Feeding and improving your lawns surface drainage

Spring or autumn are the best times to start to improve your lawn.

Feeding and improving your lawn’s surface drainage are two important tasks that can help keep your lawn healthy and looking great throughout the year. Here are some tips for feeding and improving your lawn’s surface drainage in the spring and autumn:

1. Feeding your lawn: Feeding your lawn with a high-quality fertilizer in the spring and autumn can help improve its overall health and appearance. Look for a fertilizer that is specifically formulated for your type of grass, and be sure to follow the manufacturer’s instructions for application rates and timing.
2. Aerate your lawn: Aerating your lawn is an important step in improving surface drainage. Aeration involves removing small plugs of soil from the lawn, which allows air, water, and nutrients to penetrate deeper into the soil. This can help improve the overall health of your lawn and prevent issues like soil compaction.
3. Top-dress your lawn: Top-dressing involves applying a thin layer of compost or other organic material to the surface of your lawn. This can help improve soil structure and drainage, as well as add nutrients to the soil. Be sure to use a top-dressing material that is compatible with your type of grass and follow the manufacturer’s instructions for application rates and timing.
4. Install drainage solutions: If your lawn has persistent drainage issues, you may want to consider installing drainage solutions like French drains or dry wells. These systems can help divert excess water away from your lawn and prevent issues like standing water and soil erosion.

By following these tips, you can help feed and improve the surface drainage of your lawn in the spring and autumn, ensuring that it stays healthy and vibrant throughout the year.

Lawn with a wet surface 

Unless your garden suffers from a drainage problem a wet lawn is likely to be caused by a heavy clay soil or a solid layer of soil-forming a pan or imperious layer 100 to 150mm down in the soil. 

First dig down in a small section of the lawn to check the soil has not formed an imperious layer. If it has you will be able to see the pan in the soil and the soil below the plan will be dry and crumbly. 

If the wet surface is not caused by a pan or imperious layer this can be cured by applying dressings of sand over the lawn using a shovel or spade and brushing it into the surface of the lawn to build up a sand carpet at the base of the grass plants. This will create a surface that’s freely drained.

The 2 keys are to firstly apply sand which is made of particles of a similar size such as a kiln dried sand used for block paving or sand used for a child’s play sandpit. Standard building sand used for laying bricks etc will have particles that are all different sizes and so it is not suitable because it creates a solid mass with few air spaces. 

Secondly, apply the sand so it does not smoother the grass totally so that the grass will recover and grow through the newly applied sand carpet. Ideally, you need to apply 4 applications of sand over 3 to 6 months. Ideally, you are aiming to create a sand carpet at the base of the grass plants 15mm to 25mm in depth. 

Sand can normally be purchased in 800KG bags delivered to your home address by your local builder’s merchant.

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