LAWN LEVELLING

Unfortunately, it is ever so common to have a lawn that is uneven and bumpy. The main problem associated with this is that it is unsightly, but it can also start to cause issues with mowing - if you have a high spot in your lawn, this will be scalped when mowing which can increase the chance of moss and weeds forming in your lawn. So, it is always a good idea to try and keep your lawn level.

When you are looking to level your lawn, you want to apply top dressing over the lawn and ideally let the existing lawn through the top dressing. 

There are a few steps to follow to make sure that you get the best results:

1. Mow Your Lawn

When levelling a lawn, you want the existing lawn to grow through the top dressing that you put down. To ensure that the lawn is able to grow through, you want to mow it rather short. You will want to mow it shorter than normal and you may want to do this over a series of cuts, to avoid taking off too much each time and to stick to the golden rule of cutting heights.

By having the lawn short rather than long, this will ensure the grass is short and spiky rather than long and flat - this helps the grass to grow up through the top dressing. 

2. Apply Top Dressing

So now, your lawn is ready for a top dressing, but what exactly is this? Top dressing is a mixture of top soil and sand - normally in a 70% to 30% ratio. They are normally filtered too, making the particles particularly fine and helping this to not smoother the existing lawn. 

When you apply your top dressing, it is always a good idea to do this in layers as it can be difficult to work out how much to apply. So start with a small amount and build up. If you are only raising a small dip, then you may be able to do this in one attempt, but do not rush this and slowly build up the land until it is level.

3. Work in the Top Dressing

When you have placed the desired amount on the lawn, you want to work this in so that it is not sitting on top of the grass, but sitting around it and has made its way down to the existing soil. This step is crucial to allow the existing lawn to grow through. 

To do so, you will want to use either a lute or the back of a rake. By going over the lawn with your lute or rake, you should push and pull the top dressing until you can visibly see that it has dropped down amongst the grass and the tips of the grass are poking out the top. 

4. Re-seed (If Required)

If you have a deep dip in your lawn to fill, you may find it difficult to grow the existing lawn through the top dressing, so you may find it simpler to fill it in and sow new seed instead. Likewise, if you have a lawn that is unhealthy, it may not be able to grow through the top dressing, so in this scenario it will be a good idea to re-seed at that time too. 

5. Watering

Watering is useful for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it shall allow any new seed you have sown to germinate, but secondly it will help the top dressing to settle. The weight of the water and the physical action of landing on the top dressing will help compact and settle the top dressing. This settling and compaction is crucial to ensure that you get a lawn that is level.

6. Repeat 

Levelling a lawn is not something that can always be done in a single effort. When applying top dressing this will settle over time, despite compacting it and working it into the lawn. It is also recommended to add top dressing in levels, so work up the level of the lower areas until you are happy that it is finally level. Try to wait a few days in between each layer you put on to allow it time to settle.