Experienced back-yard gardeners - help with soil condition?

Question

I live in an area that has tonns of clay in the yard. Lots of roots too (huge, beautiful trees!).

When it rains, you can slide all over the place on my lawn. My lawn also had small bald spots - I guess from my dog running all over when it's wet.

I've planted grass seed and it seemed to start off well, but then 1/2 way through the summer it was just like before. It looks fine when the grass is longer.

How can I improve my grass without laying sod? I've been told I have to dig up the top 6" of my lawn and put down proper soil (urgh) or lay sod. My yard is pretty big so sod would be pretty expensive.

Any suggestions?

It is party shady in my yard because of all the big trees.

Any help would be appreciated. PS. Zone 4 (I think - southern Ontario)

Answer 1

I too suffer from heavy clay soil. We laid sod in part of our backyard because there was no lawn in back (just groundcover and weeds) and we wanted a bit of one for any kids we may have to play in and it's a small yard. But here are some things you can do without spending the time, money, and labor (though, truly, it was less expensive and not as hard as we thought it would be with the way people talk about it):

First, the grass seed may be suited for your conditions (part shade, heavy soil) or it may not be. Are you sure you have part sun? You may have more shade than you think with lots of mature trees. Ask an experienced person at a nursery about grass for clay soil. Ours is a combination of fescue (good for shade) and kentucky bluegrass (good for sun).

The reason the grass may not thrive in the summer may be due more to your trees than to your soil. Lots of big old trees with shallow root systems will suck up every bit of water they can, so that means extra watering for you in the hot, dry months. We have maples, which have shallow roots, and so we need to watch our grass and water it a bit more often in the summer. You should try seeding in Fall instead of Spring so the grass doesn't have to go through the real hot weather until it is well-established.

If you want to truly change the soil and make it more conducive to grass-growing, it will take a lot of time, money, and effort with a big backyard. Actually, if you rototilled all the grass into the soil and added several inches of good topsoil, you could seed over that in the spring or fall and probably get a good lawn. Or, if you just want it to look nice and green but don't use the yard much, you could opt out of the grass (especially within the drip line of the trees) and plant a fast spreading, thick, evergreen groundcover, like periwinkle/vinca/myrtle (watch out, it's invasive, so if you live near woods, this is not a good option). Or, if you like gardening, you can break your yard up into mixed borders and perennial beds with paths and make the whole backyard a botanical garden. Established gardens need less water than grass and provide better habitat for wildlife and birdwatching. That also takes money, time, and labor, but it's well-worth the work.

Good luck!

Answer 2

You might want to add some Gypsum to the soil if it is high in clay. Gypsum ataches to the clay and opens it up for water and nutrients. For the grass I would get a nice grass seed for semi shade. If there are a lot of feeder routes from the trees you will have to water a little more as the roots are taking everything for the trees and the grass is left to starve. Give the grass a good feeding in the spring of starter fertilizer.

Check back in a few months after the winter is ending

Answer 3

I would add gypsum to the soil, and in shade, plant a bluegrass/fescue mix that is specially blended for shade. What kind of trees? Maples are notorious for not letting grass grow under them. They are so surface rooted that they take all the nutrients out of the soil and starve the grass. They are also somewhat alleopathic (self weeding, roots have a chemical that prevents certain plants from growing under them)

Answer 4

Bill, is right about the gypsum for clay soil.
Unfortunately you need to till the soil to work it in. While your at it you need to add some other things.
This is a long and tedious project so be prepared to get dirty.

Organic Compost (lots of it)
Organic Humus
Peat Moss is good
Sand to help with drainage
Sawdust
Manure

The link below will give you some tips
http://www.turfandstuff.com/page.php?xPage=how_to_improve_clay_soil.html

Answer 5

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Answer 6

Sorry I can not really answer your question. However, I can direct you to a website that you can post your question on. I have posted quite a few questions there and have gotten great feedback from experienced gardeners.

Answer 7

You could try aerating your lawn.

Answer 8

Highly recommend soil PH test ,you need to know this before anything further.

Answer 9

Confronted with a weedy field or garden, one's instinctive reaction is to rush out and destroy the weeds before they take over. Perhaps we imagine them choking out our plants, or, at least, stealing the fertilizer applied for our crop. This attitude towards weeds has predominated throughout history. In 110 AD Plutarch wrote "The richest soil if uncultivated produces the rankest weeds" (Lives: Coriolanus); and more recently Oscar Wilde wrote "The vilest deeds like poison weeds Bloom well in poison air" (The Ballad of Reading Gaol).

Only Lowell and Emerson have injected a ray of hope for the weed. Lowell I suggested that "A weed is no more than a flower in disguise" (A Fable for Critics); and Emerson asked, "What is a weed? A Plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered" (Fortunes of the Republic). Could weeds really have some virtues, a beneficial side to their character? It seems unlikely. Well, yes, actually weeds do have some points, in their favour. For example:

1) Many weeds protect our topsoil from the eroding forces of rain, wind, and sun, especially when the crop cover is poor.

2)By providing a cover vegetation, weeds enable beneficial soil animals to be active at the surface, depositing their nutrient-rich faeces and/or acting as biological control agents against various insect pests.

3) Many weeds, particularly perennials, possess extensive root systems that penetrate deep into the subsoil, breaking it up and enabling the less vigorous roots of some of our crop plants to penetrate further into the soil. Some roots, such as the leafy spurge, grow to depths of four to eight feet, whereas Canada thistle roots may penetrate to depths of 20 feet.

