Aerate OR landdrain OR both?

Hi all,

I've currently got a problem with a very squelchy lawn. The lawn is on a gradual slope towards the house and is at it's worst at the bottom of the slope. The soil is generally heavy with clay as well. I was planning on installing a landdrain throughout the lawn but i'm now wondering if i would be better to just to hire a hollow tine aerator instead. Would this be a better option or would doing both be a good option?

Thanks,
Chris

 

Chris,

We have fairly open soil and the lawn is at the top of a steep garden but in winter after heavy rain all the lawn was boggy apart from the RH strip (which is a bit lower) where there would be a thin layer of water.

I went over it with a hollow tine aerator, removing c. 40L of soil plugs, and it made a huge improvement. That was c. 7 years ago and it has never been boggy since then.

So I would be tempted to use an aerator and see what the result was.

BTW, I used a manual aerator, and when I first tried (in probably September) it just would not go into the lawn. A couple of months later and after quite a bit of rain it went in relatively easy. That may not be an issue with a powered machine.

 

rent a machine and aerate and see if that works.
If not go for the land drain.