Sorry to arrive late. The locus classicus here is Montagu Allwood, Carnations, Pinks and All Dianthus, page 72 ff. I'll type out the pertinent passage, but everyone should try to acquire a copy of Allwood's wonderful book. BALLAST OR BURNT EARTH The great value of this consists not only in the potash it contains, also its special help in lightening and giving drainage to heavy soil, but in the wonderfully stimulating effect it has upon root action, especially with all members of the dianthus family. It supplies something which is beyond the reach of the chemist. To make ballast it is a good plan to dig out some of the stiff, dense subsoil and burn it in small fires, conveniently distributed. A number of small fires are better than one big one for making burnt earth, because if the clay is lightly burnt it loses its tenacity and then a small amount of plant food is made available. To make ballast as hard as brick dust a large fire is necessary because that generates more heat. We at Wivelsfield burn clay for all our carnations and dianthus, using about one-eighth in the compost, but as much as one-quarter in soil for sowing dianthus seed, and also for early pottings. Undoubtedly the potash so supplied is in a form which is most beneficial and health-giving. We dig stiff yellow clay and burn this when wet during the dull wet months of the year. In fact it is difficult to persuade it to burn freely when it is dry. We commence with a large fire of wood, and when this is partially burnt, we cover it with the wet clay sprinkled with a little soft coal dust. This is the only secret. If the clay is too soft and wet, or too powdery and not in lumps or clods which admit air or draught, or if the wind causes one side to go dead, then iron pipes are placed to encourage a draught. The ballast heaps are kept smouldering for months. As the clamp burns through, usually twice in the twenty-four hours, it is covered in with clay and a dusting of soft coal dust. In fact, it must be kept well covered so as to preserve the heat, yet not smothered. When the heaps get too high they are dragged down with iron drags, a portion at a time, and covered with clay and coal. The ashes or ballast are sieved before being used and we prefer to keep them dry. The lumps are allowed to weather. Pure wood ashes of course contain more potash but are not so beneficial to heavy soils, because they do not keep them so well aerated. Some will ask, is all this expense worth while for growing carnations? To grow the best it is always worth while. Our father, when a farmer on the wolds of Lincolnshire, always sowed sieved burnt earth with his turnip seed, and he was famous locally for his exceptionally fine crops. He used to plough up the turf on the sides of the parish roads (you could take liberties like that in those days) and burn these turves when dry during the summer time. The method employed was to make a circular well of turves with spaces for draught around a large heap of wood, fire the wood and, when nearly burnt through, put turves upon the embers, then close the whole lot in with turves as it burnt through. This sod clamp would burn for weeks. Undoubtedly the roots and humus in the turves, and also the draught, must have assisted the burning, because I well remember in those now distant years that everything seemed to be consumed. However, for turnips the old Governor never used the ashes for at least one year. They were then sieved and sown with the turnip seed through the drill. When the wolds in Lincolnshire were reclaimed from being merely rabbit waste land much of the surface soil was burnt in long ridges on the hills. That would be, I imagine, during the Napoleonic Wars.

If you had a complete soil test done by a lab, then I would believe the pH number - if you used a home test, I would be skeptical, as those these tests are usually inaccurate as far as absolute numbers go. In other words, you can use one, and keep using it, to see how the pH of your soil alters over time, but the number you are getting may not be right, even though it will accurately reflect the changes. Sorry, this isn't coming out the way I want it to, so I hope I'm not confusing you....

