leveling yard

[hoogy]

I have lived in my home for twenty years. The lawn has taking a beating. With cutting trees down and planting flower gardens and then moving them other places. The lawn has taking a beating. It is not level and bumby and rutty. What is the best way to level it back out and make a nice looking yard again.


Thanks Scott

 

[Larry Jones]

Top dressing should take care of it. Use a mixture of sand, compost and top soil and spread it over the lawn and then rake it smooth. You should end up with a nice smooth level yard next year. If ruts are too deep that the grass can't make it thru the top dressing you will have to replant those places.

 

[JANDG]

Top dressing is what I am doing & for me it is the best way.I have a lot of trees to deal with so tillers are out, box scraping sod is risky as I found ou the hard way, sent many trees into shock & might kill em. They don't like there roots ripped out,so I now top dress & looking for the biggest pull roller I can find.
Joe

 

[radioman]

jandg- try not to use the roller if you can help it with fresh soil. rolling can compact the soil, making it hard for grass seed to grow.

hoogy, have you thought about applying roundup to everything and then till it all in? then you should be able to plant new grass seed and fertilizer to get a nice lawn by next summer.

 

[hoogy]

top dressing what are the ratio you use. I have a big yard almost a acre that i mow

 

[MarkV]

top dressing what are the ratio you use. I have a big yard almost a acre that i mow

Thats my problem hoogy. I am no expert but have read that 2" of top dressing is about what you need and that is a lot of good dressing material to come up with.

MarkV

 

[theboman]

Make it as you can via mommy nature and a compost pile.

Leaves. Buy/rent a shredder/chipper thingy. I have and Earthquake from TSC and LOVE the chipping and when the leaves start to fall it'll really be used to grind the leaves 20:1.

When you get a pile just add and add. Toss a tarp over it and let it cook.... A bit of water in the pile is momma's helper. Toss in grass clippings, straw or hay. Most seeds should burn up in the composting process. Tiny twigs, tree bark, veggie's you don't eat, etc.,
NO MEAT of any kind.... It works and works GREAT too.

This is cheap and gets you a little at a time at a very NO to low cost, unless up buy the shreader.

 

[ScottOkla]

You aren't going to be able to cover an acre by making compost. It would take your whole life.

I have used 10 pickup loads of grass clippings (well over 5 tons) and once composted it doesn't even put 6 inches on my small garden.

 

[JeffinNE]

I have the same issue, not too bad but would like smoother for kids to run on.
Topdressing must be done slowly, maybe a 1/2 inch a year--too much compost at one time can kill off the existing grass unless you use a mixture with more topsoil than compost then can use more. Stay away from sand if you have clay soil---clay + sand = cement!

What I hope to do once I get the tractor & tiller is what Radioman suggests and roundup then till and seed. I'll probably do sections over a few years to protect against what happened the first year---seeded all and got a few gully washer rains to create the ruts that made it rough. Makes it more manageable to water the new seed since I don't have sprinklers and about 1 1/4 acre of grass.

 

[kthompson]

Does your county have a recycling center that takes in yard waste? If so they might be selling it chipped up right cheap. Our's does.

 

[NSBound]

.... Stay away from sand if you have clay soil---clay + sand = cement!

Actually, if you use coarse sand, it helps break up the clay And also what kthompson, said, use coarse organic material too - as in this extract I am quoting from...

"Two of the best amendments for clay soil are coarse sand and coarse organic matter such as compost. Coarse sand is also sometimes called builders' sand. The particles are relatively large, especially when compared to the finer sands used for sandboxes. Finer sands may actually make your problem worse. There are lots of types of organic matter available for gardening but not all of them will help improve clay soil. It must be coarse. Avoid fine-textured material such as peat moss or the packaged manures. If possible, find a source for a coarse compost or aged manure. Check with your city to see if they have a compost site for leaves yard waste."

 

[Egon]

In our area we can get composted compost from the county. There's also some beaches where one can pick up seaweed.

 

[NSBound]

In our area we can get composted compost from the county. There's also some beaches where one can pick up seaweed.

We have a county compost facility here too - they want $40 a ton, and it's 40 miles away, so the cost gets prohibitive counting distance charges for someone to pick up a good load. It would take 10 trips in a pickup to get the amount I would need! Now the seaweed, I hadn't thought about that but have seen neighbours use it. And lobster shells, although they attract a lot of birds.