A lumpy lawn can make mowing a nightmare, no matter how snazzy your equipment! Achieving a smooth, level lawn will help make mowing much easier, and it'll look far more pleasing on the eye as well.
Here Tristan Sissons, Garden Buying Manager for Homebase gives us the best top tips to flatten a lumpy lawn...
How to flatten a lumpy lawn
When to start
The best time to tackle a sloping or lumpy lawn is in spring or early summer, a couple of days after rainfall or watering. As your grass will grow quickly in the sunshine, the weather should provide enough moisture for the soil to settle properly.
However, before you start you may need a professional to check if you have a recurring problem with water drainage, in which case your lawn might need to be regraded. This means that your lawn may need to be landscaped so that it slopes slightly away from your house, stopping standing water from damaging your garden and protecting your property from flooding!
What to use
A mixture of topsoil, sand and compost will do the trick to even your lawn out - use a ratio of 2:2:1. For example, 20kg topsoil, 20kg sand and 10kg compost. We recommend this mix as it helps to provide bulk and drainage to even out your lawn, as well as nutrients to help your grass grow during the summer months.
How to start
For mildly lumpy lawns and smaller areas that need help, you can use some of the mix directly on the areas that are dipping and smooth it out with the back of a lawn levelling rake. Compact it and let it settle for a few days before watering and topping up the soil if it sinks down.
Next, scatter over an even layer of grass seed, add a sprinkle of extra soil mix and pat it down gently. Then it’s just a case of watering it until the grass begins to grow.
For deeper areas, it’s important to water the area in advance, so the turf softens and doesn’t crumble when you try to lift it. With a flat-headed shovel, cut a 4-5cm deep cross into the ground and use the shovel to cut under the roots of the grass, so that you can lift up each section.
Gently peel back grass to show the soil underneath and use a garden fork to turn the soil to get rid of any big stones. Top it up with your soil mix and press it down with your feet. Press the grass back down and fill in the cut marks with extra soil mix and grass seed.
In a new build? Find out how to replace artificial grass with real lawn here!