Does your lawn hold water after the shortest rain shower?
Lawn problems:
Poor lawn drainage can show itself in many different ways, from its simplest form of water sitting on the soil surface, to an abundance of moss which will inhibit the growth of grass. Both can be equally as detrimental to the growth of grass and also altering the growing conditions of sensitive plants.
Potential reasons:
When it comes to lawn drainage there are a many factors that come in to play:
Usually we find that external factors have an adverse affect on allowing lawns to drain effectively. On recent projects we have come across quite a few patios that have been installed without any thought given to the amount of water displacement that occurs when a large patio is installed in place of a "water using" feature. A water using feature is is a plant that can use water and remove it from the environment.
Environmental factors, such as garden orientation can aid, as well as hinder a gardens development. A south facing garden will see sun throughout the entire day and in comparison a North facing garden will be in shade for the entirety of the day. There are many ways to counteract the negatives of a North facing garden, and something as simple as using a shady lawn seed to
Patio installation without thought for adequate drainage channels is a huge problem we have occurred over the years. A lot of builders will install beautiful patios while building or renovating a house. When a patio is installed, you are changing a previously free draining area that used to allow water to percolate to a non draining area. This is due to the foundations that are compacted to a solid base.
Ways to avoid surface water retention:
Here we have split the methods into physical and chemical methods. We always recommend using physical methods first as with chemical methods you will always have to stay on top of aspects such as soil PH, nitrogen levels and iron concentration, which really is a lot of work.
Physical:
The easiest way would be to include a landscaper with design experience for site meetings on a new build. As we always work with problematic gardens we can advise on ways to reduce the potential problems.
Calculate your water displacement needed and install a soak-away pit. A great way to work with the added water is to install drainage channels and divert this water into a soak-away pit. A soak-away pit is a water displacement chamber installed as close as one metre below the surface of the soil. The water enters the chamber and is slowly released into the lower levels of the soil.
Include more plants to absorb the extra water that is now present. As always we recommend to replace any removed greenery with additional planting to use up the extra water. This also helps with biodiversity and will help provide shelter for insects and local wildlife.
Keep your lawn in good condition and use a washed sand top dress to allow better drainage. By keeping your lawn in p
eak growing shape it will absorb much more water. By mowing your lawn regularly, with a twice yearly scarification aeration, over-seeding and top dressing with a washed sports sand you can ensure your lawn will thrive in all weather conditions.
Chemical:
Soil PH testing is a really helpful tool to check how your lawn is really doing. A PH of between 6.5-7 is optimal to allow grass to develop over the growing season. Companies such as FBA Labs will test samples professionally and give a full soil sample result. Pitch Care Ireland also supply an at home testing kit, which is very easy to use. Lime can be used to raise the PH and sulphur can be added to lower the PH.
Soil nitrogen concentration is very important to ensure that your lawn can absorb an optimal amount of H2O. Nitrogen levels are hugely important, as when the grass plant can develop to its full potential its root system will form an ecosystem for water absorption and ensures that a lawn will not compact.
Soil Iron levels are paramount for the control of moss growth in a lawn. If a lawn is deficient in iron, the grass plants will struggle, the soil will become compacted and moss will thrive in the damp conditions. Products such as mobacter can be applied by a home owner and will help to kill the moss. We would always advise using an iron product after physical methods of extraction and over-seeding. If there is no grass growing you will end up with a bare patch of area where the moss was. Also, high iron products react with moss and will scorch the moss. This usually will form a black patch where the moss was. It is very unsightly and we would recommend using it only as a last resort, after as much of the moss has been removed.
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