A potential fix for HEAVY CLAY LAWNS (particularly in new build properties)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 มี.ค. 2021
- As a lawn care business owner, I visit anywhere from 80 to 100+ properties each week. You soon get to see where issues are and what causes them. New build property lawns are often laid on rubble, or heavy clay. Sometimes both!
So, how do you go about improving clay soil lawns?
The easy way is to start adding soil conditioners and so forth and making gradual improvements, but if you are looking for something more drastic and faster, you might be interested in this particular lawn care tip if your turf lays on clay.
I read about a technique that seemed to work.. really well.. over in America, so wanted to share this little tip with you that can help you deal with heavy clay in your new build lawn pretty quick, where drainage becomes a major issue and grass suffers.
In this video, I have shared footage from another channel called "No Filter reviews". The video I shared footage from can be found here: • Video - This video shows exactly what I am suggesting you try on your own lawn.
***** BEWARE..... you run the risk of drilling down into service pipes and utilities, so I am putting in this disclaimer that I am not responsible for any pipework (or any other utility or service) which you could inadvertently drill into and cause a major issue). You should try to locate these, and if worried, avoid that area or reduce how deep you drill. *******
If you find that your auger bit/hand drill combo can't handle the heavy clay (as it will be tough going) you will need to upgrade the equipment, possibly by looking to buy or hire a dedicated post hole borer that can take thin auger bits around 1 inch wide each.
Method:
1: Once you are sure the ground is safe to drill, first cut off the turf and put to one side
2: Drill down, coming up to allow the clay to come up and out. Aim to drill down through any clay levels to soil underneath
3: Fill the hole with a mixture of soil, compost and organic matter such as leaves/potato peels etc.
4: Firm down the matter then replace the turf.
This should give a much greater drainage solution
Links:
Suggested Auger bits for a hand drill: amzn.to/3rtCE6uA
Heavy-duty post hole borer: amzn.to/3ddgEI2 (you will still need to ensure that any auger bit you buy will fit this or any other hole borer)
#improvingclaysoillawn - แนวปฏิบัติและการใช้ชีวิต
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This is pretty interesting. We have clay in our gardens also, our garden slopes away from the house so the bottom of the garden is still swamp like after rain, so its rotting the posts in the fence also, just something else that needs addressed.
Very informative video. We don't live in a new build but looked at some new properties recently and it looked like that the grass was holding a lot of water.
Definitely looks like it
Another great video. I’m loving this channel, and I’m sure it’s going to blow up before long
Thank you for the kind words. Heres to 2021 for all.of us 🙂
Dito!
Top brilliant advice, from a man who knows his stuff.Even more praise to you giving expert advice which is beneficial to your business which to me is a sign of extreme kindness, consideration, and a true peoples person in every aspect.
I have just bought my spiral (auger drill) and works brilliant on my semi clay sort of lawn also was over the moon how fast it drills down and easily. With all your tips, advice, this has solved a headache I have had for years wondering how to tackle my lawn if you can call it that atm. Thank you bud for all that you do on here a top bloke !!!!
Thank you so much! means a lot!
Great info, this is kinda what I was thinking.
This was extremely helpful thank you! Own a new build with a re-he-he-heeeeallly clay based soil (with a load of leatherjackets for funsies) so full of useful info
Glad it helped!😍
The technique is called deep core integration. I started it this month with a 2 inch diameter auger drill bit. I drill down to 8 inches and fill hole with peat moss. Immediate arration and drainage sorted. Over the long term organic mater will change the soil structure to loan. Excellent information and I enjoy watching your videos. Keep up the good work.
Thank you! 😊
Robert, how far apart do you drill your holes?
@@geoseward Hi there, about 4 inches apart. Another, good technique is to use a core aerator and back fill the holes with compost. I use the Yard Butler hand held core aerator too..
Shouldn't you dig a little deeper? Replace and builders rubble and heavy condensed clay.
Considering this myself but by digging out trenches instead of the holes.
I think it is more work but faster/better results?
Great video. Living in Seattle where it rains constantly, adding compost works wonders! Can’t add enough compost. Also worm casings, while expensive, help too. Cheers
Thank you !
What kind of compost? Thanks
@@DaPowpow depends where you live. I used to live just north of Seattle. I’d buy it by the truck load. 30-35 bucks per yard. Where I live now, because of the pot growers, it’s like 75 per yard.
Feed the soil not the grass. If you feed the soil, you will balance out your yards eco system. Also, it helps during summer heat stress. In addition it can take a couple years to get your soil off of man made drugs, I.e. man made lawn fertilizer
Don’t worry about, mushroom compost or worm casings. Those two are usually too expensive to use. Try to purchase compost where ever you buy beauty bark or crushed stone
@@curtischadd thank you so much for your answer! Appreciate it! Will do. Just made my first lawn (in the Netherlands) but everything is so clay-ey haha, so i am worried so will do all of that ! Thanks
Class advice, thank you sir. My grass was prepared correctly and lawn was looking nice and lovely. It is patchy 7 months on from poor drainage which is ashame but will now increase drainage measures relay seed andmix lime and Sharpe sand to the top🤙 thanks
No problem, any time
Suffering with clay issue where I live, been in 5 years and with March being wettest in UK for 40 years, garden you almost could not walk on it until late April managed to get grass cut twice before more rains.
Have today just done another cut, 15 May ground still very soft, the clay is sodden and any rains and my border fill with water.
My house is bottom of a slope for 6 houses, a slope so bottom right corner floods when it rains.
Looking at digging out a soak away and possible drains plus raising garden level.
I have an impact drill / chisel unit very high power the drill itself is 6Kg so might try the auger bit technique as well
Thanks for the great information. I still need to determine if I have a similar issue on my new build.
When you get chance you can push a spade down say 6 inches and wiggle it back and forth to peer down 🙂🙂
I’ve got clay in the backyard, put a bit of topsoil down last year, I’m gonna try hollow tine aeration this year, remove the cores and fill up with gritty sand and soil. I also put some clay improver down a few weeks ago. We’re lucky in that the previous owners put in at least some drainage and the lawn is on an incline
This should be fine. This video really relates to periods when weve had substantial rain and the turf got overwhelmed. Good luck with your project
I live in Southern California where this is some heavy clay soil. I used a tool to aerate the soil it is manual and you step down puncture the soil. It helps but it's probably not deep enough. Thanks for the video.
