Once your lawn is level, it goes a long way to take preventative measures to not add new bumps or depressions. The two main things you can do are:. After reading this article, I hope you can appreciate my lawn leveling obsession, and perhaps learned a few things.
Stay tuned for more leveling updates! Also, check out my recommended gear section here for all the tools and products I use. This is great professional information on how to solve problems of uneveness in a lawn.
Hello to all, the contents present at this website are truly remarkable for people knowledge, well, keep up the good work fellows. I live in mulbarton Johannesburg South Africa. Where can i buy a levelling rake n how much does it cost. My back yard has mostly clay soil. It is 3 years old we bought the house new. When the builder installed the lawn, they applied sandy loam but then waited over a week to put the sod in.
Rain created divots and mounds all over. My back yard is the worst and is 3,sqft. I would greatly appreciate any feedback. I would start with a soil test also in your case. Good luck! I had standing water in one spot, so they dug a trench all around the house. One side in my back yard is high where the fence separates the two houses. Too many houses have spots with standing water, their solution is dig a trench in the middle of the yard leaving a eye sore.
I appreciate your comments on how to level your lawn. Will follow your instructions. Yes, I think rollers have their place. I have been doing some research and am planning to incorporate rolling into my leveling regimen. Updates to the article are coming. Wonderful information! I was looking for information on how to level the lawn by hand and I think the knowledge I obtained willl go a long way. Hello Kevin, I am looking for yard leveling company that I can trust in all aspects to do a great job of leveling my back yard.
At my age I do not feel that is something I can do myself. Is it possible for you to recommend a company for me. By adding dirt on top of the grass, that covers part of the grass blades and puts the root deeper than before. Will that grass be affected by this?
The lower parts will have to be done repeatedly over time. As the grass recovers add another layer. I live in north Texas with a yard that mostly consists of clay and limestone. My backyard is small and slopes too much outward. I understand sloping is a good thing but it slopes too much. On the side of my house, not only does it slope, it also floods in some parts as well.
It is very uneven and I think it is erosion from the three downspouts. My questions, 1. If I add more dirt to level a few inches 6 to 10 inches? On the side of the house, would it make more sense to level with sand and create a rock garden? I figure potted plants are my best bet. That is a complicated set of issues. The only thing I can contribute is that your first priority should be to drain water away from your house. All of our downspouts only new house I will ever move into were pointed away from foundation but onto cheap splash guard.
It caused so much erosion that it made a foot deep hole on one corner of our house. You should do lots of research or consult an expert on how to identify and fix the downspout issue.
Also, if you put stone on your perimeter you may trap water that currently drains off your property and increase your flooding problem. Hello my friend. I have a very very bumpy front lawn with approx measurement of 5 x 7 mtrs2 and it has next to no traffic on it. I having read your post and liked it and also found it very informative.
I was wondering would it be ok to rake all of the top of the old grass and soil off, to leave a bare top and start again relaying and seeding a new lawn. I dont mind the graft that will be needed and I am a spritely 60 year old lol. Any advice would be appreciated. Many thanks Garry Duffy. Check out my article on Soil Amendments for more info. I find it has very good leveling properties.
I never thought that broken water or irrigation pipes can be the cause of the bumps in my lawn due to erosion. My husband was mowing our front lawn yesterday when he realized that it was uneven and bumpy. Maybe we can also hire a ground leveling service this weekend to have a professional take care of it. I want to know if you have a good way to fill in gaps or long grooves left behind from the laying down of new roll St.
I have a good number of my lawn care customers that have new, but established lawns. And while being mowed, the mower falls into and comes of these long fence to fence length spaces in between each roll. You can feel them also, when you are walking behind the mower. And you had already observed on your own lawn with scalps and over all just uneven. I thought I would see if you have a solution.
And none of them are are willing to drop much coin on the fix. Thanks Robert I hope you still monitor this blog if so my email is businessreviewer gmail. Learnt a lot on levelling a bumpy lawn. It will certainly enhance my knowledge on gardening. My lawn is ridiculously bumpy.. Thanks for the info Kevin, and for sharing your knowledge and experience with us! The problem is something which too few men and women are speaking intelligently about.
Having read this I thought it was really enlightening. I appreciate you taking the time and effort to put this informative article together. I once again find myself spending way too much time both reading and commenting. But so what, it was still worth it!
Just wanted to tell you keep up the excellent job! Not long moved in to my council house. My back garden is so bumpy. Some bumps as large as graves. Pot holes in places. Can you give me advice on why the garden is like this? Also advice on how to level it. Look forward to hearing from you. Excellent site you have here.. I seriously appreciate individuals like you! Take care!! I have been looking for a solution to deal with my uneven lawn.
This article provides the solution. Thank you! Thanks tons! Your article is exactly what I was looking for. I will put in a dry stream-bed for drainage as necessary, and level the rest of it. Again, awesome directions. My lawn is over fifty years old, it was laid before I was born and like all of us at this age it is beginning to sag in certain areas.
I too have become obsessed about returning my grass to a green carpet. If you are a human, do not fill in this field. Why is it Important to Have a Level Lawn?
What Causes a Lawn to be Bumpy? Lawn Leveling Equipment Basic equipment needed to level your lawn is pretty simple: a hand rake, landscape rake, plastic leaf rake, a large push broom, a shovel, an edger, and a wheelbarrow.
Steps to Leveling your Lawn Before you get started, assess the severity of the problem. Topdressing Topdressing is the least invasive approach and works well for leveling mildly uneven areas. These are the basic steps: Mow the lawn at the lowest setting possible; De-thatch the lawn with a garden rake or de-thatcher; In a wheelbarrow, mix up a batch of leveling mix.
