How to level out yard?

miltrade · Apr 10, 2006

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 · Apr 10, 2006

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 · Apr 10, 2006

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 · Apr 10, 2006

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 · Apr 10, 2006

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 · Apr 10, 2006

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 · Apr 11, 2006

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

miltrade · Apr 11, 2006

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 · Apr 11, 2006

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 · Apr 12, 2006

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.

BigEddy · Apr 12, 2006

In my experience - the problem with tilling is that the soil gets tilled too deeply and while it starts out smooth, over the next year or 2 it compacts differently in different spots resulting in the bumps and holes you are finding. A better solution is a rotary rake (harley rake) which does not fluff up the lower layers as much.

I would think you need to roll your lawn, to compact the soil and flatten bumps. Best done early spring after a few days rain. I would recommend aerating after rolling. Core aerating will bring material to the surface which will tend to fill in the holes. If there are too many holes, then top dressing and raking are the only options.

The advantage of the harrow and chain drag, or the rotarty rake are that they only fluff up the top few inches so uneven compaction is minor.

dqdave1 · Apr 12, 2006

I do not know how rough the yard is , but it sounds like you need to do something. Spring is the best time to accomplish what you need to do. You now have a good base to start with. You need to have screened topsoil brought in. Hopefully you have a landscape rake. The best way is to have a set of gage wheels on the landscape rake. The rake then acts like a roadgrader, plus it will not tear up the existing grass as bad and it will fill in low areas well. As you do this expererience will show you the proper settings for the rake. After you are happy with the raking, overseed the yard again. In the spring it will green up quickly and you will have a great yard. Tiller was run too deep originally. A very common error when useing a tiller for a yard. A depth of 2" is all that needs to be tilled for a yard. Then landscape rake it and seed, unless you have a preseeder or power rake. Good Luck

Investorguy · Apr 14, 2006

Yeah I would start over. I'm planning on doing my lawn this summer too, but I went and bought a used harly rake. i've just used it a little bit so far (too wet still) but it seems to leave a nice smoot and slightly compacted surface. It really is an amazing machine for this task.

But definitely round it all up first, unless you want the same grass to come right back up. I learned this the hard way too.

LBrown59 · Apr 15, 2006

<font color="red">Did you drag it with a drag going over it several times in all different directions after you tilled it? </font>

JimMorrissey · Apr 15, 2006

Round Up isn't going to kill the millions of seeds in the soil that will pop right up. I like the idea of the harley rake to prep the bed, but I'd just overseed it with a good local mix after it's dragged well with the rake....keep mowing and it should be fine, especially if proper weed-n-feed is used the next year. Even the cheap weed-n-feed has worked amazing for me on an established lawn.

Send some soil to the local university or test center and see what they say about it acidity. We have fairly basic soils and with some lime the grass bolts up. Worth the couple of bucks to research this.

miltrade · Apr 24, 2006

Update: I have had considerable luck using my flail-mower to level out my yard, believe it or not.

We have had a ton of rain here in Virginia. I have been keeping my tractor (JD4200) rigged up with my flail-mower, which is extremely heavy and has a metal roller on it to press down brush after it is mowed. When the ground is saturated after a lot of rain, I go ahead and drive the entire yard several times with the mower lowered to the ground and angled so that I get maximum weight distributed down on that roller.

It has really done wonders. I have continued to mow with my Husqvarna 54 inch riding mower and the ride is getting smoother and smoother. It has had no negative effect on the grass whatsoever. It pops right back up.

Now there are no mounds or bumps but there are depressions or small "potholes" around the property. All I have been doing is filling them in with topsoil as I find them. I keep a can of landscaping spraypaint with me on the mower and I mark them then go back later. Some people said to gradually fill them in to preserve the grass, but I just level them out, tamp it down, and throw some grass seed on there. Some of the ones I did a few weeks ago are already being crowded over by the existing grass.

I think with this method it is not going to be necessary to redo the lawn.

rdln · Apr 24, 2006

why didnt you like spraying the existing vegetation with roundup?

miltrade · Apr 24, 2006

I didn't spray the yard because I was an idiot and listened to somebody that said to till the existing lawn under. That was BS, I should have just sprayed it and tilled/scraped no more than an inch off the top.