Rethink your lawn
If the soil is damp then it’s the perfect opportunity to either strengthen or replace your lawn! If you have a newlysown lawn, there’s just time to apply a feed of pelleted chicken manure, ideally sprinkled over the lawn when rain is imminent. Also consider how much lawn you actually want. If you want to reduce the size of your patch, cutting into the turf and lifting it is easiest after rain when the ground is soft. Cut into the lawn with a turfing iron or a spade inserted horizontally to remove turf. Stack it upside down in a corner of the garden and cover it with a black polythene sheet or stack it in an empty compost bin and put the lid on. It will have broken down into loamy compost in about a year’s time. A gravel garden is a good alternative to a lawn. Fill it with drought-tolerant perennials, such as eryngium and echinops, and it’ll save you time as well as looking beautiful.