Compost based mixes are good for this; Apply scoops of soil mix to low areas of the lawn using a shovel; Rake the topdressing to spread it out evenly. You should see mainly grass once complete; Water the grass to further stabilize it; and Monitor the progress in the area.
If its still uneven, repeat these steps until its level once the grass has had a chance to recover. For small low spots and depressions, you can gradually correct them by sprinkling top dressing over them. What is the Best top dressing for leveling lawns? Filling Small Holes For small animal holes, sometimes just filling the disturbed soil back in and topping them up with topsoil is a good repair.
Leveling Out a Moderately Uneven Lawn What if you have a few really low spots in your lawn an inch or more deep? Follow the steps below: Remove the sod over the low spot if the area is bigger than 1 foot square, cut out multiple chunks to make them easier to move without breaking and set them aside.
Gently pull them up so that the roots separate from the soil. Roll up the strips to keep them moist. This will remove air pockets; Replace the sod if its still in good shape, or replace with new sod or seed; and Water the grass thoroughly. Sand can dull mower blades and bedknives in the case of reel mowers.
The last disadvantage is possible increased irrigation requirements given the reduced water-holding potential of sand. For this reason, irrigation systems are highly recommended. Although sand leveling involves some physical labour, the process is really just a few simple steps.
To start off with, it is recommended to cut your lawn as short as possible. This makes it easier to incorporate the sand later. As with most lawn renovations it is best practice to start off by aerating and dethatching.
Core aeration removes plugs of soil from the ground and leaves channels for air, water, and our top-dressing mixture to penetrate the surface. If your lawn is cut short, or you have previously topdressed with sand I recommend picking up the cores. The use of a roller after aeration helps to eliminate any heaving that occurred. Dethatching helps remove any excess thatch and helps with overseeding by opening up the lawn.
This is not always needed in my experience. Working in small sections, start distributing the sand in small piles with a shovel and wheelbarrow or cart. Roughly spread the sand using something flat, like the back side of a landscape or leveling rake, working it into the aeration holes and covering low spots. As much as possible, rake the top-dressing into your lawn until you can see your grass through it.
A push broom can help with this and a levelawn is especially helpful. In an ideal world, the application of dry sand on a clean, dry turf surface helps the material to fill the holes as completely as possible. Dry sand moves into holes more readily, while moist sand tends to clump at the top of the holes. When this happens it takes more effort to completely fill holes with sand.
Rain or heavy dew can disrupt the process and may require extra brushing, raking, and irrigation to incorporate the sand. Letting the sand sit in the sun for a few hours often provides enough drying for it to be easier to incorporate. Keep working the sand in until your grass peeks through and the depth is even. I like to drag the grass in alternating directions to get the sand fully incorporated.
Some golf courses use broadcast spreaders to apply sand. This sand is usually kiln dried however. Do not use wet, damp, or moist sand in a broadcast spreader unless you like self-punishment!
For light topdressing I use my 50lb capacity broadcast spreader. I find letting the sand bake in the sun for a few hours on a tarp dries it out very effectively. Drop-style topdressers are commonly used on large areas and can deliver with high precision. This operator is applying 1 cubic foot of sand per 1, sq ft. For low spots requiring more than an inch of top-dressing, first remove the existing sod to prevent underground decay that can damage new grass seedlings.
After filling in the low spot, either replace the old sod or reseed the area. You can also address deeper spots by lowly building them up over time. See my article on Lawn leveling for more info. Fill the aeration holes completely to the surface.
Partially filled aeration holes result in a bumpy surface and reduces the overall effectiveness of core aeration. The holes are going to fill up with something, and if not sand it will be more organic matter. It is typical for sand to settle within the holes after a couple of days. A second application of sand at a lighter rate, after a few days, is sometimes needed to top off the holes. Also going back with your rake and smoothing out any depressions or bumps that may develop is a good practice.
Now you can replant grass in any bare spots if needed. Existing grass should be able to grow through as much as an inch of top-dressing, depending on grass type. Check out my article on overseeding. It is critical to use seed rather than sod, because sod placed over sand can create a perched water table, which will significantly inhibit soil infiltration. See my article on soil profile. Trouble spots may need repeat applications.
To help further incorporate the stand and stimulate recovery it is important to irrigate your lawn thoroughly and fertilize after leveling. Sand leveling and aeration can induce significant drought stress on the lawn, especially in the late afternoon. Frequent irrigation and supplemental hand watering throughout the day for several days are typically necessary to stimulate and accelerate turf recovery.
Since sand is inert a starter fertilizer is especially recommended when overseeding. See my article on fertilization. A follow-up application of a fertilizer five to seven days after renovation at a rate of 0. Used by golf course greens-keepers, levelawn leveling rakes are the ultimate tools for distributing leveling materials. They do a much better job at final leveling than a landscape rake or push broom. This tool is especially good at breaking up small clumps and removing stones and debris.
Although significantly heavier than the Standard Golf, I found this rake to be far superior for sand leveling purposes. The increased weight was beneficial to provide some compression to the loose sand and the increased width resulted in a better leveling outcome. Additionally, the box section construction was more suited to sand because there is no need for stone and debris removal, thus avoiding the pitfall of the rake filling up with sand.
The type of sand used is important. Also, using straight sand as opposed to a sand-soil mix will give you the best leveling results. Organic matter within the mixture should be avoided, since one of the reasons for sand topdressing is managing organic matter accumulation also known as thatch. This mixture will ensure a good balance of drainage versus moisture control to avoid dehydrating the soil. If the sand particles are too coarse such as gravel , there is a risk of drying out the soil.
Similarly, very fine particles like those found in clay and silt should also be minimized to reduce the risk of clogging the space needed for proper root-zone growth.
It is important to pick a sand supplier that uses an accredited soil testing laboratory. This way you will get a particle size breakdown of the sand. This is quite commonly available.
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