How to level out yard?

[miltrade]

I posted earlier about how I had tilled up my entire lawn last fall to plant new grass using my JD4200 and a rented tiller.

Yesterday was the first day of the season that I used my new Husqvarna garden tractor with 54 inch mower to mow the grass/weeds that resulted.

I created a real dilemma when I did the tilling in that the yard is now very rutty and bumpy. There were several times yesterday when it felt like I was going to be thrown from the mower! When you look at the lawn from the driveway or porch, it doesn't look bumpy, but when you ride on it, different story.

Is there any way to level the ground of the ruts without tilling it all and using a rake or blade? Is there a method using topsoil or sand whereby I can slowly fill-in ruts and if so, how is this done?

Will the ruts and uneven areas gradually level out over time? They feel too hard to me to do that. Also, will there be any leveling out if I were to aerate a few times? I'm looking to see if anyone has any real experience with this same problem moreso than theory. Thanks.

 

[valleydweller1]

It has been my limited experience that ruts and small holes gradually fill in over time. The key word, however, is "gradually". It takes a lot of time for the grass to grow into the ruts and for the soil to move around.

 

[RonR]

Not sure how much area you are talking about?

You could go buy a truckload of composted fertilizer and spread that over the grass thinly. That might help level it out some.

You could do that and/or rent a verticutter and run that over the ground. It would chop off the high spots and fill in the low. Shouldn't do much damage to your grass. Or you could overseed to boot to account for the damage.

Might try dragging a hunk of chain link fence over it to knock off the high spots. That's cheap and you can watch for damage; obviously stop if it is tearing up the grass too much.

ron

 

[PineRidge]

Last week I was watching my new neighbor. He just finished a log home and was running a tiller prior to planting grass. Couldn't help but think that a box-blade, length of chain link fence, and a landscape rake were better suited for the job and would go a whole lot further in smoothing before planting.

After the fact if your yard is a bit rough a nice load of sand spread around will have a self leveling effect and the grass will find its way up to meet the sun.

 

[Doc_Bob]

I had a neighbor, with landscaping experience, help me. He came over and used a "preseeder" and spent hours leveling the topsoil and making sure the grade was gently away from my house.

My advice, call someone who does lawns for a living, get them to give you a bid and see what you can to keep the cost down (till, spread topsoil, etc.)

Bob

 

[Mavrik02]

I used a landscape rake on mine to smooth it all out before planting. It worked great.

I don't know how you could do it without distrubing the existing grass...maybe you could do it by hand?

 

[oliver28472]

I agree with Pineridge. At this stage sand is about the only solution to fill in the low spots.

 

[miltrade]

Looks like I will just need to start over again in the fall. But, using what I learned from planting the lawn the first time, this should allow me to correct mistakes I made there also. Like not spraying roundup over the existing lawn and instead just tilling it. Then I will use a landscape rake to take away all the debris and at the same time level the yard.

 

[flusher]

I'm where you were last year, new house with lotsa weeds.

Need to landscape about 3/4 acre.

When (and if) it ever stops raining here in the North Valley, I'll use my 21HP B7510HST and 48" KK box blade to scrape off the weeds/turf and spread this debris over part of my 10-acre spread, which is entirely flat grazing land. Will probably use some of it for the compost pile.

Need to add weight to that 240-lb BB to scrape up that heavy turf, so I have three 120-lb concrete weights that I can load onto the BB.

Once I have bare ground, I'll use my chain link fence drag to smooth the planting area. I have a drop-down spreader that I can pull behind the 18HP lawn tractor for seeding and fertilizing. The Bota has ag tires and I don't want to spend the bucks for a set of turf tires for that tractor just to do this part of the job.

I have a 48" pre-owned Yanmar RS1200 rototiller that I was planning to use for this job. But after reading some of the threads on TBN, I decided to eliminate the rototilling. Just brings more weed seeds to the surface anyway.

 

[JimMorrissey]

Mil,

Try to landscpe rake a few areas now before it gets too hot and dry. You will do some serious damage to what growth is there, but I bet a lot returns relatively quickly. Pick a spot and see how it goes.

If you're serious about getting it level which is nice so you can mow quickly without a kidney belt, you might want to look at a dozer to cut and compact the area, then have a harley rake clean it up and finish it off for seed....you might be able to rent a harley rake or something similar and do it yourself. They work really well for what you're describing.