Levelling

Hi, everyone

I have cleared a huge pile of nettles from a large sectioned-off area at the end of my garden (around 15 yards x 20 yards). I'm planning to sow a new lawn, but having cleared the nettles I can see that the whole area is very uneven, with lots of small mounds and dips.

What's the best way to level it? Is it just a case of literally using a spade to move earth from one area to another, which I imagine would be enormously time-consuming? Or is there some quicker way of doing it, i.e. using special equipment of some kind?

Many thanks.

 

You'll need to rake it if you're sowing grass seed so i'd loosen the mounds with a fork & then just rake those to fill the dips, won't take as long as you think like that, unless you've got a couple of acres

 

That's about the same size as a '10 pole' allotment that most people use a hand rake to level after rotorvating it. I've got eleven ten pole plots, not all under cultivation as many are turned over to orchard/fruit production, but a couple of hours of hard graft using a rake will level it.

 

I read that post twice & still missed the measurement

 

This is good info, as we've got the same here with our veg patch. After all the weeds are gone, that'll need levelling in places.

 

Good idea to spray it after raking then leave it to dry & see what has settled. Probably need another rake to get it level afterwards.

 

If its dug over, it will settle to differing degrees over time, leaving lumps and dips. I learned this the hard way (my lawn is ok, but I did have to sort several bits out after the grass had grown).

If I was to do anything different compared to last time I did a new lawn, I'd take a heavy roller to it before declaring it level.

 

If it is all cultivated (e.g. in preparation for seeding a new lawn) then I find that towing a ladder (tie a rope to the rungs at each end) over it will drag the high spots onto the low ones. Dragging it front-to-back and left-to-right a few times will sort it out; if the ladder just skates over the surface add some blocks to weigh it down until it pulls and inch or so of surface with it.