Levelling lawn

brianmurfs

i have a decent sized lawn that is very bumpy with pothole like craters due to diggers, tractors being on it over the years, it’s also covered in moss. I’ve kids so I want to level it as I don’t want anyone breaking legs or twisting ankles in one of the potholes. My plan is to first remove the moss with a scarifier and then I’ll throw a few tonnes of top soil in the holes to level it out. How does this plan sound or is there a better way?

looksee

If the potholes will need 'a few tonnes' of soil to fill them then you would be better to get the whole thing dug over and start again, break up the compressed ground and use that quantity of soil over the whole area.

The moss is quite likely there because the diggers etc have compacted the soil so severely that the drainage is affected and thus the moss has grown. If you are looking for a working lawn rather than a bowling green your proposal may be sufficient - I had a lorry badly stuck on my grass (I wouldn't call it lawn) which dug deep gouges, I just filled the gouge with soil - which he had just delivered - and left it to get on with it. Its fine. But my ground is extremely fast draining shale with a few inches of good soil on top; if it were clay it would be another story.

Is the lawn shaded? That might have more to do with it than the compression. A photo would help.

brianmurfs

Thanks👍

looks better there than it is. shed one side and patio the other so can’t get any big machinery in,big trees on neighbours side cut too so no shade but long roots sticking out in places also why I’d have to put top soil over.

The Continental Op

The type of tool for the job is this https://www.amazon.co.uk/OUUUKL-Leveling-Stainless-Leveler-Dressing/dp/B095KL148G/ but its a very big job in that size of area. However it will do the job very well. If you have somewhere to store a couple of yards of good topsoil then its best done bit at a time. You'll just have to work around the roots and put up with them creating some humps.