New garden overcome by rushes

tails_naf

Hi all,

I'm hoping someone here has a few tips to help me out.

We sat a new garden (for a new build) 2 years ago.
The first year, it came along nicely. However, last summer, with all the rain we had it has pretty much destroyed it. The garden is covered in rushes, and is pretty water-logged. There are still some parts of the lawn that are mostly grass, but the majority of the lawn is dominated by rushes and other 'hardier' weeds like wide-leafed grass, etc.

I'm an absolute beginner in this, so would like to see if anything at all can be done. I was wondering if fertilizer and/or some weedkiller to tackle the rushes might be an option? Also, is there something that can be done for the water-logging? My father believes the water-logging is due to the ground being too compact beneath the lawn to allow the water to drain. Is there a way to determine this and treat it?

Any and all advice is greatly appreciated. It's hard to look out on the mess the lawn has become!!

lottpaul

Your problem is the wet and water logged soil and if the rushes are wideapread no amount of weedkiller etc will solve the problem I'm afraid.
Is the ground normally well drained - and is it just the very wet summer that has caused the problem?
If not your best and only long term solution is improved drainage - how you go about it will depend on your site, slope, aspect, neighbours, access to drains etc. The idea of digging up the lawn and putting in drains may not be appealing but it's your best solution in the long run.

CJhaughey

If you strim the rushes down continuously to the white rootmass, they will die off.
You don't need to use weedkiller this way.
I did it on my lawn, and it worked well.

tails_naf

Thanks for the replies. It looks like it is a long road ahead either way.

The lawn is a little wet at the best of times, but this summer was the nail in the coffin. The rushes spread over the course of the summer until now it looks like a marsh! When the lawn is freshly cut, it looks reasonable (at a distance). I think I'll have to explore the drainage thing, as well as the strimming. Fingers crossed.

fatoftheland

MCPA is best at getting rid of them as cutting them rarely gets rid if them. if you use some fertiliser it tends to keep them away as they dont like nitrogen