Many house owners are in search of the best lawn leveling soil. Many are tired of maneuvering over lumps and bumps while mowing.
If you’re among this group of people, just know you’re in the right place to discover the most-effective-soil to level your sloppy and bumpy compound.
The best lawn leveling soil is the sandy-soil mixtures. Keep reading, you will see how this works in subsequent sub-ending. However, some compounds experience progressive bumps and lumps, why some at a particular season.
Whatever time of the year, your yard develops bumps and lumps doesn’t matter. The major concern is, how to ensure a level lawns that your children can play on.
Because unlevel lawns deprive you of making full use of your compound. No important event can actually take place in an area that is not level.
I want to show you the types of lawn leveling soil and how to apply them to get the maximum result you desire.
Types of Lawn Leveling Soil
The level of bumps and lumps in your yard is what determines the type of soil you will apply to level it.
Likewise, the composition of your compound soil plays a major role in choosing the best lawn leveling soil.
The degree of the bumps, lumps and depression will guide you to know the exact soil your lawn needs to level the unevenness in your yard.
But then, there are basically two main soil for getting lawn leveling:
- Pure sand
- Sandy-soil mix
Though, the application of any of these soils, depends on the area you want to level. The area you’ll apply pure sand is not the same place you can use sandy-soil mix.
Let’s take a closer look at these two types of soil.
1). Pure Sand
The pure sand is perfect for an uneven yard without lawns. But it’s disastruction to the yard with lawns. Because it might end-up delay or stop the growth.
Sometimes, lawns find it difficult to grow because of clays. And this clay affects the growth of grass.
Adding pure sand will rather worsen the situation. The lawn will be struggling to grow under the pure sand.
To maintain a healthy lawn at your yard don’t use pure sand in leveling your lawns.
During summer, soil dries off water, and nutrients. These are what aid the growth of lawn. Lack of water and nutrients will make the grass suffer severe heat.
When leveling your yard that has lawn, it’s advisable to avoid using pure sand. Pure sand lacks the nutrient composition that will aid the growth of lawns.
The perfect place to use pure sand is an area without lawn in your compound. Especially when you want to control drainage in your yard.
Because this type of soil can easily cling to the clay of the soil and form part of the yard without wasting time.
Hence you have your lawn undergo strenuous stress before little sprout up, if at all they will grow. That’s if you apply it in an area where there is lawn.
2). Sandy-soil mix
One of the best lawn leveling soil is sandy-soil mixture. It will aid the growth of your lawn after leveling.
This is far much better than using pure sand without a mixture, in an area that has lawn. Because sandy-soil mixtures contain nutrients, and it has the capacity to hold water for a long time.
In addition, sandy-soil mixtures come with different compositions of nutrients. Personally, I do mix it by myself.
The one you mix by yourself will have enough nutrients to easily boost the growth of your lawn.
Sandy-soil mixtures are composed of 30% organic soil and 70% sand. With these compositions your lawns will not find it difficult to grow.
Some people are very concerned about bacterias — that the compost soil will have bacterias that might delay or kill the lawns.
However, a sandy-soil mixture comes with nutrients and bacterias, which help the lawns to grow. Because there is a lot of manure you may have added during the mixture before applying it.
But pure sand has no nutrients that will help your lawns to maintain a healthy status. That’s why you need sandy-soil mixture to boost the soil.
What Causes Lawn to be Uneven
Now you know the best lawn leveling soil, it’s important you know the causes of unevenness in your yard.
Even though maintaining a level lawn is a continuous process, the idea of what causes it can help put a permanent solution to it.
A level lawn isn’t just easy to maintain but offers kids the enabling environment to have fun. That’s why every home owner desires to have level lawn soil.
Some of the major causes of low and higher spots areas in the yard include:
- High foot or motorized traffic.
- New fences
- Sidewalks
- Change water flow.
- Higher spots caused by seasonal freezing and thawing.
- Pest or disease problems.
- Thinning turfgrass.
- Animals digging
- Lack of proper lawn care such as lawn mower-scalping
Sometimes, bumps and depressions can be the result of drainage problems. Broken water or irrigation pipes also cause bumps or rough lawns.
Uneven lawns can also be as a result of natural and unnatural cases of settling in an area. Over time, settling causes depression, though this might be unavoidable.
Bumps or unevenness can also be as a result of buried objects like wood debris. Remove the wood debris and level the location that is all for this type of unevenness.
People also cause unevenness of lawns, by walking on soft lawn — most especially in the early spring or immediately after heavy rains. Even animals use their legs to cause unlevel lawn as well.
Constant checking on animals will help to prevent unlevel lawn soil. Keep a watch on your animals to prevent them from creating unevenness in your yard.
These are some of the causes of uneven lawn in a yard. When you address the root cause of all these, then you’ll have a smooth yard.
