Best Advice for Smoothing out Lawn?

A forum to learn and discuss the importance of lawn care basics
Post Reply
dalcombright
Posts: 2
Joined: July 30th, 2018, 11:18 am
Location: Kingston, MA
Grass Type: Kentucky Bluegrass
Lawn Size: Not Specified
Level: Not Specified

Best Advice for Smoothing out Lawn?

Post by dalcombright » July 30th, 2018, 1:57 pm

I have been in my house now for about 9 years and its been a rehab project for sure (yard wise). We have since gained control of most of our 25,000 sq. foot lawn and its on to maintenance style items now. This winter we had 11 trees come down, and well lots of holes in the lawn haha. I am looking for the best way to find/fill and flatten a large lawn area...

Do rollers really work? Any better tools for this?

We have a lot of bumps and such in our lawn and I want to be able to easily identify them and if large (fill in and seed), or small smooth out. They are not super easy to find just walking the grass and its a large area.

Image

User avatar
llO0DQLE
Posts: 1420
Joined: August 4th, 2013, 3:20 pm
Location: Edmonton, AB Canada
Grass Type: KBG and Creeping Red Fescue
Lawn Size: 1000-3000
Level: Some Experience

Re: Best Advice for Smoothing out Lawn?

Post by llO0DQLE » August 2nd, 2018, 12:51 am

I think scalping and levelling with either top soil or a mixture with sand and soil is the best route. Check out the Warm Season guys for how they do this.

User avatar
Dchall_San_Antonio
Posts: 3339
Joined: December 17th, 2008, 1:53 am
Location: San Antonio, Texas
Grass Type: St Augustine
Lawn Size: 5000-10000
Level: Advanced

Re: Best Advice for Smoothing out Lawn?

Post by Dchall_San_Antonio » August 14th, 2018, 2:26 pm

This is kind of a quandary. When I bought my house there was very little actual turf grass. It was mostly prairie grass/weeds. What I should have done immediately was have the yard 'finish graded.' That would have filled in all the holes, leveled the hills, and improved my drainage off of the property onto the road. Flash forward 4 years and I have lots of turf grass spreading nicely, but also holes when I mow and not the best drainage. Wish I had fixed that at the beginning. You have a similar situation having gone to the trouble of growing grass and now wanting to level it.

Search the warm season grass forum for topics with "leveling" in them and get familiar with the process. It's a lot of work but can be a DIY project.

User avatar
llO0DQLE
Posts: 1420
Joined: August 4th, 2013, 3:20 pm
Location: Edmonton, AB Canada
Grass Type: KBG and Creeping Red Fescue
Lawn Size: 1000-3000
Level: Some Experience

Re: Best Advice for Smoothing out Lawn?

Post by llO0DQLE » August 14th, 2018, 3:12 pm

Pete313 has done this. Just get to a low HOC gradually, topdress and level and you're good to go. If you are not planning on maintaining at 1" or below you probably don't need to be so anal about it.

Fullheadofturf1234
Posts: 176
Joined: June 10th, 2018, 1:41 pm
Location: Southeast Michigan
Grass Type: KBG I think
Lawn Size: 5000-10000
Level: Some Experience

Re: Best Advice for Smoothing out Lawn?

Post by Fullheadofturf1234 » August 22nd, 2018, 9:35 pm

Curious about this too.
What is the recommended type of? Sand, top soil or both?

To me, without trying it, it seems that sands would be easier to spread and in my case the amount I would use is so little that it would hardly have an impact.
Could be wrong though.


schreibdave
Posts: 1123
Joined: April 14th, 2010, 7:01 pm
Location: Syracuse, NY
Grass Type: Bewitched, Award and Rhapsody
Lawn Size: 10000-20000
Level: Experienced

Re: Best Advice for Smoothing out Lawn?

Post by schreibdave » August 23rd, 2018, 5:59 am

I have a couple of spots like this that I have yet to deal with. What I would do is get a load of topsoil now and put it somewhere out of the way and then in late fall/winter/early spring when the grass is short and dormant and you can see the contours - go around and fill/remove soil as necessary. Actually what I would do is ignore the problem and let the grass camouflage the problem. But that's me!

TimmyG
Posts: 2244
Joined: May 15th, 2012, 6:04 pm
Location: Dracut, MA
Grass Type: Northern Mix
Lawn Size: 20000-1 acre
Level: Experienced

Re: Best Advice for Smoothing out Lawn?

Post by TimmyG » August 23rd, 2018, 10:36 am

schreibdave wrote:
August 23rd, 2018, 5:59 am
Actually what I would do is ignore the problem and let the grass camouflage the problem.
Amen. This is pretty much the only sane option with rocky, sandy soil and yearly frost heaves.

User avatar
Dchall_San_Antonio
Posts: 3339
Joined: December 17th, 2008, 1:53 am
Location: San Antonio, Texas
Grass Type: St Augustine
Lawn Size: 5000-10000
Level: Advanced

Re: Best Advice for Smoothing out Lawn?

Post by Dchall_San_Antonio » September 14th, 2018, 9:48 am

We've spent a lot of time talking about the best sand or material to use. My problem with topsoil is you cannot find it without clods. Even a 1/4-inch ball of clod will mess up the process of dragging the soil once it is down. If you're only filling holes, then go for it. If you are filling a large low spot, then sand is preferred for the ability to smooth over without any hassle. I have used clay kitty litter to fill holes. Once the roots embed into the pieces of litter, it becomes a solid surface.

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 3 guests