please help me with my lawn!!

bungaro79

my back garden lawn is a disaster, gets very boggy in winter and in the summer it can crack leaving big gaps at the sides of the garden. behind us is an empty field (part of the ghost estate) and i'm thinking that not a lot of care was put into the gardens during construction of the estate. the grass is patchy in places and you can see in the photos doesn't drain well. and to top it all off there are some lovely thistles which i cannot seem to get rid of no matter what i try!

so where do i start?!? should i do something about the thistles first and spray the lawn?? dig up the garden?? do i need stones and top soil and start from scratch?? would love to have this sorted by the summer if thats possible.
any recommendations would be greatly appreciated

Sonnenblumen

Not as bad as I expected, however a couple of things to consider?

Is this a north facing garden?

Perimeter beds are far too small, need to increase space for plants/shrubs.

Damp sites are especially poor during winter, if you wish to improve you'll need to tackle the drainage. This could be improved by doing some ground checks to establish that there is no rubble below soil inhibiting natural drainage. This rubble must be removed.

You could rotovate area if soil is of poor quality and add horticultural grit and/or supplement with new soil to improve overall quality and drainage.

If ground has a high water table, well you'll need to instal french drains to drain area. Looks like this could be easy with acces from rear through your post and panel fencing. Look up installing french drains (or PM me for specific guidelines) which involves trenching and piping to handle excess water etc.

Once you've rectified ground conditions you can decide what new layout you wish. Ore space for planting and avoid if necessary running grass tight to fence. Always awkward to cut/strim and rarely looks tidy.

If you require paved areas (patio, pathway etc) this needs to be considered before tackling ground/soil conditions.

Good Luck and let the Force be with you;)

bungaro79

firstly thanks for the reply sonnenblumen, what you said below makes for interesting reading!!
the garden is north facing alright and the bit closest to the house rarely gets direct sunshine (even in the summer).
didn't know about the perimeter being too small, will tackle that. makes sense too what you mean about the grass looking untidy next to the wall.
so i'll probably look into doing the ground checks you mentioned, how far down would you recommend i go?? not sure if we have a high water table but you might PM on the details of the french drains anyway and i'll have a look at them.


cheers again

Sonnenblumen

info PMed.;)

bungaro79

cheers sonnenblumen, good reading material alright!!

dug up a few holes like you said and it looks like there'd a layer of stones underneath which isn't helping the drainage. not sure what the best plan of action is now, place is like a bog outside now. do i have to dig through these to make a drain??

Sonnenblumen

Hi

glad the info was helpful. looking at the photos does seem to suggest the drainage problem is lack of percolation because I see some hardcore at the base of your test holes. The presence of hardcore would indicate to me, compacted ground conditions which have made the area impermeable during construction works and with little or no adequate ground works, the presence of hardcore etc manifests itself in poor drainage conditions.

In such instances, excavations and removal of any and all of builder's debris is best course of action to take. This can be difficult if not sometimes impossible, but given your site and good access, I would get a meahanical digger in to excavate 400-500mm, removing waste and replenishing with additional topsoil and make good desired ground/lawn level.

If you are planning any pathway/patio, any excavated debris/hardcore might be re-useable as a backfill sub-base.

This is the course I would take and not bother with installing any land drains.

bungaro79

thanks again sonnebblumen, appreciate all the advice