Basics of Lawn Care After reading numerous books and magazines on lawn care, caring for lawns at seven houses in my life, and reading numerous forums where real people write in to discuss their successes and failures, I have decided to side with the real people and dispense with the book and magazine authors. I don't know what star their planet rotates around but it's not mine. With that in mind, here is the collected wisdom of the Internet savvy homeowners and lawn care professionals summarized in a few words. If you follow the advice here you will have conquered at least 50% of all lawn problems. Once you have these three elements mastered, then you can worry about weeds (if you have any), dog spots, and striping your lawn. But if you are not doing these three things, they will be the first three things suggested for you to correct. Watering Water deeply and infrequently. Deeply means at least an inch in every zone, all at once. Infrequently means monthly during the cool months and no more than weekly during the hottest part of summer. Do not spread this out and water for 10 minutes every day. If your grass looks dry before the month/week is up, water longer next time. If that does not work, then you might have to water more than once per week during the summer's hottest period. Deep watering grows deep, drought resistant roots. Infrequent watering allows the top layer of soil to dry completely which kills off many shallow rooted weeds. You will have to learn to judge when to water your own lawn. If you live in El Paso your watering will be different than if you live in Vermont. Adjust your watering to your type of grass, temperature, humidity, wind, and soil type. It is worth noting that this technique is used successfully by professionals in Phoenix, so...just sayin.' The other factors make a difference. If you normally water 1 inch per week and you get 1/2 inch of rain, then adjust and water only 1/2 inch that week. Mowing Every week mulch mow at the highest setting on your mower. Most grasses are the most dense when mowed tall. However, bermuda, centipede, and bent grasses will become the most dense when they are mowed at the lowest setting on your mower. In fact there are special mowers that can mow these grasses down to 1/16 inch. Dense grass shades out weeds, keeps the soil cooler, and uses less water than thin grass. Tall grass can feed the deep roots you developed in #1 above. Tall grass does not grow faster than short grass nor does it look shaggy sooner. Once all your grass is at the same height, tall grass just looks plush. Fertilizing Fertilize regularly. I fertilize 5 times per year using organic fertilizer. Which fertilizer you use is much less important than numbers 1 and 2 above. Follow the directions on the bag and do not overdo it. Too much is better than too little*. At this point you do not have to worry about weed and feed products - remember at this point you are just trying to grow grass, not perfect it. Besides once you are doing these three things correctly, your weed problems should go away without herbicide. * This used to read, "Too little is better than too much." Recent test results show that you cannot get too much organic fertilizer unless you bury the grass in it. I believe core aerating to be vastly overrated. You can get much better results by spraying any clear shampoo at a rate of 3 ounces per 1,000 square feet and then irrigating. Do that twice or more separated by a full week or two and your soil will soften up nicely. I have experimented with alternative ways to soften hard soil before and come up with one pretty good one. But this one beats everything I came up with. Here again, using too much is better than not enough. It will just take more apps and longer to get the same softening effect. Your weeds should go away as your grass gets taller. Many weeds are sensitive to being sprayed with vinegar. You can try spot spraying each weed with full strength vinegar. Unfortunately the grass is definitely affected by that, so try to shield the grass from the spray. It may not kill the weed entirely but it will knock it down and let the grass grow up thus preventing new weeds. Do you have any shade over the lawn? If not, then if you want to have a great lawn, considering moving some Kentucky bluegrass in. The benefit there is that KBG does not need to be overseeded every fall like fescue does. KBG keeps getting more dense all the time. If you decide to get your soil tested, Logan Labs is a professional company that does nothing but testing. Their $20 test is 10x better than any university extension service test at any cost...with the one exception of the UMASS test. You would have to pay other labs for tests running up to $100 to get the same test that Logan Labs does routinely for $20. Also know that when you get your test results, if you want to correct the chemistry of your soil, you cannot do that with organic materials. If your soil needs boron, there is no organic replacement for that.

And me! This wet corner is the last part of the garden to be drained. It's hard going!!! This has been emptied 7 times now since Saturday, water just sits....it goes no where!!! I'm so scunnered, I'm past adding more drains, and have decided on a bog corner. If I were you I would skip the adding of manure etc, I've been doing that for the best part of 7 years...but we have clay soil for a good few metres down. Anyway all of that as you can see makes no difference, the water still sits and saturates the manure meaning you sink down....but yours may not be as bad as mines!! id go for the drains but as you said you need somewhere for it to drain too. A sump in clay soil is hopeless so if you direct it to a house drain, otherwise it'll only flood elsewhere. its disheartening, and you'll need more than one drain. Wish I'd done the whole lot, but stupidly done it in bits.....sigh!! I feel your pain!!!