Hi, a manual lawn aerator tool, sounds like. Yes they're good and do help but as you say dont give the depth
I have a clay soil also. I aerate twice a year, with the type that pulls plugs, and while I have seen some improvement, what's compounding my problem is poor drainage that I need to work on. I have 10,000 sq ft, but as you suggested, do a little at a time. Thanks for the tip's. John
Hi John, as you hollow tine you could topdress with compost which will slowly help.. but before that apply some liquid gypsum. Down the lineninwill try and do some videos on this topic
Thank you for an informative video. Subscribed!
Thanks for watching and subscribing 😊
Great tip and it does work. New home here in states, clay and rock and I took a drill and went to town. Any large rocks i dug out. Also aerate and top dress with mushroom compost. Weekly liquid humic acid apps as well. Within one season I now can manually aerate my 1000 sqft lawn like butter in 30mins.
Thank you for your comment! Really pleased to hear this!
Wow, weekly liquid humic acid. Based on my readings, people make it sound like once a season. No wonder I'm still struggling to amend my clay. What kind of mushroom compost and humic products do you use and what is your sun exposure and watering schedule like?
@@Anamnesis Yeah so here in America I buy the Black Kow brand. Either manure or the mushroom compost. They sell it in all the big stores lowes home depot. Great stuff. And yeah the humic acid I use N-ext products RGS root growth or Air8 all have humic and fulvic acid with some extras. I buy 1 or 2 gallons and during growing season I spray 4 to 6oz per 1000sqft weekly or bi weekly. I love to spray so it helps relieve that itch and it benefits soil 😆 All that I helping speed up the break down process by feeding and multiplying microbial activities in the soil
the auger method looks good like you say a little at a time. on one of my new builds the front was laid on clay & the back on blended loam & the difference is so visible slowly getting there with yearly top dressing on the front. good vid 👍
Cheers mate. Who ever invented clay? 🤔 glad you're making progress..
Trees are also hurt when clay keeps their roots from getting enough water. When one of my crepe myrtles failed to bloom this year, i suspected it'd grown to the point where it couldn't draw enough water from the soil. Yesterday, I began digging around it and discovered just how bad the problem was. Three inches down and more the tree was trying to grown in solid, non-porous clay. Digging on the uphill side (for now) I carted away about seven 5-gallon buckets of clay, replacing that with good topsoil and compost. In this case, the problem was so bad, I abandoned my auger and turned to a spade designed for digging in tough soil. I went down almost a foot and until I was below the existing roots. I used a hose to wash the clay away from the roots and a bucket to remove the clay saturated water.
would be nice to hear how it gets on this season after the effort :)
Just watched your vid of drilling holes and plugging them on this very property
Great vid, might be a good short term fix but for those like me who can wait a while, I think I should share you my technique. I had a heavy clay lawn, was 50 years old when I got it, this is ten years since, the previous owners were just not gardeners. I thought long and hard about how I could improve drainage and improve the water availability in summer, (I'm in south Germany where we get summer weeks with temperatures above 30°C without rain). I found coffee grounds taken from all the brew machines at work (around a gallon a week, only applied in the winter - cockroaches love coffee grounds) and biochar (which I make myself, hazel branches left to smoulder overnight) were the solution, as well as wood chips in the autumn, all just chucked on top and left for nature to do it's job. I'm still building up that soil, but after around three seasons it worked, when we got a monsoon, the water doesn't puddle and we don't get inch wide cracks in the summer either. I also feed the grass molasses to keep the micro-organism mechanism strong. I think if you encourage the worms they will do a far better job than we can ever hope to!
Hi Bob thanks for.the detailed reply. Very kind of you to share. There is a channel called "how to with doc" who mentions biochar helping and I remember he did a video showing how it helped improve the rop sort of 6 to 8 inches which I thought was interesting. I since looked for biochar products in the uk here with little luck, which led me down this path of deep aeration. However I am very much interested in the biochar option. I did read somewhere else a few weeks back think I read that too much biochar can affect the soil ph (or affect something).. I should have written down the reference. Anyway what I'm trying to say is a big thank you, I will take a closer look
@@LawnRight No worries. All I do to make it is I have a pit which is 18" deep and about 2' diameter and I build a fire using the small stuff and build it up so I add branches cut to 12" lengths between 1" and 2" diameter let it burn for between 20 and 30 minutes and then cover it with green grass clippings but I make sure it can breathe a little, so it smokes like two cigars going off. I then have an old satellite dish that I put on top and leave it around 16 hours overnight. You have to then prime it by putting it in compost so that it soaks up all the nutrients, let it stoop for a good few months. I then chip it down to around 1/4" for the lawn and just tread it into the soil around October and it's gone.
This fellow has an alternative method, you have to make sure that store bought charcoal doesn't have any burning agents in it though.
th-cam.com/video/5ZEGCFAEj3o/w-d-xo.html
I have same problem in Poland. I'm using manual hollow aerator but it's killing me 🥵 need to try that drill.
Great channel btw. Keep it coming 👍
Thank you so much! If the ground is wet you will find it easier to do the aeration. 👍
Get one with only 2 or 3 tines. They're easier. And make sure you clean the clay cores out after each use. Leave zero residue, otherwise it hardens and the aerator will no longer core a hole, it will just plunge the clay down, making compaction worse.
Useful information thanks
Thanks!
Great suggestion on the drilling. I haven't gone to that much effort yet, but I have been throwing down some humic acid on our heavy clay new build home. It has helped, but there are still a few areas that are so hard I can't even get a pitchfork through the surface unless it's just rained. Good luck, my friend. I know you'll get it figured out.
Thanks
Never enough hours in a day
I live in Southern California and I've been doing this for the past 12 months in my clay soil. I use a 1 inch drill bit that is 6 inches long and I fill the hole with compost. Here on the West Coast we are in a drought and I only need to water my grass every third day to keep it green.
