Paddock repair - rake or roll

M

MyBoyChe

Well-Known Member
Joined
17 April 2008
Messages
4,610
Location
N. Bucks
Visit site
Which would you do first? Need to repair a very muddy (clay) gateway. It will be repaired, reseeded, then left all summer. Should I roll it first, or rake?
 
If it's clay I wouldn't roll, it just compacts the ground. I'd Harrow it to level the ground. Heavy clay soil needs all the aeration it can get.
 
Thank you. Ill be doing it by hand as its a fairly small area and will make more mess getting a tractor in it so using a garden rake, probably about 2 hours work. Would you leave it until its quite dry then try to break it down with the rake?
 
Can you borrow some sheep? their little feet are the right shape and weight to pad it down without compacting the soil. When it's drying walk over the bigger ruts - if it's just a gateway. Once it's fully dry it'll be like concrete!
 
Hmmmph watching with all seriousness about my back lawn! Heavy clay, takes ages to dry out, but my 4 greyhounds always trash it over the winter :( Glad that raking is the way ahead, I can do that for the lawn!
 
We have this issue, but we just leave it. As the ground dries out during the spring it gets slowly flattened out with hooves walking on it, and as the weather warms up some grass reappears. It will never be a rich lush meadow around the gates, but its always getting walked on, then next winter it starts all over again.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top