4) Breaking up the subsoil also improves drainage and creation.

5) Deep penetration by their roots often enables weeds to accumulate various elements from the subsoil, particularly trace elements, and transport them to the soil surface. Through the weed's subsequent death and decomposition, these elements become available to crop plants with less extensive root systems. Different"accumulator" plants concentrate different elements. Interestingly, the accumulated elements are often those in which the particular soil is deficient. Some farmers have utilized this property of certain weeds by employing them as green manure. For example, Rogers et a/. (1939) found that a local case of Floridian disease in corn, called white bud, was associated with zinc deficiency and could be prevented by allowing zinc accumulator weeds to develop during fallow years.

6) Weeds that accumulate different elements have also been used by prospectors. By analyzing different parts of the plants for high concentration of certain minerals, they have been able to determine the location of mineral deposits such as copper and selenium (Brooks, 1 9721.

7) Weeds have also been used as indicators of the presence and quality of ground water (Chikishev, 1965).

8) In the past, weeds have often been used both as food and as pharmaceutical products. Interest in these uses and in their development as resources for various industrial products is currently growing in the "developed world".

9) However, the primary value of weeds under consideration in this article is their ability to reveal information about the properties of our soils, particularly their nutritional status, pH, and presence of a hardpan. Frederick Clements (1920), the eminent U.S. botanist explained this property when he stated: "Each plant is an indicator. This is an inevitable conclusion from the fact that each plant is the product of the conditions under which it grows, and is thereby a measure of these conditions. As a consequence, any response made by a plant furnishes a clue to the factors at work upon it".

Since many weeds are "specialists" they are likely to be particularly useful as indicators. Different weeds are adapted to different ranges of environmental variables and are able to grow only where their particular needs are met. For example, certain species, such as knawel, are confined to acid soils, while others are limited to basic soils.

The use of weeds as soil indicators is not a new concept. In 50 AD, the great Roman scholar, Pliny the Elder observed that land supporting wild plum, elder, oak, and thimbleberry was also favourable for wheat production. Many North American immigrants chose land for their farms according to the vegetation it supported. They quickly recognized that white pine--Norway pine-- jack pine communities were characteristic of sandy soils of little agricultural value, whereas forests of birch, beech, maple, or hemlock indicated more fertile soils.

It has been shown that the tall-grass prairies are suitable for orchards, cereals, hay, and fodder crops, while bunch grass regions are more suitable for wheat and grass production (Shantz 1911, Sampson 1939). Wire grass areas are less productive and short grass communities least productive. Highly alkaline soils are unsuitable for arable use and are characterized by tussock grass, salt grass, and greasewood (Hilgard 1906).

The information on weed indicator species is poorly documented, much of it residing only in the minds of observant farmers and gardeners. In preparing the list of weeds in Table 1, numerous sources, some reliable and some undoubtedly less reliable, were consulted. Consequently, the information contained in it should be used as a basis for further observation and research rather than as a guarantee of what to expect from a soil. Before using such a table, there are several things to consider:

11) Some weeds have "ecotypes"

Populations of a particular weed growing in different locations may differ slightly from each other in their appearance and requirements; they are referred to as "ecotypes". Thus, the ecotype of a particular weed in one area may be more tolerant of acid soil conditions than the ecotype of the same species in another area.

12) Limits of tolerance to environmental factors vary

Plants, including weeds, differ enormously in their degree of tolerance to changes in soil pH, moisture content, etc.; and some have a narrow tolerance for one variable but a wide tolerance for others. The best indicators are those with narrow tolerances because they would only be found associated with specific conditions.

(3) Plants may be sensitive to several environmental factors

When we look at Table 1 we notice that many of the plants are listed in more than one category of environmental factors. For instance, perennial sow thistle and docks are both indicators of wet areas; however, the thistle has a preference for more acid soils whereas docks are found in soils with a high lime content. Thus, when interpreting the presence of a weed we need to know all the factors to which it is responding.

14) Perennial weeds often make better indicators than annuals

Perennial weeds, having been able to tolerate the conditions in a particular locality for more than one year, are often more reliable indicators than annuals, which may survive only one season.

(5) Weed communities are better indicators than single species

The presence of a group of weeds that are associated with one another because of similar requirements for certain soil conditions provides a more reliable indicator in contrast to a single weed species, which may only indicate chance establishment.

16) Growth characteristics of a weed may be as revealing as its presence

The growth characteristics of weeds and the colour of their leaves and flowers may be as important as their presence in revealing information about the soil. A vigorous growth of leguminous weeds usually indicates a soil lacking in nitrogen; as does the presence of stunted nonleguminous weeds with pale green leaves. Cornflowers make particularly useful indicators as their flowers are blue when found on soils with a high lime content but are pink when they are growing on acid soils.

The observant farmer and gardener will notice subtle changes in the weed populations on his land in response to his agricultural practices. As his soil improves he may find that chickweed, chickory, common groundsel, common horehound, and lambsquarter become the dominant weeds. However, if he finds that the daisy, wild carrot, mugwort, common mullein, wild parsnip, wild radish, and biennial wormwood become dominant, he should review his practices as these weeds thrive on soils of low fertility. The addition of well-balanced compost, organic manures, and other fertilizers together with certain tillage and drainage practices may be required to bring the soil back into production.

We are not advocating that all weeds be encouraged indiscriminately, for even "beneficial" weeds poorly managed, will reduce yield. What we are suggesting is that by being able to identify the weeds on our land and know what their presence indicates, we will be in a better position to manage our soils wisely.