Did this work?
@@ivanflores5484 I ended up digging up even larger areas. 6 inch by 6 inch squares and removing some of the dirt and putting in compost. The grass looks great and I only have to water twice a week.
Just happened across this video and I have done the same in a very wet corner of my lawn. Bought a cheap B&Q drill to burn out (which I did) but like yourself saw some American videos saying about this. It makes a lot of sense and I await the results 👍
Hi. Did it work with poor drainage?
How did it work then
Update. I think it has worked a little but I should have tried a larger area really. Unfortunately, my lawn has gone to shite since, owing to no time and a baby... 🙄
Just in the process of doing our garden, I live in a heavy clay area, not much point digging down as its clay all the way down, I've forked over the whole area which will be turfed to break the clay up, it's then had 4 ton of Organic manure mixed in. Then around 6-8 inch of a good grade top soil on.
Hello, Did this work? We have exactly the same problem with our new build. It's horrible. Thank you.
Love the use of a bulb auger. Suggestion: I use "Stall Pellets". This is used in horse stalls and also can be burned in a pellet stove. Fill the holes with the stall pellets and ground charcoal. Don't forget to buy some worms. New builds tend to have very few worms for the first 3-5 years.
Hi really intrigued with your comment (thank you!). I can see the stall pellets are essentially compostable, which tallies up with me suggesting compost. The charcoal and worms is also a great tip so just wanted to say many thanks
@@LawnRight The great thing about stall pellets is they can easily be spread on the yard with a spreader, lightly moistened, they then just puff up and then allowed to dry. A quick mulching run over with the mower will allow the very fine wood fibers to move past the grass and straight to the soil. I have also applied the pellets right after coring.
@@LawnRight Loved the video
Do you just put one worm in each auger hole? And what variety of worms do you buy?
Really interesting concept. I have clay but luckily it drains well and stays green as a result of the nutrients being held in the soil. Those augers are ok but you can hurt wrists if it grabs!
Yes.. I found it easier to just go down abit then reverse in out in our so to speak
There's pieces of builder's rubbish buried in my clay soil. Tiles, glass, brick, rubble, random bits of metal, all just waiting to grab an auger bit. Tempted to try this though.
Coring and backfilling with sand has been picking up steam in America. It helps with water drainage, compaction, and maintaining a level lawn. I've seen everything from a 50/50 soil/sand mix to 100% sand "top dressing"
Clay plus sand equals concrete
For clay soil you need to add organic material NOT sand
I drilled to a depth of 2 foot and then applied Gypsum to the whole lawn and even the beds . This worked really well
Hi Dave fantastic results! Great ro hear. Do you just put pure gypsum down the holes then seed or turf back on top? Or mix the gypsum with soil or compost? How wide were your holes and has the lawn greener up "evenly" ? Going to be doing this soon for a customer
@@LawnRight Hi no I drilled with a deep drill bit to about two foot, get some air in the soil. Then spread 50g per SQM of Gypsum, then water in. If I am treating the whole lawn to green up I use another special mixture of seaweed, Humeric acid, vulcuc acid , and Iron phosphorus to green up. Used in a sprayer mixed as a liquid
Great video. I have a from garden law that won’t drain properly and this spring the grass is odd looking. I don’t know if it’s clay but I guess this will work!
Dig a square out of the lawn carefully to inspect then replace and firm it down 😊
Not seen the drilling method practiced before ! Would be interesting to see some people trying it here in the uk and the results ! Always going to be a problem the new builds.. would just be easier if that bit more care went into the gardens during the build 🤦🏻♂️
Might have to try it myself. One of my customers has ordered an auger so I might pop in when hes doing it or done it. Yes be good if they dug out the clay before the house and fence llines went in
@@LawnRight yeah it’s great content, especially because so many suffer from it ! Great stuff though mate, looking forward to following the channel going forwards mate 👍🏼🌱😄
I actually have some small areas I can treat like this, will do so and compare to the main area I'm repairing with a full tilling, soil improver, reseed process.
such a good video thanks - this is exactly what is happening in my garden. Just bought new build and the clay is so thick and sticky beneath the grass. Under closer inspection the whole ground is covered in moss. I might try the drilling and see if that works
Pretty sure the drilling will work. Doing it myself soon for a customer
@@LawnRight great, would you be able to do a follow up video? Thanks
@@Bealoo will try 😊👍
I started with horrible clay soil that was rock hard when dry, and have regularly treated my yard with humic acid products over the past several years. It made a huge difference in soil composition and drainage.
Thanks John, yep conditioning the soil is an excellent idea. I've been incorporating small quantities in for my customers, maybe it's time to increase the dosage 😊
How frequently do you add humic? Monthly? Seasonally?
@@tycox8704 I try to do it at a minimum of 4-6 weeks during the season.
I tried the auger for about 15 min then switched to a 6 ft digging rod..pointed on one end and chisel on the other. Ram the pointed end into ground..work around in circle..pull out and repeat. With a little labor u will have a 3" x 20" deep hole. Can do 5 holes in under 3 minutes. I then fill 1/3 way with pea gravel and the remaining with equal parts sand and premium compost mixed together well. Been doing this on all my shaded areas that drown in spring and winter from moisture. I plan on this fall aerating really well then throwing down a layer of sand and premium compost, seeding it and working it all in. Hoping this fixes my issues. Cheers from the 🇺🇸!!
Hi trevor..awesome tip! Dont supppose you could link to the tools you mention. Im wondering if its a powered tool that goes into a drill or a manual tool
@@LawnRight my drill was too underpowered/battery kept dying plus got drill too filthy. Digging rod has alot more muscle/lever/torque behind it. Can get for $30 @ Tractor supply or many construction/building stores.
