dont know what to do?

[shailer2000]

OK lets start with the lawn, when we first bought the property in July 2011 the lawn was over grown, so i done the classic and chopped it right back to the roots almost, only to discover its not a lawn all over its just allot of clumps with long blades of grass, and only 60% was actually lawn, after hacking it back it went brown in allot of places and was advised to just water it and it will grow back! but never did, and as i was keeping it at a standard length i noticed it was dying even more! so tried aerating middle of September but was though going as was still quite hard ground but was not as dry as earlier in the summer, as we could not find any ware to hire an aerator i was told a normal fork would suffice as long as i go down about 4-6" which i done all this done was make the ground dryer so was watering quite heavily every morning by the evening the ground was bone dry and had cracks in the soil, now more recently here in the UK we have had one of the mildest winters in years (ave temp -1c_+5c) when it was below zero the ground was frozen solid in the mornings and so was the neighbors but by lunch there's was defrosted mine was still solid! and while i was not so bothered by this when it did eventually defrost a week later it now retaining water and not draining away? it has the consistency on the surface of wet clay very slippery and sticky so i tried aerating it again a week ago and the ground still feels the same? so was thinking of either (a) laying alot of seed and covering with compost and hoping for the best or (b) turning over the soil on the whole garden this month and mixing in alot of manure and compost as i believe the ground soil at the moment has a high clay density, and laying either seed or turf. btw the garden is 4.4m x 14m so not the largest but a garden non the less! and for mowing i was using an electric mower now just purchased a greens zephyr push cylinder mower with steel rollers fitted to the back for leveling the ground.

 

[Sprinkler Buddy]

If you can afford to bring in some good top soil and sod it, I think that would be the thing to do. Being a clay base I would recommend a slight grade to the lawn away from the house so water can naturally shed off.

 

[KennyV]

It sounds like it is all clay...
Your plan to try "mixing in a lot of manure and compost"..Is the best thing you can do without spending a lot to get the soil where it will grow anything...

Aerating will dry the soil, but you most likely need to loosen it up a bit... add your compost & manure some sand and a bit of gypsum work it up well and start fresh... :smile:KennyV

 

[jmurray01]

I agree with Kenny.

Get the soil sorted out and grow yourself a new lawn.

When it is fully grown, you will really enjoy it when summer comes.

 

[Grass ala Mowed]

Organic material, agricultural gypsum to break up the clay is a start. Are there any agricultural services or universities nearby that can then do a soil analysis for you. A proper balance of nitrogen, potash, and phosphorus at the correct pH will greatly improve your sucess.