I have a strange problem with the lawn - lumps that seem to be like hard chewing gum (although clearly made of reformed soil) stuck onto the ground in various places making it unpleasant to walk on the lawn. When these lumps are prised off there is a hold in the earth underneath. They don’t seem like earthworm debris which is usually shaped like toothpaste squeezed out of a tube, but like a cap of hard material, lighter than the black earth underneath. there is no hold in the “lid” just in the earth below. I’ve prised off countless of these with a patio scraper today. No sign of life underneath but it’s an infestation. A whole city in the garden. Totally ruining what was a decent lawn.
Has anyone had the same problem or maybe you know what may have caused this? I can’t find anything sensible on the net to explain it. Some sort of relative to the earthworm but less friendly?
And yet this article about earthworm bumps seems to describe exactly what you’ve described Annie. It says “As the castings dry, it hardens and makes little mounds of dirt in amongst the turf. If you flick off the top of the dirt mound you’ll usually find a small hole.”
You can’t flick these off. I’m familiar with earthworm mounds but these are hard like chewing gum and about two inches across and half an inch or so high. They have to be prised off with a sharp object and a lot of force. It was quite a workout.