Our 7x8 metre lawn is on clay and probably due to my own neglect looked very patchy about 10 years ago. It had lots of dips too. I levelled it off with a 6 inch layer of topsoil which I rolled flat then turfed on top. The old lawn underneath then composted down to a superb soil structure. This year, for the first time ever I’m going to core aerate it, top dress it, brush in the top dressing esp. into the plug holes and re-seed it especially in the plug holes where the roots will grow quite deep. Once the grass has grown I plan to brush in a layer of fine compost and recompose it every year. The best way must be to help nature do its own thing. Just give it the tools to do he job! Love the vids.
This sounds great but 6 inches of top soil?! Who can afford that, is your grass raised high above the local area?!
There's a desperate need for business that take a lot on which a home is to be built and improve the soil, getting rid of most of the clay and rocks and, if necessary, installing a drain system. That is a lot easier to do that before a home is built.
It would be nice if they did care that much
Here, in the States, it’s not uncommon for builders to sell the existing top soil before they build, then have to buy it back when it’s time to landscape.
They sell the topsoil when they build the plots though imagine how much you can make extracting 6/8 inches of topsoil of a massive new build plot
Lived in my house for 58 years, whole garden is hard, heavy clay, could throw pots out of my soil, this year is the first year I have decided to tackle the lawns, front lawn started, scarified, seed on, topsoil down, after 10 days looking good, my back lawn is bigger, I can't afford your suggestions sadly, so I guess my lawns will never be the best, but no one really sees them except me and my small family.
You can do it! You could fork the rear or buy a hand spiker on aroller to spike the rear.. rake out thin layers of dry multipurpose compost over the lawn every couple of months and maybe get some humic acid on.. this will all help clay alwns over time
@@LawnRight thanks for suggestions x
I drilled my 8mx12m lawn last year, which was always wet and full of moss. This year its amazing, worked a treat 👍
How deep did you drill? Did you fill the holes with anything or just aerate 😊
@@LawnRight drilled about a 1.5ft, filled with a sand topsoil mix.
Thanks and what sort of spacing did you choose between holes. I'm considering every 3 inches or every 6, more is better but nice to hear it working with your situation
@@LawnRight every 4 inch. I saw it on the net and thought I would try before going for a French drain as garden was so wet. But it worked so well everyone in my estate is now doing it.
@@ALZO570 thanks for the reply. Is your soil clay then? This fills me with hope
Hi mate. Hope you're well. I've recently dug up an area in my garden that is 6mx6m and it's now looking like pure clay. Would you think it would be more beneficial to do this method and plug the holes with a compost/manure/rotted bark etc. Or rotivate the whole area then mix in the previously mentioned? Then top soil then turf? Looking for the most cost and time effective method. Thanks
Hi it's hard to say which would be quicker .. drilling lots of holes regularly may be time consuming but if the holes get down through the clay you're onto a winner. If you rotavate could you guarantee rotavating deep enough to get through the clay.. if you're gonna rotavate then might as well mix some compost, soil and gypsum in to help break up the clay
Thanks food for thought.....
👍😊
I have a clay yard, when the heat of July hits. The lawn cracks wide enough for my hand. Will this technique work to stop the cracks. I filled some with top soil, watching to see what happens.
It should start the improvement process but might take a year or two to get somewhere decent. Keep adding compost in and aerating too
Cheaply installed lawns on clay is not an uncommon problem in the USA either, and I've seen deep core integration discussed elsewhere, however the kind of small lawns in UK row houses shown here would be pretty easy to do because there's about 100sf of turf grass. How would you deep core 10,000sf of turf with 3" spacing between holes? It would take weeks. Is that kind of tight spacing really necessary on larger turf spans or could it be increased? We also tend to have less rain, more sun and heat, and less moss taking over.
Hi, totally understand. I have seen videos of machines that do it online but quite rare. You could simply do regular aeration and get some humic acid on regulalry to start improving the top layers and perhaps work on certain areas with at least a few deep aerated holes. I have a custpomer who used a large auger bit that was about 3 feet long and half a foot wide and dug a deep hole with it.. he then filled that area with grit, then soil
Interesting. I didn't have professional advice. A few years ago I instinctively dug many holes about 4 inches deep, and about 4 inches apart, in the lawn. I filled the holes with a mixture of leaves, potting mix, and the original clay. The lawn looks great now.
Brilliant. 😊😊😊😊😊
Is this an Avant house - I live in one too and the looks like the one at the back. I am lower than everyone else too. Mine is absolutely waterlogged, even now I squelch around on it.
I was going to install french drains but think it won't help. I am considering taking a foot out - putting in some gravel/hardcore layer then 10 inches of fresh topsoil along with new turf - what are your thoughts?
Hi I'm not sure if its avant sorry 😳.. ideally need to dig through the clay layer or look at french drains .. or work slowly each year to improve the soil with gypsum and compost and topsoil
Try searching for liquid gypsum products that are now available. A company called ultra soils sell it, app rate is 20l per hectare.....it acts as a clay soil flocculant
Thanks will take a look
might help if the home owner dealt with the overflowing gutter and/or leaking down pipe in the area where the rear elevation meet the rear addition. Could also add lime to the soil and 70/30 sand/soil top dress...
Great tip! have mentioned to customer a couple of times about this issue
Can you post a link of the drill bit needed pls, just checked screw fix and overwhelmed with all their offerings, just want to get the right one for my drill. Thanks
Hi sorry as yet I've not gone into this myself but will be doing soon for a customerr
What I have always done is.... use a border fork and wiggle it back and forward to a depth of about 4inches. After completing a row move back 3inches and do another row. Complete the whole lawn by repeating a new row every 3inches. I then brush in fine sand and lightly water to settle sand. Brush in a good John Innes mix. This can be repeated every 3 months for the first year. Further applications can be repeated once in the spring if neccessary. It has always worked for me and I havent spent £50 - 100 on auger bits.
Thanks Andy. Trouble on these new build properties the clay goes very deep. Really poor from the builders sadly to fall short on the last hurdle
@@LawnRight thats a real shame. Just window dressing then?
@@andyfarmer759 yep.. I've been to some with rubble and then an inch of soil on top.
Very interesting & deep aeration sounds promising. Can you advise where these auger bits are available please.
