Borders, Grass and Drainage

Joined
4 Sep 2014
Messages
516
Reaction score
5
Location
Manchester
Country
United Kingdom
Hello,

I moved into my house 2 years ago and the previous owners didn't do anything in the garden apart from maybe cut the grass now and again. They had a sand pit and a trampoline in the garden so when I moved in there was two rather large patches of nothing in the grass. I have since been told to put a boarder in by the other half who insisted that we didn't need to dig down to create the boarder. She just wanted to put newspaper over the grass and then soil followed by a plastic boarder which is only in the ground by a few centimeters. After the row and me saying the weight of the soil (a ton) would collapse the boarder I came home after being away a weekend to this all being done plants i and everything. She got her family to help out!! So its stayed as is as there was no where for the soil to go. So two years down the line and its all collapsed (who knew!) I have found some boarders which you can hammer in which are wooden however after measuring I am going to have a noticeable gap even if I cut to size... She now wants a concrete boarder which has an edge so the lawn can be cut better which I don't mind however it needs to be dug down.

Am I correct in thinking I need to dig out the boarder again and do it properly? so the plants look nice and they have some where to grow as currently they are not in very much soil either as the ton was spread right down the entire boarder.

If I have to dig it out then I am also looking at including some form of drainage for the plants and for the grass as everything is currently sat on clay I have more moss than grass. Well I did before I killed it all scarified it and planted new grass seed and covered with compost. Its now looking more green however its still very very wet. So as much as I try I cant seem to stop the moss overpowering the grass without some form of drainage ad I am aerating ever 4-6 weeks as recommended by the scarifiers handbook. Is there anything else I can do to sort this problem out? Is drainage the right way to go? If so where do I start?

I hope this all makes sense and that I hope what I have done so far (excluding the boarder as I didn't do that) has been correct? I am worried that the compost maybe to thick and I need some form of sand to enable better drainage but I am unsure.

Any help is greatly appreciated and please bear in mind I am new to gardening so please be gentle with me lol.

James
 
Sponsored Links
Don't put compost anywhere near a lawn. It holds water like a sponge. Top dressing should be coarse sand mixed with topsoil.

Hard to visulaise this border based on your description. any chance of a picture?

If your on heavy clay then no amount of aerated will help as the water has nowhere to go.

Land Drainage may work but is a big undertaking.
 
Ah right ok so rake all of the compost out then I take it and replace it with the mixture of coarse sand and topsoil as you suggest this may have something to do with the problem then! I did put it on in a thin layer to just cover the seeds but I will try and get it raked out and replaced.

I will see if I can get a picture of the boarder for you tonight when I get home and upload it.

I will try and get a picture of the garden as it stands now as it is on a slant towards the paving stones which need sorting out as well as they are not straight so it tends to collect near there but I think the compost is keeping in the moisture. If I am thinking correctly the water should drain down the clay to where it can do given gravity?

I was wondering if I could just put some pipes under where the water 'should' go in my mind as its on a bit of an angle. I will try and get a picture so its a bit clearer for you to visualise.

Thank you for your comments though they are appreciated.

James
 
Sponsored Links
step 1, dig a trench for the border
step 2, place new border, concrete in to fix?
step 3, sort out soil inside border, by diging down, possibly it only needs a turning with a fork to break the soil up, keep turning it and it will break down, add grass cuttings as a mulch and to help improve the quality of the soil?

As for the lawn, if it was only a thin layer of compost I wouldn't worry about raking it out, but add the sand/topsoil as suggested and keep aerating so that sand soil gets down into the clay to help drainage.

if this still hasn't worked (it will take a couple of years) then you can consider the land drain, but as stated previously this is not a small job, so try the sand and aerating for a bit first as it is relatively inexpensive.
 
Thanks for that I will give that a go.

I am currently breaking up the soil whenever the weather is nice at the moment to aereate the soil and break it up. As I have just scarified and I have used the raking attachment on the front garden so far. Would I need to scarify to aereate again just on a higher setting so it doesn't go as deep or would one of these do the job (as I have one):

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lawn-Gard...174?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item4612a1d3fe

I will get the top soil however I have some parts where there are clumps of compost so I will rake these to thin out the layers which may encourage some growth.

Regarding the mulch I have a composter at home which I am using and moving around as much as I can to help the process and getting some air in there with a fork so its done at the same time as the soil is turned. I am using this to help with the soil nutrients. Which as I understand it is the correct thing to do but I could be wrong?

