Levelling a garden - how..?

Naos

Hi folks,

Hope all is well.

Have a garden I'd love to level, about 250sqm. There are quite a few dips here and there and it is sloping in parts, figured I'd want to just do it all in one go before I really start planning out my garden.

What's the best steps to do this?

Kill the grass over winter

Rent a rotovator & rotovate

Rake to flat and roll it out?

That's kind of what I'm seeing online but would really appreciate the input from someone who's done this before and also advise on best time to do it.. thanks!

looksee

When you say level do you mean make the top surface smooth or make the whole thing without any slope? What end result do you want? If it is all going to be grass and you don't mind the slopes then the rotavating approach will probably work, if you want to get rid of the slopes it depends on how much of a slope there is and how they meet the edges of the plot. What is the growth like? is it decent grass/meadow, or is it the remains of a building site? Is there any soil?

Naos

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119749963#Comment_119749963

All soil with grass bar the last 5 meters of the garden (rectangular shape), slope is not bad at all but I'd like it level.

When you say "if it's all going it be grass and you dont mind the slopes, rotovating will probably work" what do you mean? If there will still be slopes then what's the point in rotovating?

Grass is good now, gets bit mossy but I scarified it last year so much better this year.

looksee

If the garden, or even part of it has a slope, you will not remove the slope by rotovating, you will need to get it terraced or some other form of terraforming, which will involve a digger. My own garden has a significant slope but the surface is pretty level - ie there are no humps and hollows in the grass.

We are probably talking at cross purposes here, a photo would help.

In asking about the grass I was trying to establish if there is a good soil layer, the fact that it is mossy suggests there is a problem that rotovating might not help. Its impossible to know without looking at it and more information.

coillsaille

OP do you mean level as in you want the entire area to be flat like a football pitch? If so you're looking at digger work.

Or do you mean level as in smoothening out any bumps and dips in the surface to make the slope easier to mow?

poker--addict

I have about 1/3 of an acre which is largely level (not sloped) but very rough. I suspect it is the result of 15 years of rabbits occasionally visiting and doing a small amount of digging each time. None of the holes or dips are big enough to trouble the lawnmower at all, but it’s not a surface the kids would be in a hurry to place football on- as it’s annoying rather than unsafe.

it also has significant thatch in parts.

Do I get a load of top soil or sand and scatter it out and rake it?

Do I just roll it?

Or just kill off and reseed?

looksee

The top soil option would probably work but I would suggest you need to scape off the thatch first. You may also find you have some of that grass (don't know what it is called) that actually grows in hummocks and we have found the best solution is to scalp it down to level then be sure and keep mowing, or dig up the hummocks (which is the better but more tedious option).

bored_newbie

I’d agree with that. When I bought my house, the garden was wild. The grass was up to my hip and it had tree branches woven through it from an old oak tree that overhangs. It was also littered with holes, I think from grazing sheep.

I strimmed it a few times before using the lawnmower. I filled the biggest holes with bags of horticultural sand Woodies were selling off. Then I got 20 tonnes of top soil and used the wheelbarrow and the rake. It was an awful lot of soil to move but luckily I had help. I sprinkled some fresh grass seed and walked a roller across it. That was two years ago and I’m really happy with the results, it is a pleasure to mow and the kids can play on it without risk to their ankles.

ULMarc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119784722#Comment_119784722

How big an area is that? I'd like to try that with our place next year but I'm not sure how to estimate it. Our place is fairly flat. But the lawnmower bounces around when we use it. So I wouldn't mind giving top dressing a go

bored_newbie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119823241#Comment_119823241

Very rough guess would be 25 yards x 40 yards. We used ~4 or 5 tonnes of the soil to raise the edge of the garden up to meet the curb we were putting in.

Naos

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119782540#Comment_119782540

That's why I was thinking the rotovate option would work as oppossed to bringing in new top soil.

For example, if I mowed it and then scarified it to reduce the grass right down to the soil, why couldn't I then rotovate, level the broken up soil and then roll it flat?