Hi Dennis they can be found on amazon and ebay. Just make sure its around an inch or so wide. If you cant find any let me know I'll find a link
@@LawnRight Would these be ok? www.toolstation.com/long-auger-bit-set/p35978
24mm x 600mm
@@drewstephenson8138 hi the length is great but the maximum width is only 24mm. That's probably just about doable.. what matters is penetrating the clay without hitting pipework, and filling the hole with compost and soil
I have a question... I've scarified heavily and aerated my lawn and I saw that on some places there's a lot of moss.. So my qustion is should I apply a moss killer and wait for a week to get them killed or just to apply the topsoil with sand - mixed (the soil has a lot of clay) over the seeds and not to wait the moss to be killed, because its already may and it starts to be hotter here in Bulgaria and I should water it more often? Which option is the "smaller devil"? 10x in advance for your competent answer!
Hi.. dont bother with the moss killer.. itll day out the grass seeds they really dont mix. What I would do is try and rake out some more moss to thin it out then seed and dress. You are ok if there is moss but plenty of soil grooves in between the moss that seeds can germinate into but tease out as mich as you can itll be so mich more beneficial.. the moss killer will only blacken it off
I have just moved into a new build house. The soil is clay and I am going to put grass seed down. I have dug it over then tried my best to break up the lumps of clay into smaller pieces with a spade. But it is still in chunks. I have some sandy top soil to go on top but I'm worried that underneath the layer of sandy soil there will be lots of air pockets. Should I be worried?
Get some gypsum first and compost and work those in. The gypsum will actually break the clay into smaller pieces while the compost will work some goodness in.
You could also use a liquid aerator as well, such as Air8, which helps water move through the soil.
I did look at that last year but thought it was only available in the USA.
I actually have some of this I just brought I’m hoping to use it today I have new sod which is a little over a month old and the drainage is horrible… I hope the air 8 will work I am in GA so we should be dormant soon… I’m going to spray it once a week a few times and hope it works
I have what looks like a light clay subsoil layer under the lawn (which I intend to convert to some sort of pseudo-cottage garden) my 75+-year-old house which I rent (for which I, the tenant, have the responsibility of caring - I don't care to have a lawn, per se, though I do care enough to scythe down what's there if it's growing too high, and I likely will overseed any area I don't convert to useful plants). I wonder if a grelinette (also called a broadfork; wide, 5 to 8-tined version of a garden fork, though the tines are usually only 27 centimeters long, not the over 40 you would need in this case) would be usable for breaking the soil and providing some drainage.
I also have a pot where moss has grown on a bed of woodchips. I'm fine with this, as long as the pot doesn't harbour superviruses or invasive species, but it demonstrates the kinds of conditions moss likes (poor drainage, continuously wet).
Does the moss happen to produce a kind of allelopathic (big word for: kills other plants) toxin?
Hi I'm not sure on the moss toxin connection but if you do. Use the wider tool it's going to provide a little it of improvement in drainage.. I would do that and then try to brush some compost and a little gypsum into the holes.. Repeat this say twice a year and things will slowly improve
@@LawnRight If I remember, I'll let you know what I end up doing and the results I end up getting.
Hey man, can you tell me the name of that drill bit that American fella using in this video and where too pick one up. ?
I brought a auger drill bit from Amazon for £20 it was only welded in 2 places and broke on the 10th hole.
I've got clay and stoney soil and need something a bit more heavy duty but don't want too make massive holes in my lawn.
Hi this was an amazon one just carefully going down and backing up bit by bit
I'm digging mine out. It's so bad how far down do I dig and should I mix sharp and with top soil before sewing seed ?
Hi yes you can but try to get the top 6 inches as pure soil.. if possible
An interesting idea I've not seen or heard of before. Do any people who make these videos in America mention gypsum at all. Only I read a bit from an organic only lawn book (American) who promoted it but I believe it would take an enormous amount to make a difference to the structure of clay soil. Also the other thing I have seen is over the pond is a few going on about liquid aeration. Don't know if it's any good? Anyway I think the customers lawn featured would be greatly improved by lifting the height of cut to around 2 inch ✂️ with all those fences etc it's looks very shaded. 😎
At first they did follow my advice but a few short cuts towards last autumn led to a decline sadly. I left yesterday with a note to raise cut of height and consider deep drilling. Gypsum yes is goid6but needs digging in, sadly not ideal on a lawn that's already down, but interesting to maybe add some to the mixture that gets put down
I looked at liquid aeration last year I don’t think it’s (legally) available in the uk, same with a lot of American products.
@@drumsonly44 Yes I suspected so. Quite a lot of their products are forbidden over here
Just had a bit of a dig around (no pun intended) as to what would be best to put down the holes once drilled and came across a few things. One is vitax clay breaker which they advise to apply after hollow tining so should be good also here at 200g per metre square in the autumn. Basically the rain and Frost over winter apparently integrates this with the soil. This combined with sandy top dressing with peat may be a way forward 🤔
@@grahammacklam4736 interesting.. 👍
Hello Shaun.
I laid a new turf lawn on poor quality soil in late September last year. Some of it is doing ok, but I have a section of lawn where the drainage is poor and about one square meter of grass has died due to all the rain we had over winter. I watched one of your videos recently where you recommended aeration. I tried it using a garden fork. In the area where the grass has died, the soil clung to the fork, and the width of a roll of turf just lifted when I withdrew the fork.
Should I lift the dead area of turf and put fresh compost/topsoil down and reseed it. Or just scarify it and reseed it.
Thank you.
ps I've bought an aerator that you recommended, but I might give this drilling a try.
Hi Bob I'd have a little inspection first for any chafer grubs or leatherjacket grubs. If that turf as died you'll need to replace anyway with new turf or seeding later. I'm wondering why it's died off.. Other than the rain.
Maybe that section is a natural dip in the lawn so becomes a puddle. If so I'd try to raise the soil level a bit before turf or seed.... I'd also check to make sure there's no concrete or rubble or pebbles under it
@@LawnRight thank you. For your prompt reply.
How are you keeping.
