My lawn is mud - thinking of starting from scratch

Seve OB

So I’m pretty sick of my back lawn. As the title says, the soil is very muddy. I maintain it well enough, I have a verticulator which I run over it a few times a year to ensure it is well dethatched. I’ve dug buckets of sand into it over the years. I feed it a few times a year with a feed and moss killer which I would then rake out the dead moss etc.
It’s grand in the summer months, but once winter comes and any heavy rain, it’s just turns to a squelchy muddy mess. It just doesn’t drain off. I’ve dug some holes and filled with rocks and gravel. It’s slightly better in those patches, but still not great.
There is an incline from the back door to the back fence. But there doesn’t even seem to be any natural drainage and it’s nearly worse at the high point.
10 years ago I went out from the back door about 3meters with a patio. I put a good foundation of I think about 6 inches of hardcore & maybe 2-4 inches of sand under the flags. When it rains, it seems to drain pretty well.
I put a wall in which mainly levelled out the garden as I had to build it up behind the wall but there is still a slight incline. I’ll snap a pic later on to explain better. I guess I might partially be the cause of the ground being so crap at draining because when I built it up, I just put the soil from the patio in without thinking about drainage and the consequences. I say partially, because it was always crap and the neighbours have similar problems. I think a lot might have to do with the soil composition.

So I need to stick a new shed in, it’s going to be slightly bigger than what’s there and brick built with a proper foundation. Current shed is just sitting on bricks. I was thinking of making the shed floor level with the top step from the patio, I reckon the ground there might be somewhere between 6-12 inches higher at the moment.

This got me thinking about the garden and I have always thought about levelling it off properly, so this might be an ideal time. I would like it level with the top of the steps. But I realise that levelling it won’t make it drain any better. So my question to you guys who would know a lot more than I do, would be if I dug the muddy soil out altogether and as a starting idea to build on to stick in maybe a foot or so of hardcore/gravel (is there a difference) ran a compactor over that to get my level, some weed control fabric, couple of inches of horticultural sand and top it off with a couple of inches of some proper top soil such as this, will that be an absolute waste of time, effort and money, or would it be a good way to get some decent drainage into the garden.

PS I am a golfer, would like to make this really nice and pristine, not quite putting green standard as I realise that takes an awful lot of maintenance, but I would like to get it as close as possible, as I said above I do put a bit of time into keeping it in shape.

Seve OB

Pics to explain

looksee

It really looks pretty good. You say it is ok in the summer months but muddy in the winter. I'd say a lot of lawns are like that and the best solution is just to not walk on them when they are sodden.

I'm not an authority on lawn drainage but I reckon if it is really swampy then a couple of drains buried into the lawn might be the best solution. Your suggested system might work but if the land overall is sitting on a clay pan (non-draining) you are not really going to make a whole lot of difference.

Seve OB

Good point about sitting on a clay pan, but would the fact that my patio drains pretty well now indicate that putting in some under soil drainage should do a better job in the lawn?

I did notice a massive difference this summer in the clay when I dug a tree from my garden where the soil was all clumpy and muddy around it. I replanted it in my dads garden. Wow, the difference in the soil was amazing, his was sooooo sandy. I remember growing up there and there was never any drainage issues, the ground was always walkable on during the year. I guess this is partially what got me thinking about making some drastic changes.

looksee

Well presumably your patio - which is not permeable - drains into a drain, and was designed to take water away. It doesn't automatically mean anything for the lawn.

You need a bit of information about the soil structure in your area, it is available on line but the plans are not really detailed enough to get a good idea of a single garden or even estate. You could do a bit of research here https://www.teagasc.ie/crops/soil--soil-fertility/county-soil-maps/

Seve OB

looksee wrote: »

Well presumably your patio - which is not permeable - drains into a drain, and was designed to take water away. It doesn't automatically mean anything for the lawn.

Na, I was no clever enough when putting in the patio to even consider putting a drain in. It just drains down through the gaps in the flags.

looksee wrote: »

You need a bit of information about the soil structure in your area, it is available on line but the plans are not really detailed enough to get a good idea of a single garden or even estate. You could do a bit of research here https://www.teagasc.ie/crops/soil--soil-fertility/county-soil-maps/

Will have to look into that

Seve OB

I should probably add that my front garden is nowhere near as bad.

Funsterdelux

Seve OB wrote: »

I should probably add that my front garden is nowhere near as bad.

Back gardens in housing estates are often built on cráp, builders bring in what they think is soil(subsoil) and then expect a nice green lawn or for plants to grow.

Dig a test hole at the worst part, do a simple test with water to see if it drains away. If it drains away relatively fast then you could perhaps dig some french drains.

A few trenches filled with clean drainage stone and landdrain pipe. Depending on levels, these pipes could be drained into stormwater/rainwater drains.