Thanks

James
 
Links in this post may contain affiliate links for which DIYnot may be compensated.
The grass could be put straight down on the soil surface, it forms a mat that stops stuff growing (weeds etc), then next time you turn the soil, it gets mixed into the soil and breaks down that way, no need to put in the composter.

As for scarifying and aerating, they are two different things.

Scarifying is effectively like raking the surface to remove unwanted growth whilst leaving the grass in place.

Aerating is essentially driving a spike into the soil to help the lower levels below the surface, this could be achieved with a garden fork, no need for a roller... unless you really want one.
 
There is stuff you can do to improve your clay soil, it's just a case of trail and error, what has worked for me might not work for you ect. In my gardens I've had pretty good results (so far)
 
Ah right that's fair play its just I have a composter which I put grass cuttings and various other things such as twigs and various kitchen stuff in there and I use this when needed.

I thought that scarifying was to dig down into the soil and give some aeration as well as removing deep thatch.

So aerating is just creating gaps in the soil to allow the air to get into the soil for the grass to grow?

Is that's the case and I have that correct what does the raking roller do on my scarifier? This appears to take thatch from the soils surface and put it into the collection bag. Surely this is the same as scarifying just on top of the soil? Or have I misunderstood?

Thanks D4N1EL what did you do for your clay soil so I have a few more ideas on how to rectify the issues?

Here is a link to the scarifier:

http://www.screwfix.com/p/titan-ttb428gdo-32cm-1300w-lawn-scarifier-230v-230v/48162

Thanks I already have one and I have been using it and I walk all around with it in different directions to get as many holes in the grass area as possible.

Many Thanks

James
 
the scarifier pulls out moss and the thatch of dead grass out of a lawn. This removes the layer that prevents air and water getting to the roots, so it does improve a lawn. It does not have any substantial effect on the soil. It does also lift coarse creeping grasses so you can mow them off.
 
Scarification is specifically to remove growth on the surface, not to aerate. If you are going that deep you will be ripping up the top level of grass roots and I don't think that will help very much. Also you shouldn't have to do it too often.

Have a look here:
http://www.lawnsmith.co.uk/topic/scarifying-raking/when-to-rake-or-scarify

This was from a quick google, but the site might give you some good information on all sorts of lawn care topics. I haven't looked too deeply, but it gives some good background info to the topics discussed so far.
 
Thank you for that I have had a read of the link you have sent to me. I have scarified the back as it wasn't looking very healthy and had a lot of thatch so I went with the depth setting of +10 as recommended by the manufactures manual. Granted it looked a mess but I did it mid April and then seeded with around 2.5KG of grass and fertiliser and a lot of the grass has grown back and it looks much better. I haven't cut it since as there is still a lot of new grass shoots growing. Once they have grown I will cut the grass down so I can see what I have left to do.

I have raked the front and this filled my bin and the front now looks a mess but I know it will grow back and hopefully much better. I will aerate it every month as the scarifiers manual suggests after I cut the grass next and hopefully it will help with the garden and the removal of the thatch and moss hopefully will give me a better lawn. This could also help with the water drainage as it may now be able to get back to the actual grass opposed to sitting on the surface thatch.
 
I have done some more reading on some of the other topics on the link you have given me and one of them suggests aeration of the lawn which is fine. However the aeration cylinders which appear on the market for electric scarrifiers seem to have the same effect as a scarrifier or the raking attachment. They look a little different in that they are hooks but the aerator attachment is spiked and slits into the soil. This is essentially what my scarrifier did when I ran it at the lowest setting.

Would these two things be doing the same thing? I have just had another look at the product description and it states "Ideal for aerating the soil" I presume this is after scarification?

The manual states this:

RAKING
In order that a healthy lawn can develop in the spring, it is
necessary for greater amounts of air to penetrate the area
around the roots of the grass. We recommend aerate the
lawn every 4 - 6 weeks depending on the state of your lawn.

I presume the raking attachment does the same as aeration? or am I completely misunderstanding?

Thanks

James
 

DIYnot Local

Staff member

If you need to find a tradesperson to get your job done, please try our local search below, or if you are doing it yourself you can find suppliers local to you.

Select the supplier or trade you require, enter your location to begin your search.


Are you a trade or supplier? You can create your listing free at DIYnot Local

 
Sponsored Links
Back
Top