@@bobblack4048 not too bad thanls
Funny enough I've just bought an auger bit and welded a longer bar onto it, my intention is to drill out and fill the holes with horticultural grit with 6 inches of topsoil to finish off. I've applied gypsum both powder and granular in previous years and can't say it did much, If I had a Kiln with the amount of clay in my garden I could start a brick factory
Ironically I've spoke to 2 customers today.. ones bought an auger.. hes doing the short grit, same as you.. the 2nd has been hard at it and completed 350 holes over the last week!
@@LawnRight sounds like everyone is giving it a go, I remember seeing a machine on an america golf course like huge truck it drilled about ten holes and backfilled them before moving forward a foot or so, drill and fill they called it
Hi mate, been looking for ages to find a fix, I'm now getting my patio done and want to dig the whole lot up and start again. Do I just fill it up with top soil and lay new turf or do I need a base below the top soil so the new lawn won't sink what is best? Thanks for any help in advance 👍
Hi the best option is to remove much of the clay and fill with decent soil, levelling in layers but thats not always practical. One thing to think is that anything is better than nothing so any improvement will be of some benefit.. Just adding topsoil will help a bit but you will likely still get flooding issues in heavy rain due to the lay content deeper down.. if you do this, deep drill some holes at various spots and fill the bottom third with gravel, then the rest with topsoil/compost and a touch of gypsum........... long term add humic acid regulalry for gradual improvements, as well as topdress with compost
Thanks for the reply, I was going to dig down as much as I can until its all gone then drill holes, use a layer of pea gravel, layer of composte then a good few inches of top soil before laying would this be OK or am I jus being stupid 😂 thanks again mate 👍
@@michaelsantangeli9571 thats a good idea :)
In the us they are now big on this and a company sells another product that they call air-8. They claim it also breaks up soils and is a mix of leonardite (humic) and liquid seaweed. I'll be using my own mixture of this this year for my customers....
Thanks Kevin. I've also been using humic acid and seaweed the last 2 years cat say I've seen huge improvements in the soil. I saw the air8 product but never found anything similar over here. Thanks for the info
@@LawnRight A little and often...
@@chancha1916ks I suppose this will.come down to testing. I only treat every 10 weeks on customers lawns so I need a clay lawn I can apply regular to
@@LawnRight pick one that is local to you and use it as a testing facility 😄. Keep a record of what you've done and when and from that you'll get an idea of improvements if any.
@@LawnRight have a look on TH-cam for lawncology. This is the guy who's selling the humic/seaweed products. Watch his videos and the overall theme is that his products are all based on humic. I've used humic for years and some of the improvements have been impressive. I also have a supplier of powdered leonardite that is potent stuff for not a lot of money in comparison to Rigby Taylor etal....
I want to be talking with someone who knows about the latest techniques and is solution based! But I don't know who I could be talking with. I bet you do not cover my area in the UK. I have a problem with drainage at the bottom of my garden. Who could I go to that I can trust? I appreciate your advice!
Hi.. thanks for the comment. I'm afraid to say it's not my speciality dealing with ground drainage. Ultimately water needs to be transported away from the area or made to drain down. There are a few variables which are as yet beyond my expertise. Namely how to install French drains properly.. effectively moving water around, dealing with and understanding the location.. for example is it on marsh land etc. I usually tell customers to employ a specialist for this. So.. as for what I did in this video it did help a bit. I'd further add for future use to put some gypsum in the holes to aid flocullation, breaking the clay into smaller particles.
Put in french drains and link to the down pipes to take the water away. Rotovate lawn and mix in compost, soil conditioner and sand then add new turf.
Its a good idea. Nit something I've ever done, and dont fancy getting into it to he honest. I did mention this to the customer last year but budget is also a factor
The builders have put French drains in the bottom of our garden ~ 12 months ago now.
Do you know what difference it’s made?
None, absolutely nothing. Going to try this method.
This technique is “Tough Love” personified…..😂
If your have lifted the lawn like I have
Rather than buy a 1 inch auger bit for my drill
I paid 3 pound to hire a fence post auger for the evening ,and rather than drill a few dozen 1 inch holes
I drilled 6 X 6 inch holes along the wall where I had solid clay and drainage issues
Took about 3 mins let hole
Yep..live and learn mate.. one of my cutsomers did this 2 weeks aft I did this. He went down 2 or 3 foot and filled with pea gravel , soil and co.pist and it's doing well. Cheers mate
He has damp where grass and house wall are. I would dig the mossy lawn near and put paving in with a drain gulley just to be on the safe side. Please let me know what happened this lawn, thanks.
Hi it improved quite a lot but then they got a dog who has destroyed most of the lawn.. that's pretty much it unfortunately
Hi LR I wander if you can help me. We have moved into a new biuld home and i have found many small white slugs in my lawn. They appear after i have watered lawn.
Hi its just nature. They come up when its wet. You may try some slug pellets or just wait till they've gone.. usually its overnight
Hi… is there an affordable hollow tine machine out there. The only one I have seen is £2600 and my garden is not big enough to justify that. Any suggestions
Maybe a 2nd hand machine would be useful
.my first aerator was a classen and got it for £500
My ground is rock hard in placesand the grass grows well in patches and blades are very thin in others. Anything I can add to the soil before I do this
Hi if your digging the clay I'd suggest compost dug in with it. If just drilling deep holes full with compost and soil
@@LawnRight My local tip sells bags of a dark black compost. It's mainly very fine wood chips and compost but i've noticed when making a flower bed out the front that if i dig up the clay only 6 inchs deep and mix in this compost it breaks the solid sticky clay up and turns it in to smaller easily broken bundles of clay. The flowers have thrived this year in the new improved soil. I'm very tempted just to hire a rotavator, turn over all my garden and spread this compost over the entire garden and rotivate it again as a quick and easy way to improve the soil and drainage.
I'm also looking at installing PVC tubes with holes drilled in to them, covering with gravel and laying the soil over the top. I think they're called french drains or something like that. Might help direct water flow towards the driveway where the water can drain away rather than sit in puddles across the lawn.
