How To Improve Hard Soil For Grass

Cover crops, also called green manure crops, help loosen clay or compacted soils with their roots and by adding organic matter. They also prevent nutrient loss and erosion during the non-growing season. Leguminous cover crops, such as winter rye, alfalfa, hairy vetch and clover, which add nitrogen to the soil, are usually planted at the end of summer or early fall. Weeds love bare patches, so if you don't act quickly, they will.

Spring's cool, wet weather is conducive to growing many types of turfgrass. Start by digging up the damaged section, plus 6 inches of surrounding, healthy lawn, cutting about 2 inches deep. Then level the soil and add a small amount of soil amendment, such as a plant-based compost, and starter fertilizer. If you're using seed, cover it lightly with straw and keep the ground moist until germination.

For sod, which is about 10 times more expensive than seed but tends to work better, cut a section to fit, press it into place, and water frequently until it takes root. At this stage, it's well worth thinking about working organic matter into your soil. For example, if you have very sandy soils, organic matter will add structure to the soil, and improve its ability to retain moisture and nutrients. If you have heavy clay soil, the addition of organic matter will help break up the clay and make it easier to work with. Try to avoid using peat as the source of organic matter; it is better to use Grass Factory Eco Organics compost.

Dig the area over, removing any weeds, stones and building waste. Then compact your soilwhole area – this consolidates the soil, making sure that you are not left with soft spots. It's worth taking time over this part of the job to avoid uneven settling of the soil later on. Level the surface and eliminate drainage problems by making the soil drain away from the house. Roll the area with a roller to compact soil and to level the desired areas. Once you're satisfied, water the ground and check for puddles.

When the soil dries enough to be worked, move soil from the high to the low spots. Heavy or hard soils contain a high percentage of clay and low amounts of silt and sand, resulting in compacted soil that becomes difficult to till. Improving a clay soil lawn or garden by adding decomposed organic material, such as compost, not only improves workability but increases fertility. Instead of gypsum, consider core aerifying in spring, summer or early fall to reduce the compaction and improve plant health.

Aerifying with large half-inch hollow tines and punching about 25 holes/square foot will produce good results. Very compacted soil can benefit from several corings each year . This does not minimize the benefit of have a high Ca and Mg level reading in your soil test, but coring does physically reverse a physical compaction of soil particles. Yes, coring is an expensive service to buy, and most lawns really don't need it; but it won't hurt.

And if the soil is compacted, it's usually the best solution to the stifled growth. To fix compacted soil, which is soil that has little to no air space, break it up to make it hospitable for your plants again. Start by shifting livestock, machinery, vehicles, and foot traffic away from the compacted area to give the soil a rest. If you use the compacted area for farming or gardening, move your plants somewhere else for at least 1 growing cycle. Instead, plant a cover crop, like winter wheat or ryegrass, to allow the roots to break up the soil.

For smaller, grassy areas that are compacted, use a small metal garden fork to poke holes in the soil so air, water, and roots can enter the area. However, when tackling a larger area, use a rototiller with an aeration attachment. At the opposite end of the scale from sandy soil are clay soils. These hold water and nutrients very well but don't drain as well as sandy soils, especially if compacted, a common situation for lawns with a clay soil base. Whether you perform the core aeration, or hire a company for the job, make sure the machine being used has the appropriate length tines and spacing.

Soil scientists and turfgrass experts recommend tines are a minimum of 4-inches in length, with a spacing of 2- to 3-inches. If the tines on the machine are farther apart, it will need to go over the same area multiple times. First, make sure to mark off sprinkler heads – you don't want to run the machine over them. Not only will that damage them, it will also damage the machine's tines making it useless. The cores then can be either left to degrade naturally, or be broken up a day or two afterwards by simply mowing over them.

Apply an organic lawn fertilizer at 2 — 3 times the recommended rate. Organic fertilizers contain materials that help build up soil structure. Because organic fertilizers have high amounts of insoluble nitrogen, this amount will last longer, allowing you to skip that midsummer feeding in July if you so choose. Once this has been done, water the lawn thoroughly to help move both the soil and fertilizer into the holes. The holes will eventually fill in, completely disappearing within month.

A common problem in gardens with clay soils are drainage issues, with lawns often becoming waterlogged and quickly turning to mud in winter. If drainage is very poor it may be worth addressing this before sowing. Introducing land drains can be a time consuming and costly job but can be worth it as the benefits will last for a very long time. Most clay soils aren't too severe and better drainage can usually be achieved by using a less expensive method.

Applying lime or gypsum can do wonders for soil drainage whilst aeration and fertiliser management can further improve soil structure. Organic matter in soil serves as food for earthworms, insects, bacteria and fungi-they transform it to soil nutrients and humus. Through this decomposition process, materials are made available as foods to growing plants.

In finely textured clay soils, organic material creates aggregates of the soil particles, improving drainage and making it easier to work. Earthworms are especially helpful in making and keeping soil porous and well draining, said Brewer. Gypsum is easily applied to the soil surface with a regular lawn spreader.

It's an ideal amendment for improving soil structure and relieving compaction in existing lawns and gardens. Breaks apart clay bonds to create microscopic air space deep into the clay. It also adds liquid organic matter to help generate and feed beneficial soil microbes of all types at the same time. It helps improve drainage in your lawn clay, encourages deeper rooting, frees up nutrients and water in the root zone and helps move organic matter deeper into the soil.

By improving clay conditions you can create a much healthier lawn in a more bioactive soil. Compaction is most likely to occur with heavier soils like clay and loam, but when heavy equipment is used, sandy soils can become compacted. These are soil particles that are packed closely together. The problem may be compounded by events that have happened to the soil over the course of years. The pore spaces are reduced to the point that air and water cannot move freely and plant roots cannot grow easily into the surrounding soil.

