Anyone level their lawn with sand?

[bdog]

We laid sod back in April. The ground was leveled well before we laid it and we rolled the sod twice. It wasn稚 really bad but mowing at 3/4 with a reel mower you could sure see the high and low spots.

Decided to level it with sand. Entire project took about six hours and 5 yards of sand with me doing the work by myself. Without the BX to shuttle the sand around it would have been a lot harder.

This side I just spread the sand on today. This picture is just it raked in and not smoothed with the leveling tool.



I did the exact same thing to the other half of the yard two days ago and it has already grown in this much.



I can稚 wait until I get to mow again and see what a difference it made.

 

[/pine]

We laid sod back in April. The ground was leveled well before we laid it and we rolled the sod twice. It wasn稚 really bad but mowing at 3/4 with a reel mower you could sure see the high and low spots.

Decided to level it with sand. Entire project took about six hours and 5 yards of sand with me doing the work by myself. Without the BX to shuttle the sand around it would have been a lot harder.

This side I just spread the sand on today. This picture is just it raked in and not smoothed with the leveling tool.

View attachment 664188

I did the exact same thing to the other half of the yard two days ago and it has already grown in this much.

View attachment 664189

I can稚 wait until I get to mow again and see what a difference it made.

It's always worked for greens keepers :thumbsup:

 

[goeduck]

It's always worked for greens keepers :thumbsup:

Yep, that is what we did when I worked at a golf course.

 

[John Skull]

yes. you don't say what type turf you're running, but my Zoysia likes masonry sand for fill-ins. Doesn't introduce weeds like dirt could/would.

 

[bdog]

It is celebration bermuda.

 

[TractorGuy]

Looks good!

How did you spread and rake it?

 

[bdog]

I dumped small piles across the yard with the BX and then used these.



I actually spread it around with the rake. The picture above is just with it being raked. After it is spread it needs to sit for a couple hours until it dries then I worked it in with the leveling tool. The leveling tool is useless when the sand is damp. It just clumps together.

 

[jaxs]

yes. you don't say what type turf you're running, but my Zoysia likes masonry sand for fill-ins. Doesn't introduce weeds like dirt could/would.

You can never be too carful about what's brought in. Sand in Texas often has sandburs or goat heads growing in it. I once bought concrete truck "washout" for road base and wound up with sandburs.

 

[bdog]

I had that concern but nothing some preemergent won’t take care of. That being said mowing at 1/2-3/4” every three days there are not many other plants that can survive.

 

[ultrarunner]

Learn something every day on TBN...

The sod in back is a little rough from gophers/moles and trenching...

 

[newbury]

Has anyone here done that with centipede grass?

 

[npalen]

Our son in the Denver area says they don't recommend mixing sand with the heavy clay soil as it tends to set up like concrete.
I have thought about trying it here in North Central Kansas on our fescue lawn, however.

 

[bdog]

Learn something every day on TBN...

The sod in back is a little rough from gophers/moles and trenching...

The only thing to be careful of is not going too thick at once or you can smother the grass. What I read was 1 yard of sand per 1,000 sq foot of lawn. I have a unusual desire to have my yard perfectly smooth so I plan on doing this once a summer for maybe the next couple years. If your yard is really unlevel I would suggest not trying to fix it all at once. We had a trench that settled some in the yard that I leveled with sand prior to doing this and it grew back quickly where the sand wasn’t thick but where I put it thicker it didn’t grown back through and had to spread into it again.

 

[ultrarunner]

I have done top soil in layers over several years but sand sounds quick and easy...

 

[RalphVa]

One of our master gardeners more or less did it with compost. She pretty much buried her grass in it and then used a rake to bring some of the greenery to the surface. Be better for the grass health than plain sand.

Ralph

 

[sixdogs]

We couldn't get away with sand in the Midwest. I shovel loose topsoil in or near the problem areas in August and then run my 8" landscape rake over it. Then seed with a seeder/packer and it works real well.

 

[goeduck]

No sense me leveling my lawn, the moles will just unlevel it.

 

[dragoneggs]

Sand is great... as long as it isn't salty. Throw peat moss on as well to help hold the moisture. Sand doesn't.

 

[ultrarunner]

No sense me leveling my lawn, the moles will just unlevel it.

This is why my turf is a mine field... for years the gophers and moles had free reign...

I gone through pails is Answer to make a dent.

Knowing what I know now would make me consider installing stainless mesh.

 

[jaxs]

No sense me leveling my lawn, the moles will just unlevel it.

They say one man's poison might be another man's meat. Once you've dealt with clay soil hard as cement when dry then sticky as bubble gum when wet,soil that moles are able to burrow through is a blessing.

This is why my turf is a mine field... for years the gophers and moles had free reign...

I gone through pails is Answer to make a dent.

Knowing what I know now would make me consider installing stainless mesh.

I can send you a pregnant feral guilt that will wipe out all signs of mole and gopher damage and give you an endless supply of fresh pork. Your little D-3 would be perfect for tidying up behind your pigs.