The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Smallholding => Land Management => Topic started by: mmmkay777 on January 18, 2017, 11:11:13 am
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We've just had the fencers in, they have made a lovely fence. They have also wrecked the fields grass. It's part of the garden. So it is basically mud now - approx area 40mx20m. So should I wait a couple of months for it to dry out a bit before doing anything?
I have a rotivator and I have a small harrow - should I just harrow it then hand throw grass seed down? Or if it is just mud will it need rotivating then seeding. Is it ok just to throw seeds down? Do I need to keep the birds off??
Thanks for your help, happy with thefence but not the mud...
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Wait until it's a bit drier and harrow it level if it's lumpy, then leave it to grow back. It will, and it won't take long. You might even find that the rain will level it for you.
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Last year I had a patio done and they wrecked my field by driving across it with a mini digger and dumper. It was so wet and rutted that at one stage they tipped the dumper over.
I could have cried at the state of it but now you wouldn't know that anything had been there at all :-)
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remember the seasons - there are four seasons in the year - it takes roughly 3 months for things to sprout and three to grow and three to cut and die.
See if your garden look nice next year and maybe make a complaint if if aint?
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If you organise machinery to come and do work on your land in the middle of winter, the result is inevitable.
I think you would get short shrift if you attempt to complain.
If you don't want to rut / chew up your land, organise work to be done at a dry time. eg spring , summer , autumn or as conditions dictate.
As others have said, grass is very resilient, when things dry up a bit, give it a good harrowing, chuck a bit of grass seed on if, harrow again once , roll and it will be good as new before you know it.
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If it was good grass beforehand it should come back ok. If it is very deep then you may get some weed coming through too so may need to get some weed killer/ fertiliser on it. If it was a bit weak anyway then some seed on top and a harrow over it.
Rotovating it more likely to bring weed seeds to the surface and it will take a long long time to regain a smooth pasture. It is always too wet or too dry for fencing at least it is done now.