How to remove muddy soil laying on top of my lawn?

[Nerphy]

Hi,

Just wondering if anyone has any ideas about my lawn (see picture below). We have a lot of worms here, which bring up soil in castings. I've been dealing with that ok, but then in January we were away for a month, there were massive storms in my area and I guess the backyard got quite muddy.

Now, it looks like the picture below. There is a lot of soil around the grass and it looks quite ugly. When it gets dry enough, I've been trying to rake it and spread it around a bit. This seems to help a little but not a lot, so wondering if there is a better solution. I'm in a rental too, which might complicate things, so I can't really rip up the grass or anything too extreme I guess.

My next idea was to add some lawn food, maybe the grass will grow through it, while I continue the slightly helpful raking. Any other suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Shane

[MitchellMc]

Hi Shane (@Nerphy),

On the upside, you've got a well-aerated healthy lawn with free fertiliser. Normally, you find castings around the place, but you've got quite the worm population going on there. Understandably, you are looking for solutions, as on this scale it does detract from the look of the lawn.

The castings will break down by themselves, and you can let the grass grow a little longer until they do. Obviously, raking them and evenly distributing them is one option. You can also rake them up for collection and use them to fertilise your other plants. How do they respond to being blasted with a jet hose nozzle? Does that help break them down? 

Let me tag @mich1972 to see if she has any thoughts.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell

[Nerphy]

Hi Mitchell,

Thanks for the reply.

I have not tried a jet hose but I was initially using a normal garden hose to hose them in. This remove the piles of soil but over time it seemed to make the problem worse. I think this area of my lawn is a little lower so gets more waterlogged than the rest of the lawn, so gets more muddy - half the lawn does not have this problem (it's only a small lawn though, maybe 7m x 4m), although the other half of the lawn is a bit brown and dry.

Thanks again for the reply,

Shane

[MitchellMc]

Interesting, as worms tend to stay out of waterlogged areas @Nerphy. You might like to try aerating or coring the area. This will open up the soil and allow water to penetrate deeper. It could help improve the mud issue. It would also open up holes allowing the castings to penetrate back into the soil.

On a side note, I'd love to try worm grunting over that area. You could start your own fishing bait business.

Mitchell

[Nerphy]

Thanks Mitchell, I'll get an aerator and give it a try, sounds like it could help.

I think not all the soil is from worms, part of the issue is the water pooling there a little. Well, not literally pools of water, but it ends up much more waterlogged than the rest of the yard - also it gets less sun, so the water doesn't dry up.

Anyway, thanks again, I'll try aerating for a start and see how it goes.

Good idea about the worm grunting - never heard of that before

[mich1972 · Accepted solution]

Good afternoon @Nerphy  First of all...... Jealous !!! I wish we had beautiful soil like that here in Perth instead of hydrophobic grey sands. That's brilliant the Earthworms are doing their job aerating the soil BUT yes when you have heavy rains and mud they will defiantly come up to the surface. It looks like you have a beautiful lush lawn. I agree with Mitchell by aerating the lawn yourself. This will help with drainage. I personally wouldn't go too heavy on lawn fertiliser as the Worm Castings are a great Organic fertiliser in itself. You are also doing a great job by raking it as well. May I ask if you are using a nail rake ? Nail rakes are brilliant for the lawn. Please keep in touch 

[Nerphy]

Hi Mich,

Thanks for the response, really appreciate it. I'm not using a nail rake, it's one of those standard, fanned plastic ones. I'll look at getting a nail rake this weekend. I've already got myself an aerator last weekend, so I can aerate the lawn.

Sounds like I don't need to do too much then, just aerate and keep raking with a nail rake.

Thanks again MIch,

Shane

[mich1972]

Good on you Shane. Yes , a nail rake is heaps better for this kind of work. Look forward to seeing your progress 😊