How can you enjoy your outdoor space if it looks like a mud bath out there and you can’t even step on your lawn without sinking into the ground?
We know what it’s like to have a yard so soggy and muddy that you dread leaving your pet outdoors as you’ll know they’ll bring in a trail of wet muddy footprints.
Don’t worry you won’t have to deal with this any longer as there are things you can do to dry up your wet yard and get to make the most out of it all year round.
How To Quickly Dry Up Your Yard
If you don’t have green fingers or you’re not very knowledgeable about landscaping, then you’re probably questioning why you’re having issues with your yard being so wet. Well, overly wet or soggy yards could be put down to a handful of problems.
One reason is that there are low-lying areas in your yard where water is pooling every time it rains which also takes longer to dry once it’s stopped raining as the area is so saturated.
Another reason is that the soil you have in your yard is retaining too much moisture. Clay-rich soils are often the main culprits for yards that are too soggy as they have fine particles and retain lots of moisture.
A problematic reason as to why your yard is so wet could be down to blocked drainage or grates that won’t allow water to escape from your yard and are therefore pooling in areas.
There may be landscaping features in your yard like a tool shed or a raised plant bed that is impeding the water’s ability to drain.
Deal And Fix Your Low Lying Areas
If you’ve got low-lying areas in your yard which are causing rainwater to build up, then you’ll need to even out these areas so they’re the same height as the rest of your yard using a dirt and gravel combination. This will still allow effective drainage, it’ll pack the ground down well, and will also prevent the rainwater from collecting in one place.
Use a rototiller, a digging fork, or a garden rake to break up the surface of the grassy areas and then replant your seeds or relay your turf when the ground is level enough so that the water won’t pool.
Amend The Soil In Your Yard
If the entirety of your lawn is damp in your yard, then this is probably due to improper soil being used.
Different soils will retain different levels of moisture. The amount of organic matter in soil affects how much water it retains after it’s stopped raining because it has a natural attraction to water. The particle size of soil will also affect how much water it’ll retain.
Generally, clay soil has smaller particles and is rich in organic matter will retain the most amount of water, whereas sand has large particles and will retain the least amount of water.
Till up the yard yourself, or hire a professional to do so, and then mix sand into the top 8 inches of the existing soil in your yard and then reseed or re-turf your yard.
Check And Unclog Blocked Drains
An easy solution to preventing and solving flooding or water build-up in your yard is by regularly checking and unblocking blocked drains or grates.
When it’s windy, leaves and debris can easily make their way into your drainage areas and back them up so water can not pass through and drain from the yard. So before or after heavy rain, check your drains and grates and make sure they’re all clear.
It would also be advisable to keep an eye on the drains in your street or near your home as potential blockages with them can cause flooding in your yard.
Move Your Landscape Feature Or Install Some Pipes
Understand if you’re not a landscaper, you won’t understand the ideal position to place features in your yard, therefore you might end up placing one directly blocking the water drainage pathway.
Take a look around your yard to see if a landscape feature is preventing the flow of water (maybe there is a build-up of water around that area) and consider moving it somewhere else and removing it entirely.
You could also get a professional to dig a trench or install drain pipes to drain the water if you don’t want to move the feature.
Effective Solutions For A Muddy Yard
What’s a yard if it’s too muddy to do anything in it? Here are some effective ways to solve your muddy yard so you can make the most of it.
Aerate Your Lawn
Aerate your lawn using a tool that can poke holes into the surface of the lawn to allow water to drain through compact soil at the surface which is leading to water retention on the surface and therefore a muddy yard.
You can buy a commercial aerator if you have a particularly large yard or do it manually yourself.
Dig A Trench
Another effective (yet messier) solution would be to dig a trench to allow water to flow to a nearby drainage area or to a dry area of your yard that could deal with some extra moisture.
An effective way to do this whilst still keeping your yard looking attractive is digging a trench and installing a french drain system. This will allow you to add gravel, soil, or more plants on top of the drainpipe in the trench.
Plant Some Flowers Or Plants
Make use of the overly wet area and grow some water-loving plants or flowers. Create a planting bed or a raised mound over the wet area and watch your flowers thrive by soaking up the water and solving your muddy problems.
Effective Solutions For A Soggy Lawn
Is there anything worse than walking across your yard to feel your shoes sinking into the lawn and returning with wet feet? Here are some solutions to fix this frustrating problem.
Create A Proper Flow Of Water
If you’ve got some spare funds, you may want to completely regard your yard to level the surface and ensure proper water flow and drainage. You’ll need to buy a filler soil to build the surface back up and also reseed or re-turf the soil.
You’ll need professional equipment and tools to do this so you’ll need to hire a company to do the job for you.
Just Add Sand
If you don’t want to rip up your entire lawn then you can use sand in your yard to absorb the excess moisture.
Buy big bags of sand and put it in a broadcast spreader that you’d normally use for fertilizer and walk over the areas that need drying up with it. Zigzag over the soggy area until you see the sand start to build up.
Leave the sand on your lawn for a week and then repeat the process until the lawn is no longer soggy. Make sure to not repeat the process too soon as you’ll need to leave time for the grass to adjust and the sand to absorb the moisture, otherwise you could cause further drainage problems.
Bury Some Downspouts
Check your downspouts to see if they’re broken or if they happen to be running water off onto your lawn.
If the downspout is going onto your grass, you’ll need to dig a 3-foot deep hole near the end of your downspout (away from the foundation of the house).
Then fill the hole with gravel and get an extension for your downspout and place it on the end so it will sit on the graveled area. Then add more gravel to the area around the extension of your downspout pipe.
Instead of water seeping into your lawn, it will fall into the gravel pit and drain underground.
How To Harden Soft Ground
Soft ground is no use if you want to place your outdoor furniture there. It also makes playing games like soccer or touch football more difficult if the ground gives way too much.
The best way to solve this problem is by using a tiller or a garden rake to mix a new soil amendment material like peat or compost into the top 8 inches of the ground and then reseed or relay with new turf.
If the soil in your yard is far too soft then you may want to consider using some fine gravel whilst tilling up the surface to make it comfortably firm.
Final Words
We hope we’ve answered some of your burning questions and given you some great solutions so you can fix the lawn and soil issues in your yard.
Now you’ll be able to relax, play and walk all over your yard without any mess.
