Muddy gateways!!

[charliesarmy]

Mines already turning to mush with all the rain we have had!! so any suggestions for minimising the mud...was thinking of woodchips,rubberchips??

 

[chickeninabun]

What about these....

http://www.robinsons-uk.com/product...derBy=&brandName=&priceName=&page=2#sku.43803

They look great, but think they would be quite expensive, as you'd need quite a few to cover a large enough area.

 

[charliesarmy]

What about these....

http://www.robinsons-uk.com/product...derBy=&brandName=&priceName=&page=2#sku.43803

They look great, but think they would be quite expensive, as you'd need quite a few to cover a large enough area.

Mmmmn they look good

Has anyone used Field mats?? good or bad?

 

[Jezzabell]

I used to work on a building site and they used that stuff ^ but it had bigger holes (not loads bigger) and the grass still grew throught to the point you couldnt really tell it was there..it didn't cost asmuch as horsefield matting but i have no idea where you can buy it...?

Not much help

 

[akashapachamama]

I use wood chippings which are brilliant! I use them on the muddy areas like around drinking buckets/troughs and gateways. they're fantastic as they're totally natural and gently rot away so that grass grows there again in the summer. I put them straight down on the grass/mud and keep topping them up if I need. I really recommend them!

 

[*hic*]

Look online for that type of mat. I bought a load last year which have been lifesavers in all sorts of situations but mine were 1m x 1.5m - so much bigger and cost me around a tenner each. They were seconds which couldn't be guaranteed for "bounce" for playground applications - well I'm hoping not to have too many children falling off swings in my gateways.

 

[Toby_Zaphod]

We tried field mats but they weren't much of a success. We had them fixed to each other but they still moved & were lost under the mud eventually. We have now done the gateways with woodchip & they seem much better at the moment, only time will tell as winter progresses.

The main think to remember about sorting out gateways is to do them in the summer when they are bone dry. If you do them when they are already muddy then you will not get a good result as everything disappears into the mud.....so sort them out early.

 

[Maesfen]

Can you get road planings? We have done all our gateways and trough areas with them, packed them well down so they're solid and they've been fine; now on our third year and they've made a massive difference; still get the mud upto them but at least you're not struggling with opening gates in knee deep mud any more. Agree with TZ though, it ideally needs doing before they're wet else it'll just mix in and make the wet mud like concrete, even harder to get through.

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

We had some special chippings/stones put down two winters ago in all the gateways and it was the best thing we ever did! Sorry don't know what they were, but your local builders merchants/quarry would be able to advise you.

No more muddy gateways! Fantastic.

 

[Honey08]

We've used field mats, but they're only good on shallow mud really! the grass grows over them too. We now use ours in the hayshed on top of pallets - it lets the seeds drop through, and they're easier to walk on!

The only real solution is hardcore or road chippings in the gateways. Straw and woodchip work for a while, but churn up into a ral deep mess later on in winter (well it does here in the pennines where the mud is proper welly-sucking mud!!)