11, 2006, 8:26 am
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Hi

Cananyone suggest what i should be doign to my lawn in march?

it is a clay based lawn that gets very hard in summer and therfor
restricts colour and growth

I wouldliek toimprve the soild aeration and structure so have been ou
forking it, but ned to knwo what to do next.

Add sand ? if so what sort?

I am told i should add gypsum as this will be absorbed easily an
imprve soil profile ? - greta - but what is it and where can i get i
in the uk?

all help gratfully received

Russell Jone

--
rushdenwolves

Posted by Jonny on March 14, 2006, 7:09 am
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>
> Hi
>
> Cananyone suggest what i should be doign to my lawn in march?
>
> it is a clay based lawn that gets very hard in summer and therfore
> restricts colour and growth
>
> I wouldliek toimprve the soild aeration and structure so have been out
> forking it, but ned to knwo what to do next.
>
> Add sand ? if so what sort?
>
> I am told i should add gypsum as this will be absorbed easily and
> imprve soil profile ? - greta - but what is it and where can i get it
> in the uk?
>
> all help gratfully received
>
> Russell Jones
>
>
> --
> rushdenwolves

The biggest problem with clay is that it does not hold water very long.
This is good for areas that require quick drainage, little or no fauna.
For good coverage of grasses, and moisture retention, you need a good
topsoil at least 3 inches thick.
You can get around doing a soil replacement by gradually building up your
lawn annually with topsoil in early spring over 2 or 3 years by adding
topsoil over your current lawn.
--
Jonny



Posted by The Lawn and Landscape Guy on March 15, 2006, 11:18 am
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Russell:

I live in Indiana in the US and we have red clay. The one plus for us
is that there is limestone in the area and that helps. Gypsum is
basically lime dust. If you spread it on the ground it will help to
break up the clay - over an extended period of time. The best thing you
can do is amend the soil by topping it with top soil or organic peat. I
got a new house last year that had virtually no topsoil as the lot was
scraped by the developers. Fortunately we got sod so we had some
topsoil there. However, I spread organic peat around some of the spots
that needed leveling and continue to do so throughout the rest of the
yard. This has had a tremendous impact on the health of the grass. This
spring, the areas that have the organic peat greened up weeks ahead of
the rest of the yard. You can also use peat moss but I found that the
price for the area covered is about the same and organic peat has alot
more nutrients. I can buy it in 40 pound bags for about $1 a bag. I
just throw them on the ground, cut them open, dump them out and then
use the back side of a garden rake to spread it out until it settles in
and I can't see it anymore. As far as aeration goes, if you are going
to be serious about it the best thing to do is rent a plug aerator or
have someone do it for you. If you do this, make sure you do the
aeration before you spread the peat. That way the peat can get down
into the holes and start breaking down the clay even deeper. It will
take a year or two to really get the full benefit of this but it is
definitely worth it. Hope that helps.

Jay


Posted by on March 16, 2006, 1:59 pm
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The basic choice you have is to do this on the installment plan over
many years or do the fast solution. The many years approach is top
dressing with a variety of materials as suggested. The do it now
approach is to use a roto tiller to till up what's there and mix in
some good humus to quickly establish 8 inchs of decent topsoil. Which
is right depends on what the long looks like now, how bad it gets in
summer, if the existing grass is a good variety or should be replaced,
etc.

All kinds of material can be used to topdress or mix in, from peat
moss, to compost made from leaves. It depends on what is available in
your area and cost effective.


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