Old Wives' (farmer's) tale - drainage?

[AndrewT]

Ah, the the light comes on.
Different definitions.

Mine is based on size gradation.
clay, silt, sand, gravel, stone, cobbles, boulders.
The only way I know of generating (not creating, that's the alchemist at work again) sand is by weathering the larger fractions.

[lndm]

Yes, well the sand (of course) isn't necessarily soil as such. My old faithful gardening guide defines soil as within a range from clay (like) to sand. Actual sand is recommended for conditioning clay soil though.

One aspect of choosing manure is it's nutrient density. High density chicken manure is useful for improving good soil and is too strong for heavy use. To condition sandy soil, a sparse nutrient manure is desired. For example: elephant, horse, cow and sheep, respectively.

[Wynand]

I think you should do whatever SOUNDS best.


A weak one I know!!!

[I_Forgot]

Originally posted by lndm
To condition sandy soil, a sparse nutrient manure is desired. For example: elephant, horse, cow and sheep, respectively.

Now all he has to do is wait for the circus to come to town!

I_F

[owen]

The stones stop 'rain hammer' - micro supercompaction of the surface, simply due to the momentum of the raindrop itself. This lowers soil surface porosity, and so reduces water infiltration.

However, a lawn will be compacted to a degree anyway, and a fine tilth on the surface will help with gremination, TBH I doubt thered be much noticable difference once the grass is growing.

Increasing soil porosity is vital in fields where run-off is increasing - and thats where regular tilling and a % stone content help...

Just my 2 cents


Owen

[KBK]

Ok. I just learend about 900% more about soil than I previously knew.

[classd4sure]

The top soil is quite sandy with much gravel and grit, almost no clay fraction and low fraction of silt

I don't think you're grass is going to grow. I don't blame you, if you can't smoke it, I wouldn't want to cut it either.

I agree with you about the gradation. You can commonly check it by mixing some in a jar of water, shaking it around and letting it settle. See the first link below, it's loam that you're after.

Peat Moss is an excellent means of organic material, it holds air and water, helps with drainage and keeps things from being too compact. It gives you that nice ball in your hand that breaks apart when you touch it. Too much will make it too acidic, but a little is great, grass likes things slightly acidic as does most vegetation.

It sounds like you'd do well to bring in a good load of top soil, mix it up with some peat moss, a cup of lime for long term calcium nutrients and PH control, and some manure that's not too hot as already mentioned, worm castings are probably the best, especially if you're starting with seeds. You actually want to be careful where you get your top soil from, sometimes it comes straight from the dump, and you probably don't want that! Let them keep it for growing your tomatoes with.

The rock issue... it's nice to not hit them with the mower.

Also, ask google.
http://home.howstuffworks.com/grass.htm
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/loam.html
http://www.doityourself.com/stry/healthylawn
http://www.nwfwmd.state.fl.us/pubs/p.../xeriscape.pdf

Oh, if you're lazy like me and you just want a nice lawn in a week from now:

http://www.turboturf.com/Hydroseeding_Info.htm

[lndm]

Yes, Lime. That's a good point classd4sure. AFAIK, British soil is sweet. Just think of Dover (calcium carbonate I think )

Many vegetables are of British (perhaps European) origin AFAIK and here in Australia the soil is slightly acidic, we need to lime the soil before we grow them. So much so, (often two to four pH points) that native plants do poorly in it.

[cpemma]

Originally posted by lndm
AFAIK, British soil is sweet. Just think of Dover (calcium carbonate I think )

British soil varies across the full range, from alkaline chalk downs to acid peat bogs. Either test the soil or look what grows well for the neighbours - rhododendrons = acid, saxifrage = alkali. As a rule of thumb, if you have soft water, you have acid soil; if you have hard water, (there is always a scum around the bath!) the local soil is alkaline. Though these days UK water can come from a long way off.

On the stones/lawn question, over-raking the surface can create a very fine structure that forms a crust after rain. And grass needs air round the roots or you end up with a mossy lawn.

[AndrewT]

Hi Gardeners,
I thought before posting my Q, that maybe there was somewhere better.

But you DIYaudio's obviously have other strings on your bow.

Thanks for all the input.