What to do about a very lumpy lawn??

[Bill]

We've had a couple of mole infestations that took longer to sort than you'd want. In fact I think the last one just left of its own accord.

The result is a load of tunnels that have collapsed (and now it's been dry turned to rock!) leaving an incredibly lumpy lawn. It's not so obvious when it's green but now it's not you can see the lumps rather than just risk your ankle every time you cross it.

My thinking is either cover with more topsoil to fill the dents and reseed or rotavate the lot. The lawn is 8ft higher than the top of drive, and that's probably 10ft above the road side so there's potential for a lot of barrowing with the soil option...

Not sure these show the full horror!

[cliffords]

We have the same. I did one huge dip in about March this year with 400kg of topsoil. I left it as a slight mound deliberately.
By June it looked quite good and flat , looking now it's a dip again. If it ever rains again in the SE I am hoping it will plump up !

[Simpo Two]

Topsoil is right for hollows. Usually not so deep that it kills the grass (if it hasn't died from drought). Put some grass seed in it too.

For humps, you can cut an 'H' into the turf, peel it back, remove soil as required from underneath and then fold the turf back.

[Bill]

It's all either humps or hollows!!

[Bill]

cliffords said:

We have the same. I did one huge dip in about March this year with 400kg of topsoil. I left it as a slight mound deliberately.
By June it looked quite good and flat , looking now it's a dip again. If it ever rains again in the SE I am hoping it will plump up !

In one hollow??

[cliffords]

Bill said:

cliffords said:

We have the same. I did one huge dip in about March this year with 400kg of topsoil. I left it as a slight mound deliberately.
By June it looked quite good and flat , looking now it's a dip again. If it ever rains again in the SE I am hoping it will plump up !

In one hollow??

Yes I bought 800kg bulk bag delivered. I used half in one hole . It took a huge amount and needs more now . I am going to buy three bulk bags and try and do 6 or so big hollows in November.

[biggiles]

I think it can be a huge job.

For a small lawn, a "lawn lute" and a bag of sand can solve the problem. For a bigger lawn, some bags of topsoil and a small chain harrow behind a ride-on should sort it out?

We're coming into the best time of year for re-seeding, so making a big mess now isn't really a problem.

[bimsb6]

Should have buried the bodies deeper .

[M1AGM]

I'd say the first thing to understand is what your soil composition is. If it is clay you are going to get ground movement every time we get long wet/dry periods as it expands and contracts.

If the soil is not clay heavy I would scalp the whole lot and use a 50/50 mix of sharp sand and soil to level the area and then reseed.

[Bill]

Thanks all for the input.

It's more sand than clay. And only 10x15 metres.

I bought a Lidl scarifier/aerator in the spring so I think I'll run the aerator over it to knock the lumps down and make the dips smaller then add some topsoil and reseed.

[Jap90s]

I had similar - but far worse

I'm used to normal mole hills but these moles must have been the size of cats - the hills were literally 3x bigger

I was trying to leave an area for wildlife around 30m x 30m so the long grass hid the true extent of the problem

I had to use an excavator to flatten the entire area

[Bill]

Yeah, I'm ignoring the orchard.

[Jap90s]

I haven't used one but I remember seeing video of a "stone burier" in action and thinking that might do the job for lesser problems

Having tried to use a walk behind rotavator in the past I was keen not the repeat the wrestling experience