The soil could remain overly wet longer than is healthy for the plants growing there. Common soil amendments include compost, grass clippings, straw, shredded leaves, rotted manure and dried seaweed. This relates to how the different soil particles are arranged, the aggregates they form and the spaces between them.

Well-structured soil will also have plenty of air spaces to provide oxygen, allow water to penetrate and facilitate drainage. Poorly structured soils are often hard and compacted, don't accept water easily, have few air spaces and are subject to erosion. In simple terms they're bad news for you and your lawn and need to be improved. Unfortunately, there is no quick fix to change clay into perfect soil.

What we focus on is changing the soil structure, rather than try to change the type of soil. You improve the soil structure by breaking up the compacted clay and adding organic material. This gives the clay something useful to bind to, and it is a material that combats every problem that clay causes. The organic material will improve drainage, resist compaction, and both holds and releases nutrients and water. While you're tilling, you'll need to mix in your compost to help create good growing conditions. Make sure to work all of the material into the soil vigorously and try to break down as much of the clay as you can while you're tilling.

If your soil still feels heavy or sandy once you've finished, you might need to add more organics to it until it lightens up. Once you're finished, you can add a layer of topsoil and grade your surface smooth with a steel rake. Make sure to remove any excess debris like rocks or large sticks before laying down turf. With the clay soil's structure, essential minerals will not be easily accessible to grass or any plants for that matter. The idea is to turn it over and improve the structure and tilth of the soil. Good tilth, by the way, helps to increase the viability of growing grass seeds by improving deep root penetration.

Commercial products, such as ClayMend, are also available to amend clay soil by introducing beneficial soil microbes and supplying them with nutrients. The company states that a blend of organic acids gathers ultra-fine clay particles and then microbes work to secure them together. This process opens the soil, allowing it to breathe. The beneficial microbial activity increases and plant roots are able to establish themselves in the restructured soil. Nutrients that have been locked away become free to be attached to the organic material and the clay structures for easy access by the plant roots. Walking on your lawn or garden when its wet is a common cause.

Heavy, beating rains also drive clay particles together. Salts from fertilizers and winter de-icing solutions build up in heavy clay as well. Clay's potential as one of the best soil types for plant growth lies in its unique properties. Managed well, clay soil typically requires less irrigation and less fertilizer, and leads to healthier plants all around. Last but certainly not least is the all-important fertiliser application.

Doing so in Spring and Autumn can provide year-round coverage. The main benefit in clay soils is the additional boost to drainage and root growth as this helps in especially wet and dry situations. A slightly faster option is to cover the soil with material that is full of soil microbes, as these will speed up the process.

This includes compost, worm castings, and manure – and less of the dense, harder materials such as wood chips, which take longer to decompose. Make sure to cover this 'active' compost etc with a layer of straw mulch to avoid it drying out as this will kill the useful microbes, which don't like hot sun. Deep watering once a week will also keep things moving.

After about a month you'll notice a difference and, if you keep feeding your soil every spring and autumn, it will soon be full of life and all your plants will thrive. For a large vegetable garden, another solution is to grow a cover crop at the end of the season, then mow and turn in the following spring before planting. The roots penetrate the compacted soil and loosen it.

By mowing and turning the mowed tops in, the soil is additionally loosened. Cover crops could include annual ryegrass, winter wheat, winter rye, buckwheat, oilseed radishes and hairy vetch. Turf, like other garden plants, depends on healthy soil to thrive.

Healthy, biologically-active soil has the texture and trace nutrients plants need to resist stress, disease and insect damage. If you live in the northern half of the U.S., early fall is the best time to fertilize. This gives cool-climate grasses time to "beef up" before winter. These grasses should be fertilized lightly, several times between early spring and late summer. Foot traffic and lawn machinery can compact the soil under your lawn, creating a difficult environment for grass roots and soil microbes. Air passages in the soil are necessary in order for water, air and nutrients to move down into the root zone.

To loosen hard, compacted soil, you can use a hand-held or machine-powered aerator to remove small cores of soil. You can also strap on a pair of aerator sandals and walk around your yard. Spikes on the bottom of the sandals create tiny passageways for air and water. Avoid future compaction by minimizing foot and machinery traffic, or by creating permanent walkways. Next, gently squeeze the ball to lengthen it into a strip or 'ribbon' and see how long you can make it before it starts to break up. The more clay it contains, the longer the ribbon will get and the more plastic it will feel to the touch.

Soil ribbons can range in length from about 5mm – 75mm, with sandy soils being shortest, loamy soils in the middle and clay soils the longest. While soils that contain a lot of clay or sand may need work to improve them, loamy soils are generally ideal. These contain a mixture of sand, silt, organic matter and clay, providing the right balance of nutrients, oxygen, water and drainage which are just what your lawn needs.

Your soil test or extension agent can help you determine the right amount of organic matter for your soil. To plant grass seed on hard dirt, fix the hard dirt before planting the grass seed. No amount of TLC after planting will make up for poor soil prep.

How Do You Improve Hard Soil You need to get air and organic matter into the root zone soil before seeding the lawn. When watering a newly seeded lawn, the key is to keep the top inch of soil consistently moist, but not soggy. You will likely need to mist the seeded area once a day, possibly more if it's hot and dry outside. Once the seeds start to germinate, aim to keep the top 2 inches of soil moist until the new grass reaches a mowing height of around 3 inches. After that, reduce watering to about twice per week, soaking the soil more deeply each time to encourage grass roots to grow down deep in the soil.