My garden was laid 2 years ago. It was a new house then. This year cracks
have emerge in the lawn about 1" wide and 1 foot deep or more. I assume
this is because of lack of water, drying out, etc. One side of the garden
is old trees that have been around for 100s of years. What is the best
method of getting rid of the cracks? Fill them with watery soil? All
comments welcome.

Thank You




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The same happened to me and I just filled the cracks with soil. If you have
clay soil this can make things a lot worse and it's suggested that you fill
any cracks that appear (anywhere not just the lawn) with sand to help break
down the clay.


"Heringbone" wrote in message
...
My garden was laid 2 years ago. It was a new house then. This year cracks
have emerge in the lawn about 1" wide and 1 foot deep or more. I assume
this is because of lack of water, drying out, etc. One side of the garden
is old trees that have been around for 100s of years. What is the best
method of getting rid of the cracks? Fill them with watery soil? All
comments welcome.

Thank You




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It sounds very much like you lawn has been laid on heavy clay. Try a trial
excavation and check the depth of topsoil.
I suspect you will find that there isn't any or there is very little.

Check with the Planning Authority ( Local Council) what the condition on
depth of topsoil was on this development.
You will have comeback on the developer if it has not been properly
installed.

I would also keep a keen eye on the house if cracks appear inform the
Council and the developer as soon as possible.

If your lawn is directly on clay this will happen every time there is a dry
spell and you will never get a decent lawn.

www.arghamvillage.co.uk


Heringbone wrote in message
...
My garden was laid 2 years ago. It was a new house then. This year cracks
have emerge in the lawn about 1" wide and 1 foot deep or more. I assume
this is because of lack of water, drying out, etc. One side of the garden
is old trees that have been around for 100s of years. What is the best
method of getting rid of the cracks? Fill them with watery soil? All
comments welcome.

Thank You




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"Amanda Pope" wrote in message
...
It sounds very much like you lawn has been laid on heavy clay. Try a trial
excavation and check the depth of topsoil.
I suspect you will find that there isn't any or there is very little.

Check with the Planning Authority ( Local Council) what the condition on
depth of topsoil was on this development.
You will have comeback on the developer if it has not been properly
installed.

I would also keep a keen eye on the house if cracks appear inform the
Council and the developer as soon as possible.

If your lawn is directly on clay this will happen every time there is a
dry
spell and you will never get a decent lawn.

Thanks. It is clay. The turf was laid by our own contractor after we moved
in. Is the builder supposed to prepare the ground beforehand? Who is to
blame?




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"Amanda Pope" wrote in message
...

It sounds very much like you lawn has been laid on heavy clay.

I would also keep a keen eye on the house if cracks appear inform the
Council and the developer as soon as possible.

The house is on a beam and block foundations, presumably because of the
heavy clay, and so far no problems.


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".... Thanks. It is clay. The turf was laid by our own contractor after
we moved in. Is the builder supposed to prepare the ground beforehand? Who
is to blame? ...."

No one. Its just the exceptional dry weather.
I have a few cracks in grassland that is on a good loam.

If you are worried then fill with concrete sand, this will help with
drainage when we have a wet spell. easier than spiking later.


--
David Hill
Abacus nurseries
www.abacus-nurseries.co.uk

"Heringbone" wrote in message
...
My garden was laid 2 years ago. It was a new house then. This year cracks
have emerge in the lawn about 1" wide and 1 foot deep or more. I assume
this is because of lack of water, drying out, etc. One side of the garden
is old trees that have been around for 100s of years. What is the best
method of getting rid of the cracks? Fill them with watery soil? All
comments welcome.

Thank You



Peat grow bag and coarse sand mixed 1 to 3 is better than straight
sand for filling holes -- and in the top later mix in grass seed

"Heringbone" wrote in message
...
My garden was laid 2 years ago. It was a new house then. This year cracks
have emerge in the lawn about 1" wide and 1 foot deep or more. I assume
this is because of lack of water, drying out, etc. One side of the garden
is old trees that have been around for 100s of years. What is the best
method of getting rid of the cracks? Fill them with watery soil? All
comments welcome.

