I have an old septic tank in the back yard. All the grass over it has died. It’s been unused and dormate since city sewer was installed. I don’t know how long ago that was, I’m guessing it was in the seventies.
The only other thing I can add is that it’s been really dry here, no rain in weeks. The rest of the grass around it is green but dormant from the lack of rain.
Anyway, does it mean anything?
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Replies
no,just not enough dirt cover to keep the grass alive in dry season. mine is the same way so is my neighbors.
Cool thanks. Thought someone was gonna make some money off me. LOL
We are all in this together.
http://www.hay98.com/
gunner.. you can rake in a lot of organics and spot water that area.. peat moss will hold more moisture than regular soil..
but you have to stay ahead of it.. water that area before the grass goes dormant.. and keep it watered.. the rest of your lawn seems to be able to cope as is
we had the same problem with our first house.. not enough cover over the tank.. the peat moss solved thatMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
It's too hot out there for all that work. This is actualy the first time I've ever noticed it happening. I'm gonna cover that area with a deck or a patio in the next year or two anyway.
We are all in this together.
http://www.hay98.com/
No depth of soil for healthy roots.
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I think I have a similar situation. But it isn't a septic tank, in my case, that is the driving mechanism I suspect.
The problem, in my case, is a large deposit of hard clay only about four inches below the soils surface. I suspect that the clay, like the septic tank in your case, is a nonpourus barrier. The rest of the yard has a considerable depth of relatively absorbent soil and loam that tends to store water and give it up to the grass over a much longer period of time. Often making the difference during any extended dry spell.
The area affected in my yard is always the first to become saturated. I think it would puddle in the rainy season except that only ten flat feet away the soil is much more absorbent and includes a lot of sand that prevents the accumilation of standing water.
When the rainy season is over the patch over the clay is always the first to show stress and dry out because of the lack of the underlying reservoir of water stored within the much deeper soil.
The solution that has come to mind in my case is to rototill to a depth of about 6" and then to scrape up the loosened soil and to till again to an additional depth of 6". On the second go round I would add sand and organic material to the clay, replace the material shifted and do the same for the top 6". This seemingly involved proceedure being made more practical by the area concerned is only a oval shaped area about 14' in the longest dimention.
In theory this will vastly improve soil conditions and provide an unground reservoir of water storing organic materials deep down so that the patch more closely matches drought resistance of the rest of the yard.
Easier still, but more costly in the long run, would be to water the effected area to help it respond more similarly to the surrounding area. Problem being that the septic tank, or clay deposit in my case, wil tend to case the water to run off and nurture the surrounding area. Which could produce a situation where the patch gets over watered and then dries out while a ring of surrounding grass thrives. Producing a moderately healthy lawn with a ring of lush grass surrounding a stressed, or dead, patch. The effect can be, in extreme cases, quite surreal. A sort of miniature landscaped model of Middle Earth complete with Mordor, the land of the damned.
An alternative might be to use a bit of selective landscaping. Dig out the grass and install a cactus garden with gravel or rocks as ground cover to keep the more finicky grass at bay.
Then again it might be more efficient still to ignore the problem. Nothing quite so creative as a selective case of 'spontainious blindness'. In a thousand years none will give a hoot and, unless the area is monumentally hideous, the eyesore will not even make the footnotes in the history books. But then again in some neighborhoods there are landscaping snobs and bullies who can elivate a localized issue to the standing of a federal case complete with property tax hyperbole, aerial photography, factional conflict and drive-by moonings. Possible going both ways.
In extreme cases, after being accused of being no-count rednecks and hillbillies the accused have resorted to setting up a rusted hulk of a pickup on blocks, and a couple of old tubs for effect, as a decorative feature and rhetorical counterpoint. 'You want blight? I'll show you blight you idiots.'
Astroturf or paving and painting green, with or without the pickup and tubs, are also options.
Thanks that's the same thing Johnny came up with in the first short response. Makes perfect sense. I'll just let it take care of itself. No garden parties in my future.
We are all in this together.
http://www.hay98.com/
you can always do the olde tried and true... whistle up a concrete truck.. he'll drive over it an collapse it for sure.. then you can fill the sucker inMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
4lorn1,
Gypsum. It causes clay to form little balls that allow water to perc thru. Rock gypsum if your into organics, Gypsum board if you're cheep.
Greensand will do the same but not as fast.
Finally, sulfer and lime. Till the lime in first, then the sulfer.
Pick one, not all three. Well gypsum and greensand are ok together.
Samt
I'm leaning toward the rusty pickup or the pave and paint. It's the romantic in me.Edited for spelling.
Edited 7/9/2005 1:23 am ET by 4LORN1
It means the GRASS IS DEAD. "good Polly, stay on the perch"
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
What are dreadlocks made from?
We are all in this together.
http://www.hay98.com/
Edited 7/8/2005 9:20 pm ET by Gunner
>>Anyway, does it mean anything?
It means you've been putting waaaay too many Habeneros in the chili.
SamT
does it mean anything?
the puppy needs to use a different part of the yard????