Leveling a Lawn
By using either of the two methods below, you can raise sunken areas of your lawn and achieve a nice, flat lawn.
Top Dressing A Lawn
This is the same method that professional greens keepers use to make the putting greens on golf courses smooth and level. It works best on a large, sunken area.
Materials needed:
Sand
Tools needed:
Spade
Rake
Wheelbarrow
Instructions for top dressing your lawn:
Cover the area with a 1/4" layer of sand. Shovel the sand onto
the area, then rake it around so that it evenly covers the sunken area of the lawn. Top dressing is a slow process. You can only apply a small layer at a time, adding new layers as time progresses. Over time, the lawn will become level.
A Quicker Method For Use on a Smaller Area
Materials needed:
Soil
Tools needed:
Spade
Instructions for leveling a smaller area of your lawn:
Skin the sod from the area. If the area is small enough, you can
simply fold back the flaps of sod from the area. If it is a too large to do that, you can remove the sod and replace it afterwards.
2) Add soil to the area. With the sod out of the way, shovel in the
amount of soil necessary to raise the level of the area. Rake it to
make it smooth.
3) Replace the sod. Once a sufficient amount of soil has been added,
Simply replace the flaps (or pieces) of sod. Make sure they fit together snugly. Press it into place with your feet (for a larger area, rent a sod roller).
Water the area thoroughly. This helps the pieces of sod to grow
new roots into the new soil.
Note: To create a "swale" (a lower area in your landscape), simply remove soil in step two instead of adding soil.
Top Dressing A Lawn
This is the same method that professional greens keepers use to make the putting greens on golf courses smooth and level. It works best on a large, sunken area.
Materials needed:
Sand
Tools needed:
Spade
Rake
Wheelbarrow
Instructions for top dressing your lawn:
Cover the area with a 1/4" layer of sand. Shovel the sand onto
the area, then rake it around so that it evenly covers the sunken area of the lawn. Top dressing is a slow process. You can only apply a small layer at a time, adding new layers as time progresses. Over time, the lawn will become level.
A Quicker Method For Use on a Smaller Area
Materials needed:
Soil
Tools needed:
Spade
Instructions for leveling a smaller area of your lawn:
Skin the sod from the area. If the area is small enough, you can
simply fold back the flaps of sod from the area. If it is a too large to do that, you can remove the sod and replace it afterwards.
2) Add soil to the area. With the sod out of the way, shovel in the
amount of soil necessary to raise the level of the area. Rake it to
make it smooth.
3) Replace the sod. Once a sufficient amount of soil has been added,
Simply replace the flaps (or pieces) of sod. Make sure they fit together snugly. Press it into place with your feet (for a larger area, rent a sod roller).
Water the area thoroughly. This helps the pieces of sod to grow
new roots into the new soil.
Note: To create a "swale" (a lower area in your landscape), simply remove soil in step two instead of adding soil.
