Are you looking to install a new lawn but not sure what soil preparation is required or are wanting to improve your existing soil base? In this blog, we look at all there is to know about your lawns soil and how a good soil base can improve your lawn’s performance.
How Soil Can Affect Your Turf?
A healthy soil is key to a healthy lawn! Why? Because this is where the roots of your lawn grow. Ensuring your turf can grow its roots down into the soil, hold nutrients, and hold water (without being waterlogged) will impact the performance of your lawn.
What Soil Type Is Ideal for New Turf?
When preparing your area for new turf, most turf varieties will require an underlay of 80 -100mm of a sandy loam (80% sand 20% loam) or a turf underlay mix. You should be able to source these from your local landscaping yard.
How Do I Fix a Clay Soil
If your soil has a high component of clay, it can make it difficult for water, air and nutrients go into the soil base. This can cause possible drainage issues as water may struggle to drain away, especially if the clay is compacted. If the clay is particularly compacted, it may also hinder your lawns ability to establish its roots deeply into the soil profile.
To help amend a clay soil you can look at applying a clay breaker like gypsum. When applying gypsum, it is best to give the soil a good aerate first, then apply the gypsum. This will help it get further down into the profile. For more information on how to amend a clay soil, check out our blog here.
How to Test Your Soil’s pH
Your soil’s pH is another important factor when looking at soil. The pH of your soil will affect the solubility of minerals and nutrients essential for plant growth. If your soil is outside the ideal range, it can become very difficult or almost impossible to absorb nutrients.
So, what is the ideal pH range for turf? Ideally your soil’s pH should be between 5.5 – 7. Many lawn types, buffalo lawns in particular, have been known to do quite well in more alkaline soils up to a pH of 8. However, the closer to the neutral mark will be more beneficial for your lawn in the long run.
Soil pH tests kits should be readily available at your local garden centre or hardware store, or online through our online lawn store here. When testing your soil, it is best to gather a few samples of soil from across your lawn. Then mix these together for an average reading of the whole lawn, rather than just one area. When collecting your soil samples, it is best to dig around 200 – 150mm.
If you do need to correct your soils pH, please check out our blog here for more information.
How to Help a Compacted Soil
If your soil has become hard and compacted, it can become difficult for water, air, and nutrients to penetrate into the profile. A compacted soil can also make it difficult for our lawn to grow its roots deeply into the soil profile.
To help alleviate compaction, it is best to give the area a good aerate. To aerate you can either use a garden fork, aerator sandals, or a tyne aerator. If you have a larger area to cover, it may be worth hiring out a motorised aerator machine. For more information on how to aerate your lawn, check out our blog here.
For more lawn care tips and videos, make sure you check out the Lawn Solutions Australia YouTube channel here.
