Sponge like lawn
Help please, I'm a newbie to this gardening lark. for the first time in 28years our lawn is very soft and sponge like underfoot, friends have told me that this is because of all the wet weather and poor drainage. What can I do to resolve this problem, or do I have to strip and relay the lawn??
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grrlgeek
- Senior Member
- Posts: 162
- Joined: Fri Aug 23, 2013 10:03 pm
- Location: Southern California Desert
I would ask if it's spongy all over the entire lawn, or just in a localised area? If you've had excessive amounts of rainfall and it's spongy all over, it's possible it's just saturated, but as tomc noted, you would have noticed a chronic drainage problem like that over the course of 28 years.
However, if it's just in one spot, that's often an easy way to find the source of a broken sprinkler pipe underground or a source of seepage if there's an issue with a valve not seating properly. Assuming you have an in-ground system, check your water pressure on the circuit in the area and see if it's as you remember it to be. You can also listen at your main valve or at the sprinkler valve and if water is running when everything is turned off, then that water is coming out somewhere, and likely right under the spongy part of the lawn.
Another source of spongy sections of lawns is grubs eating the grass roots. You can dig up a chunk or two and check for the little yukkies in the area up to about 6 inches under the surface. If they overwintered underground, they would be moving towards the surface and hungry right about now.
Hope that helps! Let us know what you discover!
However, if it's just in one spot, that's often an easy way to find the source of a broken sprinkler pipe underground or a source of seepage if there's an issue with a valve not seating properly. Assuming you have an in-ground system, check your water pressure on the circuit in the area and see if it's as you remember it to be. You can also listen at your main valve or at the sprinkler valve and if water is running when everything is turned off, then that water is coming out somewhere, and likely right under the spongy part of the lawn.
Another source of spongy sections of lawns is grubs eating the grass roots. You can dig up a chunk or two and check for the little yukkies in the area up to about 6 inches under the surface. If they overwintered underground, they would be moving towards the surface and hungry right about now.
Hope that helps! Let us know what you discover!
I think Waggie signed in as an Illinois resident. Most of IL is loess (soil). This last winter was a thirty year record for cold and wet.
Loess after a hard winter resembles baby poo.
Although a frost blown irrigation pipe after a hard winter works pretty good too. The more I think about it I like your answer better'n mine.
Loess after a hard winter resembles baby poo.
Although a frost blown irrigation pipe after a hard winter works pretty good too. The more I think about it I like your answer better'n mine.