1 ton of compost at my local tip is £5 might buy a couple of bags. and hiring a rotavator for the weekend costs £60 there abouts. Then it's the time to seed the lawn but with a quick top dressing and seed it should start to look much better in 3 weeks.
Large DIY job costing in the region of £100 and a weekend. Honestly biting the bullet and doing the graft is going to stop a headache later on down the road.
Useful information. I've seen some pretty bad ones. All about the money. I think I'll steer clear 😁 are you going to offer to have ago mate?
Not sure lol. Saying that one of my customers has had a go.. told me hes put 350 holes in! Omg
Damp issue in the corner too
Got to love the good old uk clay soil. Did you find the moss was quite bad this winter ?
I did yeah, I put some amvista iron down in early winter. gonna go heavier with iron sulphate end of this year
Yeah, the extra rain we had literally from october right through has made things worse
@@drumsonly44 yeah iron sulphate is good that is for sure. Any other tricks drums for lawn care ?
Moss was the worst this year then ever. And been in this house 15years
Amazing. Your lawn is smaller than some of my mulch beds, and I’m in no way wealthy. Imagine having the issue of clay soil, but 35k sq ft of it!
😥
Interesting.
👍
I'm in a new build with heavy clay under the membrane that's under good quality soil. However we still have drainage issues. Could I use this option? Could I go through the membrane?
Hi I've no idea why they would even put that membrane down. If you've got.agood 8 inches of soil that's great for the roots.. I'd still be tempted to drill some deeper holes though for drainage and avoid nay pipes or cables 😉
@@LawnRight so should be OK to cut through the membrane then?
What topsoil do I want if I want to combat a heavy clay lawn I dont want to make the mistake of adding more clay
Hi if you're just layering on top then I'd go for a slightly sandy topsoil or regular topsoil.. if your gonna he rotating then I'd go for topsoil, gypsum and compost and mix it all in
My lawn is an old build and the clay is 2ft and my lawn is 40ft by 40ft any idea's. When it rains its flooded instantly with pools everywhere. Same with 4 houses next to me.
You can try drilling some deep holes maybe with a post hole borer..bottom third with pea gravel then fill with topsoil, a little compost and a bit of gypsum
i had this idea for my garden , i drilled down close to a meter and put 1inch pvc pipe into the holes then filled the pvc pipe with top soil, works great for drainage but bad for scarifying , end up with pvc getting obliterated all over
Im undecided if this is a great idea or not. On one hand it would be good to get stuff down the holes, such as gypsum, humic acid and compost which will slowly inflitrate the surrounding soil, encourage earthworms (natural aerators) but I can also see how it would help water drain away super fast.... hmmmm....
@@LawnRight what makes you undecided?
@@OnlyUseMeEquip I've just never heard of it before but could be a great solution
I have a hole in my garden mate do i just fill that with soil i have the clay issue too 🤯
Hi yep pop some soil in then seed on top followed by a thin covering of soil or compost.. fork the rest or aerate or deep drill
Just tried this in some thin areas before overseeding... my emotions repeatedly swung between “I’m so glad I’m doing this, it’s going to work so well” & “I think I’m going mad, what a waste of time”
Once it starts to come through you'll be glad you did
I aerated my garden with a drill last year, my neighbour thought i had gone mad but im glad i did it.
@@Backintday Same here man! Now it's my favorite thing cause the yard was so awful it couldn't help but improve fast! And I love looking like a nut for a year.... then having nice lawn. I didn't know it was a "thing" or had a name "core integration ." It just made sense to me cause tilling in compost only made a swamptub of compost in my yard instead of a garden plot, so I drilled so we wouldn't get mosquitoes. Then I put sticks to keep holes open. And cardboard was no brainer...it's dirts best friend after worms so I shoved some in holes with sticks. Beautiful.
How xan i make aure i dont hit any pre existing drianage worried there is a council drain under my garden
I appreciate it's worrying and rightly so. You can try and guess roughly where pipes run looking at any manhole covers or access from the street. You could carefully dig done one area slowly and see if your thoughts are right. You could even just of very slowly with an auger bit.. Finally you can get hold of electronic tools that check for utilities underneath. If unsure then definitely leave it be. You may be able to get plans or diagrams from local authorities which show locations of any installations.
Gypsum helps open up clay based earth, common practice in Aus
Thanks Scott. Yeah, the trouble here is getting enough into the ground once the lawns laid.. although I agree some down the auger holes alongside compost will do it the world of good. Thanks 😊👍
@@LawnRight liquid gypsum, no idea available in the uk. But is obtainable here, cheaper than bagged gypsum as well
How do you do this on 7000 sq ft where I have a lot of gravel under the top soil
There are machines usually quite large that are independent or tractor towed that can achieve this
Right on bro! “Spot on”…? 🤔 is it still cool to even say that anymore? Forgive me,,, however, the phrase is absolutely fitting in this case! This is an American, it’s cool it’s autumn, and for context,,, I am a greens keeper at a private club. And right now, In my 2nd year of renovating, more specifically, soil-transformation of hard clay soil. To make things worse, this property has a dense tree canopy. That’s Just for some context cuz, i have a question to ask,,,, and I could use some advice….
I’ve been using this same approach, the concept is introducing dead organic material; preferably material in a state of decay. I’m using whatever I have around me. I’m stuffing half rotted leaves in aeration holes, where there were hard voids I’m mixing in black top soil I’ve gathered from bottom layers of mulch (wood chips) flower beds, I’ve filled holes with a sandy mix where drainage was crappy, a few bags of both peat moss and horse compost turned in bout 6-8 inches, top dressing healthier patches with nice organic material(harvest from woods) grabbing up all loose cores, I’m running out of ideas and time….🥺
Spring n fall this lawn will THRIVE…. As long as the trees aren’t covered in leaves; as they are now. Clearly I’ve missed timed things because the leaves are holding on and I’m loosing seedlings daily. And 80% of the grass is just looking sad! For example, there are spots where the grass is so weak My blower sometimes lifts the bunches right up from the soil. 🤷♂️ the leaves are only partially changing colors and tho this soil is REALLY improving, there are still areas I had to spray pretty hard over the last 18 months.
