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Organic Lawn Care

leveling a bumpy yard

15 years ago

My yard is undergoing a transformation. I have begun an organic routine. It's been 2 months and I can already see a huge difference in the quality of the soil. I used to not be able to push a knife more than 1" into the soil. Now, I can push my finger in that far and a bamboo stake in about 3 inches. The problem I have is that my yard resembles a 4x4 test track. There are divots and small bumps everywhere. My 6 year old has had 2 sprained ankles and I have twisted mine mowing the lawn.

Is there a way to level out this lawn without bringing in yards of topsoil and shoveling it all over?

Comments (6)

dchall_san_antonio
15 years ago
You sound like the poster child for people recovering from rototiller preparation of the original turf. This is exactly what happens when you rototill first. The soil settles unevenly into what you have.

If you want to do it yourself, yards of dirt and a shovel are the way. You could bring in yards of topsoil and spoon it in only where the low spots are. If your yard is several thousand square feet that might not be what you want to do.

A preferred way would be to hire a landscaper to bring in a tractor and box blade. They can regrade an acre in an hour if it is pretty close to grade. Your area is probably much smaller. Let him decide if he needs more (or less) topsoil. Then you can reseed immediately when he leaves.
doublej
Original Author
15 years ago
No tilling, just inherited a crappy turf.
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For moderate amounts of soil to be added, I generally recommend trying to match your base soil. So if it's a sandy loam, that's great, particularly if we're talking more than an inch or so. For smaller amounts, it really doesn't matter that much. One major consideration when adding soil is your grading. In case of severe flooding, you do want to make sure that your soil grade isn't sending water into the house. It's always wise to have a professional evaluate this.
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I wouldn't say it is better for the grass so much as it is much easier to control. It doesn't settle like a clay/loam/sand mix would. It doesn't form a capillary structure like a clay/loam/sand mix would. Roots penetrate easily, but can be pulled out more easily. I would not use sand in a sports area, although I've seen it used in coastal city high school stadiums. Sand is certainly easy to handle when putting it down. inglewoodyard: where did we lose you? Sometimes I ask seemingly unrelated questions trying to see if there might be a bigger picture issue than the original poster realized.
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A couple of notes: - You don’t actually want to plant as densely or as close to the walk as in Doug’s sketch or in three years you will need to do a lot of pruning and in 5 or 8 you will be ripping out plants and starting all over again with many of them. Add large pots or a birdbath or art or annuals while you wait for some of your woody plants to put on size. - Whatever you plant needs to be sized appropriately for it ultimate growth. Plant tags often give plant sizes at an unrealistic 5 years, so be sure to look up on a reputable website such as the Missouri Botanic Garden’s Plantfinder to find the actual expected size. - You have a big overhang that creates a rain shadow that will always be dry without irrigation. Be sure to plan on irrigation for anything within that rain shadow. Regardless, don’t plant anything so close that it will grow to within a foot or so of the house. - Wider steps are great to make a welcoming entry. - Notice in both sketches that the plants in front of the windows are lower with taller plants framing it or placed further down the slope to not block the windows. - Plan to have some of your plants evergreen for a winter presence and some with either colored foliage or flowers for interest. - Sod or hydro seed the lawn at the appropriate time of year for your area which may be now.
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Since grading requires that the elevation of the reconfigured soil, at its perimeter, meet the elevation of the surrounding non-regraded soil, a person would need to see that in order to make a judgement about it. You'd need to provide a photo taken from the house looking toward the back lot line. And how far out are you' thinking the leveling process would extend? We don't know the extent of what you have in mind. In spite of not knowing I'm going to make a wild guess hoping to land in the ball park. $15,000 to $20,000. There are lots of variables and they could change the price substantially.
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billhill
15 years ago
Below is a link to a FAQ that may help. For small areas, you may try top dressing with 1/4 inch contractors sand and raking it into the depressions with a lawn rake. Repeat a few times a year.
Bill Hill

Here is a link that might be useful: FAQ - How do I level my yard?
fescue_planter
15 years ago
Anyone familiar with having a bumpy yard and seeing what happens to it say after 10 years or so? I'd like to know if an organic system (earthworms) will move things around enough in 10 years to level things out.
dchall_san_antonio
15 years ago
Hey!?!? I wrote a FAQ on leveling a lawn? Wow! The things I have forgotten about sometimes startle me.

After reading on the Lawns Forum how a guy did it with his bermuda, I would like to tune up that FAQ. While the steps in that FAQ will probably work fine, I think I would put the fertilizer down below the topsoil. The guy with the bermuda also used a sand, level, roll, water, repeat cycle that I think would improve the FAQ. Keep this in mind when leveling: the top surface of your project will be the new ground level. If it is not perfect flat, or rolling smoothly, keep at it until you're happy.
buzzsaw8
15 years ago
"Anyone familiar with having a bumpy yard and seeing what happens to it say after 10 years or so? I'd like to know if an organic system (earthworms) will move things around enough in 10 years to level things out."

FP - funny you mention that. I started a lawn from scratch two years ago and tilled the soil before laying the sod (hadn't found this site yet). It was REALLY bumpy. But I was just noticing this week as I pulled weeds that it seems to have leveled out a little bit. Earthworms rule!

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