Parch marks in grass: Hidden Secrets

 

I'm sure many of you are familiar with crop marks: no, not crop circles, but crop marks, where parched (or lusher) marks in areas of grass show where the underlying soil has a different composition from the rest of the area.

This can indicate the presence of, for example old walls: if the bricks or stone were only removed down to ground level, there might be a shallow layer of soil over the remainder, which is enough to allow the grass to grow, but not enough to keep it lush in dry weather.

And in case that doesn't make sense, here's a picture to illustrate how grass can grow with very little soil indeed: when I'm digging, I'm in the habit of stabbing my fork into the grass beside where I'm working, because a) wooden handles don't like lying on damp grass, b) it means no-one can step on it and do that amusing but very painful thing where they tread on the tines and it pings up and slaps them on the leg (I never, ever leave forks, spades - or, in particular, rakes - lying “prong upwards”. Never. And all my students, Trainees, Mentorees and Clients are taught never to do it, either) (Not that I'm bossy. Just very safety-conscious). Where was I? Oh, and c) because then I don't have to bend double to pick it up. Lazy? No! Efficient!

In this particular garden, I stabbed the fork into the grass next to me, and it went “Clang!” and fell over.

Further investigation revealed this:

 

Yup, the lawn was growing over a stone slab patio. Notice how I have cut and rolled the turf back like, well, like a roll of turf!

 

To see the rest of this article, please hop over to Patreon.