Halloooo.

Bumpy lawn. Mower bumps along and I can feel little mounds of dirt
everywhere. (Not gopher size or anything like that, just 2"-ish
diameter, hard dirt clods.)

Any suggestions?

_____
American Association of Woodturners
Cascade Woodturners Assoc., Portland, Oregon
Northwest Woodturners, Tigard, Oregon
_____

"Owen Lowe" wrote in message
news
Halloooo.

Bumpy lawn. Mower bumps along and I can feel little mounds of dirt
everywhere. (Not gopher size or anything like that, just 2"-ish
diameter, hard dirt clods.)

Any suggestions?

_____
American Association of Woodturners
Cascade Woodturners Assoc., Portland, Oregon
Northwest Woodturners, Tigard, Oregon
_____

You could roll it, although this method is frowned upon to some degree by
the pros these days or you could topdress it w/ topsoil or tripplemix.

Peter H

What size lawn do you have? Could you use a blade on a smaller Bobcat and
even things out if need be? How about one of those things with several
spikes that dig into the ground. Not sure what they are called but he ones I
have seen are usually pulled with a chain and used on smaller areas and some
ball fields.
"Owen Lowe" wrote in message
news
Halloooo.

Bumpy lawn. Mower bumps along and I can feel little mounds of dirt
everywhere. (Not gopher size or anything like that, just 2"-ish
diameter, hard dirt clods.)

Any suggestions?

_____
American Association of Woodturners
Cascade Woodturners Assoc., Portland, Oregon
Northwest Woodturners, Tigard, Oregon
_____

In article , "Chris"
wrote:

What size lawn do you have?

Fairly normal urban sized lot. Largest area is appx. 40'x60'; other
about 20'x100'.

Could you use a blade on a smaller Bobcat and
even things out if need be? How about one of those things with several
spikes that dig into the ground. Not sure what they are called but he ones I
have seen are usually pulled with a chain and used on smaller areas and some
ball fields.

Sounds like either of those methods would pretty much destroy the
existing lawn, right? I'm hoping the least destructive method possible.
I was wondering if a dethatch job would effectively remove the tops of
the dirt clumps.

"Chris" wrote in message
...
What size lawn do you have? Could you use a blade on a smaller Bobcat and
even things out if need be? How about one of those things with several
spikes that dig into the ground. Not sure what they are called but he ones
I
have seen are usually pulled with a chain and used on smaller areas and
some
ball fields.
"Owen Lowe" wrote in message
news
Halloooo.

Bumpy lawn. Mower bumps along and I can feel little mounds of dirt
everywhere. (Not gopher size or anything like that, just 2"-ish
diameter, hard dirt clods.)

Any suggestions?

Sounds like you have the same problem I've got. It's nightcrawlers. No
point in smoothing it out, it just gets all lumpy again.

Brigitte

In article ,
"Brigitte J." wrote:

Sounds like you have the same problem I've got. It's nightcrawlers. No
point in smoothing it out, it just gets all lumpy again.

Well that maybe the problem - we've got loads of earthworms whenever a
hole is dug. Earthworms = nightcrawlers?

In article ers.com,
"Peter H" wrote:

You could roll it, although this method is frowned upon to some degree by
the pros these days or you could topdress it w/ topsoil or tripplemix.

The back yard is fairly new at 4-ish years old. I know it wasn't this
bumpy when I seeded - I rolled it as prep for the seed. The bumps are
hard enough that I don't think rolling will work to smooth it out. I did
consider topping but am unsure how to smooth that - unless you mean to
completely submerge the existing lawn under the new soil.

We had a loooong discussion about this at work one day. I live in a
rural setting and my lawn is anything but smooth. I rolled several
times throughout the spring with a 500-lb roller, always within 1/2 day
of any rain. I barely put a dent in it.

My neighbor, on the other hand, has a HUGE concrete roller - thing's
gotta weigh over 1,000 pounds. His yard is smooth as glass - he just
flies around on his tractor while I'm getting bounced out of my seat.

Our conclusion was - 1. Big, heavy roller. 2. You have to stay on it
- like every other week, pulling the thing along while you mow. That
said, I can't comment on how healthy the compacted soil is to your
lawn. My personal opinion is that it shouldn't be too big a deal if you
aerate it now and then.

Now if I can just get some Iraqis to come over and drag a huge bronze
statue around my yard at the end of a chain, it might smooth out
some...don't even care if they take turns riding on top.

Andy
--
***remove "spambomb" from address to reply...***

"Owen Lowe" wrote in message
news
In article ers.com,
"Peter H" wrote:

You could roll it, although this method is frowned upon to some degree
by
the pros these days or you could topdress it w/ topsoil or tripplemix.

The back yard is fairly new at 4-ish years old. I know it wasn't this
bumpy when I seeded - I rolled it as prep for the seed. The bumps are
hard enough that I don't think rolling will work to smooth it out. I did
consider topping but am unsure how to smooth that - unless you mean to
completely submerge the existing lawn under the new soil.

When you topdress the new soil eventually settles down into the sunken areas
around the bumps. This way the lawn is eventually raised up to the level of
the bumps. It may take a few applications though, since if you put down too
much soil you will smother the lawn.


Peter H