How to Level Shallow Low Spot in Your Lawn
If the area you want to level is 1 – 2 cm low compared to other soil, then you apply the sandy-soil mixtures directly.
You can use a filter to shake out a thin layer over the low area. After this, use a garden rake to level the soil.
You can either use your feet or the flat side of the rake to press or tamp down the soil for a compartment.
Use this method to level every low spot in your yard that requires such attention. Once you’re done with this process, allow the area to settle for like 2 or 3 day before distributing the lawn seeds.
The reason for the number of days is to allow the soil to receive light for the first 48 hours. After that, you can then spray water on it as many times you can per day. The essence of the watering is to aid grass growth.
You can as well follow these steps below to level the low spot in your lawn.
Step 1: Get a wheelbarrow, and mix a top dressing soil mixture, which will support your turfgrass growth. Ensure you have equal mixing parts of compost, sand and topsoil.
Step 2: After the mixture, then apply ½-inch of the soil mixture to the low areas in your yard.
Don’t let the soil mixture get deep, hence you’ll kill the nutrient in the soil mixture. Remember, this is a gradual repair approach, which may require you to repeat the process severally.
Step 3: Once you’re done with the application, you can use a garden rake to get the mixture soil evenly distributed over the low area.
Step 4: The next, is to use a push broom to push back the top dressing and the grass blade. If there was grass in this area before now, you will begin to see grass growth after a few days.
How to Level deep low spots on your lawn
Leveling an area that has sunk up to 2 cm – 4 cm deep requires a different method to level the lawn.
You need a tool to properly level this type of deep. Tool like squared-off shovels. Use the shovel to either slice into the centre or at the edges of the bumps.
You need to maintain an even cut to make it easier for you to lift it without breaking.
Since the deep is already 2 to 4cm, you can either cut 3cm for 2cm deep or 5cm for 4cm deep.
The cut becomes easy when the area is not dry. After the cutting, gently place the turf flat back immediately and you’re done filling the place with soil mixture.
To level bumps in your lawns, dig enough soil until you get the same level with the surrounding area. Put the turf back after leveling.
For you to fill a hollow, you need a garden fork. Garden fork is what you will use to turn over the soil to about 4cm to 5cm.
After that, remove any large stones, then break the large clumps. This will make the soil to be compatible and further reduce any further sinking afterwards.
Take your soil mixture to fill the hole until it level with the surrounding area. After this, use a rake to break down the soil before you return turf back to the area.
Now, you need to pack the turf down, beginning from the outer edges to center. Refill the gap with more top dressing to prevent the edge from drying out.
Next, is to sprinkle lawn seed in the gap to cover the area. After this, you have to ensure there is a regular supply of water to enable the grass to grow.
Is Leveling Lawn Important?
A lawn without bumps, lumps or depression avail us a suitable and smooth surface for our kids to play, and for us to enjoy the outer space.
The smoothness of lawns makes activities like host parties, soccer, croquet, and bocce ball to become more enjoyable.
These activities aren’t just enjoyable but the players become more safer also.
How healthy your lawns are, depends on how often you maintain them. To maintain lawns is easy when the surface is level without bumps.
A level lawn results in a better quality cut. Mowers become easy when you have level lawns in your yard.
The work of mowing becomes faster in a level lawn because your mower will not be scalping under the lawns.
To mower over bumps is a difficult work that most people will not like to do. That’s why level lawns are very important.
It’s not just about the mower only, smooth lawns add value to outer space. Make it more attractive and appealing to the eyes. Therefore, level lawns are important in the yards.
Equipment For Leveling Lawn
Leveling lawns becomes easy when you have the right equipment in place. These equipment will enable you to get the job done faster. Lawn leveling equipments include:
- Hand rake
- Landscape rake
- Plastic leaf rake
- Large push broom
- Shovel
- Edger
- wheelbarrow
These are basic equipment you need to level your lawns. These simple equipment will make the work simple and easier for you.
The surface will be more smoother when you make use of these equipment. When the grasses are growing you’ll see how beautiful the outlook will be because of how level it’s.
When is The Best Time to Level Lawn
The right time to repair or level your lawns is basically the spring season. This will enable the grass to grow without struggling.
During the springtime, the soil will become moistures, which will allow the grass to absorb the nutrients that’ll aid their growth.
However, the worst time to level your lawn is during winter. The grass is dominant and finds it difficult to grow. Also, it requires more effort from you to get the area smooth.
Conclusion
To maintain a healthy level lawn in your yard, you need sandy-soil mixture. This has the nutrient your lawns require to grow and blossom.
You can use pure sandy soil to level an area that doesn’t have lawns. Pure sandy soil has the required compost to cling the clay.
Now that you know how to make your lawns look better and beautiful, then go ahead and make it look excellent with the best sandy-soil mixture.