Thank You



Peat grow bag and coarse sand mixed 1 to 3 is better than straight
sand for filling holes -- and in the top later mix in grass seed

"AWM" wrote in message
...

"Heringbone" wrote in message
...
My garden was laid 2 years ago. It was a new house then. This year
cracks
have emerge in the lawn about 1" wide and 1 foot deep or more. I
assume
this is because of lack of water, drying out, etc. One side of the
garden
is old trees that have been around for 100s of years. What is the best
method of getting rid of the cracks? Fill them with watery soil? All
comments welcome.

Thank You



Peat grow bag and coarse sand mixed 1 to 3 is better than straight
sand for filling holes -- and in the top later mix in grass seed

Thanks. Where is ths peat available from?


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1week of rain and you wont find where the cracks were.

--
David Hill
Abacus nurseries
www.abacus-nurseries.co.uk

In message , AWM
writes

"Heringbone" wrote in message
...
My garden was laid 2 years ago. It was a new house then. This year cracks
have emerge in the lawn about 1" wide and 1 foot deep or more. I assume
this is because of lack of water, drying out, etc. One side of the garden
is old trees that have been around for 100s of years. What is the best
method of getting rid of the cracks? Fill them with watery soil? All
comments welcome.

Thank You



Peat grow bag and coarse sand mixed 1 to 3 is better than straight
sand for filling holes -- and in the top later mix in grass seed

I am inclined to agree. There isn't a lot of give in tight packed sand,
and some peat added encourages the worms to do a bit of mixing up for
free. Narrow cracks will colonise with grass fairly quickly with or
without seed.

The dry weather recently has dried out clay soils causing deep cracks.

Regards,
--
Martin Brown

"Heringbone" wrote in message
...

"AWM" wrote in message
...

"Heringbone" wrote in message
...
My garden was laid 2 years ago. It was a new house then. This year
cracks
have emerge in the lawn about 1" wide and 1 foot deep or more. I
assume
this is because of lack of water, drying out, etc. One side of the
garden
is old trees that have been around for 100s of years. What is the
best
method of getting rid of the cracks? Fill them with watery soil? All
comments welcome.

Thank You



Peat grow bag and coarse sand mixed 1 to 3 is better than straight
sand for filling holes -- and in the top later mix in grass seed

Thanks. Where is ths peat available from?


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forget sand and peat just soak the areas every night the clay will soon
expand again

The reason for saying to fill the cracks with sand is that when we get back
to wet weather the sand filled cracks will help with drainage, and as for
grass seed, no point as the grass will cover in a couple of weeks after
rain.

--
David Hill
Abacus nurseries
www.abacus-nurseries.co.uk

"pied piper" wrote in message
...

"Heringbone" wrote in message
...

"AWM" wrote in message
...

"Heringbone" wrote in message
...
My garden was laid 2 years ago. It was a new house then. This year
cracks
have emerge in the lawn about 1" wide and 1 foot deep or more. I
assume
this is because of lack of water, drying out, etc. One side of the
garden
is old trees that have been around for 100s of years. What is the
best
method of getting rid of the cracks? Fill them with watery soil?
All
comments welcome.

Thank You



Peat grow bag and coarse sand mixed 1 to 3 is better than
straight
sand for filling holes -- and in the top later mix in grass seed

Thanks. Where is ths peat available from?


---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.488 / Virus Database: 287 - Release Date: 05/06/2003

forget sand and peat just soak the areas every night the clay will soon
expand again

It will cost me a fortune in water as some of the cracks are "deep" and long
and between 1 and 1.5 inches in width. I'll try filling with sand and the
top half of the cracks with a peat and sand mix. Cheaper and probably
better for drainage.


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"...... The rain is back. Surely cracks drain better than cracks filled with
sand. Try filling the bath plug hole with sand ...."

Quite right martin..........

BUT

The bath doesn't expand when it has a prolonged wetting, given a really good
soak the soil will expand and close the cracks, then the next question we
will have to answer is
"My lawn is laid on clay and with all this heavy rain the water doesn't
drain away, what can I do to improve the drainage? "

--
David Hill
Abacus nurseries
www.abacus-nurseries.co.uk