Garden full of rushes...

...got area around the house landscaped/levelled off a while back, which was a big job as the house was on a serious slope. At the end of the job, the contractors also threw in a bot of topsoil and I put down grass seed.

Now the garden is a bit patchy. The area is quite boggy, so one part of the garden is bone dry, another damp etc. and the grass sparse. I guess I could dump on tons of good topsoil and rake it out and seed again, but had hoped that constant cutting and adding some compost would improve it.

Recently garden has had more and more bunches of rushes shooting up. Someone suggested I just keep cutting, another that I have to dig them out (which would leave more holes than grass tbh). Any ideas?

secman

The rushes are a symptom of wet lying land, to sort this out you would be better off tackling the real problem - lack of drainage and put drainage in. Otherwise the rushes will keep coming back and also you will have a problem with your choice of planting, as shrubs will drown in the badly drained area.

Yours

Secman

Sounds like I have some hard work ahead then!

It's funny because the ground doesn't look wet, and a few feet away it's bone dry. It's just bad land. I guess I'll have to look up tips on drainage.

Thanks for that though.

foxinsox

Sounds like you have a drainage problem, rushes only grow in quite wet land, I've tried growing them elsewhere, didn't work.

In my experience this seems to happen quite a lot after building work has been done on houses, excavators/JCBs may have been going back and forth over the garden/lawn area, then soil becomes compacted, can be nearly rock solid.

When topsoil is then put on top, the water just seeps quickly down and then hits the compacted soil and well can't go anywhere so just sits there.. and your rushes thrive in these spots.

There is another thread in here about land drainage problems, you might find it some help. I don't know how to do the linky thingamajig!

tinofapples

I have the very same problem. Getting the drainage work done will probably cost a fortune.