OK Foccers...Gardening questions for a change!

[dickturpin]

Foccers fountain of knowledge being tested again....
The soil in our garden is clayey topsoil about 8 inches thick overlaying solid orange clay. The topsoil holds water in the top couple of inches....it doesn't drain vertically or down the slight slope of the garden.
I know I need to improve the soil structure with organic material to get it to drain. So the fist question is any experience of electric or petrol rotovators? I don't want to spend a fortune because that means less on the nice things in life!
Also reading about adding gypsum to the soil as a dressing as it improves the structure of the clay to aid drainage.....anyone done this? I'm learning that builders plaster is essentially gypsum and about a quarter of the price of agricultural gypsum at garden centres!!
I have already dug some drains but need to get the water travelling within the soil to reach the drains.
The area of lawn is around 10 x 5 m

So..... thoughts please.

[mtread]

All a rotovator will do is bring the solid clay subsoil to the surface, and you'll be even worse off! There's no substitute for adding organic matter over time, or better topsoil and digging it in. Is anybody local disposing of free topsoil? Our Council sells cheap 'soil improver' made by composting recycled garden waste. A few bags of that forked in makes a world of difference.

[HarryHornby]

:agree


The soil is best dug when dry (ish), if it's wet clay soil is very hard to break down.  Also some heavy frosts will help to break down a clay soil.  Just keep digging in that compost.

[midden]

Builders plaster I am told in its raw state will just clump up.  Adding sharp sand will help as will leaf mold although I couldn't be arsed to rot down all the leaves I collected (follow the council leaf clearers)  and just dug them in. Although the end result is goodin hindsight I'd have done better to cut the leaves up using lawn mower or garden shredder.


Also find a free source of manure, I'm lucky to have a supply which is rotted to soil state or fresh

[fazerscotty]

I think the best answer is PATIO SLABS - sorted  :rollin :rollin :rollin

[dickturpin]

Because it's a lawn I intend to dig it or rotovate it once, adding whatever composite I can get my hands on, then reseed it. After that it will be top dressing only as I don't want to dig it up every year.

[midden]

In that case go AstroTurf

[YamFazFan]

All a rotovator will do is bring the solid clay subsoil to the surface, and you'll be even worse off!

There's not many rotavators that go down so far as to bring the subsoil up. Besides they are usually adjustable for working depth.

Grass nearly always grows poorly on clay soil. That's part of the reason, along with the necessary compaction, why maintaining cricket pitches to a decent standard is so labour intensive (they are composed of loams containing up to around 30% clay).

It sounds like you are already doing all the correct preparation work.

One thing to be cautious of if you do import old soil into your garden is that it doesn't contain anything unwanted such as Japanese Knotweed root. That's how this weed spreads about. Just a small bit can set it off into growth again and it's definitely NOT something you want in your garden!.

[fazersharp]

Sounds just like the western lawns at Sharp hall. My soil was so bad I completely dug out the borders and replaced with compost, then over the years added extra of home made compost eventually nature takes over, worms and the weather. I dug in a soak away at 2 trouble spots that used to collect water and at the bottom of the soakaway added a pipe and connected it to the drain.
The grass is happy on the same crap soil as it only lives on the very top which gets fertilised and raked and extra seed added each year in the spring.
I think if you go digging where the grass will be seeded then it could end up settling and over time it will be very bumpy, and uneven, I would just spend time not on digging it over but on getting it as flat as possible by slicing of the high sots.