Have you ever experienced problems growing new grass where a particular spot had required several herbicide applications?
And
Any ideas you could recommend? Maybe something I haven’t tried yet?
Last
Can you tell me anything I might be able to do to keep this grass alive for a week or two?
Note: I’ve pruned every limb as high up as my equipment permits. I’ve fertilized at roughly twice what’s recommended. Converting grass species of lawn over to fescue mix. A ton of work will be for nothing if I can’t come up with something. I’m mean, there are LITERALLY patches of this lawn that see only intermittent sun total maybe 2 hours a day,,, AT most!
Idk what to do… 🥺 it’s my folks lawn, they hope to sell house next year, and I’ve taken on the responsibility of renovating a lawn that’s been neglected for over 15 years… drainage is ok…. The property sits on side of a hill and the lawn has significant grade in most spots but, if I had more access to free sand I’d certainly be filling holes with it where necessary….
Any tips or ideas that might help or save me, I’d appreciate ya bro! From one turf manager to another, thank you, take care, God bless, and holler at me with anything you come up with.
I appreciate you for actually reading this whole thing! Lol 😂
Peace!
Or
Wait…… 🤔
Cheers! 😁
Hi.! The only issue I can see is lack of available sunlight. It's my belief that turf needs at least 3 hours a day of direct sunlight to stay reasonable.. and the inevitable decay of some grasses (of which a lot will eventually improve again in spring). I read all the message :) Ive not seen any issues due to over application of herbicides.. but if you seed close to a herb application there will be some residually, so I usually like to wait at least 4 to 6 weeks after any hrb app to seed. As I read the comment you are definitely working wonders in the soil.. You might find some better seed varieties out there that do better in shady areas but other than that Id be looking to overseed in spring... Otherwise some seaweed is about the only other thign I can suggest right now :)
Much love, my man! Appreciate ya!
Great tip, was thinking of doing this using sand, what do you think?
Hi, personally I'd aim for topsoil and compost Certainly mix some sand in but a bit of structure would be needed 😊👍
What about if the clay is deep as I have dug down over a foot so far and still clay
Other than drilling deeper you may just have to accept what youve achieved. Drop some compost and soil in to start improving whats there
@@LawnRight that's the root I have taken as we have dug a foot off to level the lawn now putting as much organic matter as we can over the rest of the year into the top spades depth was just wondering if there was anything else as so far we have put on about 5kg agricultural gypsum 500kg compost and now cuttings ect till next year then going to level it again and seed
@@timmyreeves9170 other than huge major upheaval youll make great improvements with what youve done. Ive literally aerated the rip 2 inches and topdressed with compost and that lawn dominated their neighbours lawns for colour and health . As for deep down drainage issues.. next thing would be ground drainage channels.. not my forte though
@@LawnRight thank you buddy for your feedback much appreciated 👍🏻
That and also top dress with something organic as well. Get as much organic material down as you can without totally covering your lawn
Totally agree
Mines not just heavy clay but also bricks and other crap left by the builders.
Think I have to dig it out section by section and replace with compost and shop bought black gold.
Feels like my "good" top soil Is actually only good compared to the heavy builders clay and rubble mix underneath. 😢
Ahhh a bit of work ahead.. if the top 6 inches or do is fair soil you may not need to do all that.. regular aeration.. getting compost and gypsum down will slowly help over a few years
What i did was rip it all up and put in a patio hahah
I do still have abit of grass tho
I cant even dig through my clay its that thick. I could drill down 6ft and still be in clay
Look at deep drilling. drop somehl humic acid, compost, topsoil and gypsum down over the next few years and itll gradually improve.. long term game though
Is that a damp wall in the corner?
Wouldnt be at all surprised..mentioned a few issues with the customer . Damp proof layer was covered plus drain pipes not going anywhere 😪🤔
Trust me to choose the house with the biggest garden with the whole clay issue. It’s absolutely awful. I’ve seen the whole auger thing before whilst doing research. That was 2 years ago. I’ve still not done anything. I’ll get all prepared and knowing me my cheap 18v Argos drill won’t be able to handle it and burn out.
As an alternative aerate the lawn, then brush some compost and clay breaker in. Wont be a fix but it'll be a start.
adding lime to clay soils will make the soil particles flocculate, allowing the water to drain.
this might not cure the problem ,but will kill the moss .
Ahh yes good point.. best done over winter especially if thinking about seeding in spring
Highly suspicious that in majority of ‘new builds’, the topsoil is removed by the builders and sold on!
Got to leave room to redistribute the clay that has been dug up and the dumped general building waste, haven’t you!!!
Interested to know where to obtain robust auger bits 1” wide.
I couldn’t find any.
And they blunt, drilling into builders rubbish!
And you need a properly powerful drill.
I tried this but gave up.
Instead, I used a spade up to the hilt in a herringbone pattern of cuts, levered up the clay and poured a compost / sharp sand mix into the cuts then trod each cut partly flat.
After a year the two treated areas are looking really good but I still have 1/3 acre left to do, bit by bit!
Yes I know what you mean about trying to find decent bits! And builders actions.. hmm.. anyway.. Good to hear your promising results. Ive also been thinking about using a trench digger
Wouldn't adding lime help?
Hi it can certainly help the clay become easier but it can also change the PH levels. Im more one for getting some compost in the ground
What about rubber crumb?
I've never used it.. Not sure if I ever would
you can do it with a power washer
Ehat about the clay breaker
Gypsum? If that's what you mean, def handy to break up the clay along with some compost and regular topsoil. Thanks
@@LawnRight yes thats the one ok thanks ill need to try that i moved into a new house and the whole lawn is clay . Thanks man
Looks like they have damp issues on the wall in the corner.
Yeah its pretty poor design by the house builders.. we found drains buried.. I mentioned a few issues to them at the time.. not sure if they ever got it sorted tho
Looks like rising damp in the corner by the down pipe
possibly. Ive mentioned this to the customers a few times, and theyve had the house builders out a few times who seem to think all is ok..!
@@LawnRight hopefully…. Great video btw,,, will be giving this a go myself later in the year