Leveling the lawn

[poppey]

Hi
I have 0.6 ac and about half of it is lawn. It is getting a bit bumpy and I would like to level it. I have JD LT180 lawn mover and just boutght a new Kubota BX 1680. I was supposed to use the BX 1680 mover but I found it a bit big so I have stored the mover deck away. But uses the loader on the BX all the time. Im planning to get more attachements like a snow blower (live in Norway) and chip cutter. I also have a K008 Kubota digger and the two Kubotas works well together when moving stones and soil.
Than to the lawn; I need to fill the dumps with a mixture of sand/soil and was wondering if any one has made or know of an attachment that will level out this sand/soil? The dumps are not very deep, 1-2 in. Plan to drop the soil around with the front loader and than a kind of scraper on the back that will level it out.

 

[radioman]

well - for a .6 of ac I'd would just fill the FEL bucket and drive around and fill in the holes with a shovel and rake. a good weekend of doing this will smooth it out.

 

[poppey]

Thank you. I know that this is a way to do it and but I would like to use the tractor. My weekends are to short.

 

[Susanjoyce]

Chain harrow. I found one where I live, didn't know what it was, asked on TBN, and someone posted a great link showing it in action. I think it might be the answer you need. Good luck!

 

[CalG]

A roller in the spring after the frost has gone , when the ground is soft is the traditional way to level sod and turf.

i also need to roll my grassy spaces. The mower bumps and jumps as it moves along.

 

[jenkinsph]

I agree with radioman and Susanjoyce, use your bucket to dribble out the dirt in the depressions then backdrag your loader bucket in float position with it almost flat. You can get most of it this way then run a chain harrow over the entire area to help smooth it out. Then rake what is left.

I use a small 48" landplane with my Deere garden tractor to do most of my smoothing. Does a good job so far (built it this past spring) and have used it to smooth several old lawn areas and nine complete new lawns.

Here's some pictures of my landplanes.

 

[boggen]

box blade, would be more ideal, for a 3pt hitch attachment. they are better at dragging the box blade on the ground and leveling things out. and if you need to tear up some high spots you may get better results with a box blade with rippers vs other attachments out there.

you can use you FEL. but it is a tad pain in the rump. to back drag with bucket and keep a even level doing. and would most likely result in garden rake and shovels to get things looking good.

folks have used chain link fences and dragged them behind there tractors as a finisher to help drag clumps out and smooth things out. chain link fence is kinda of a poor mans chain harrow. when chain harrow is flipped outside down so spikes are up in the air.

i have used a disc to drag out high spots into the ruts from running tractors through yard before.

===========
when ya filling in holes and ruts and like. keep in mind about "run off water" and in that do not create a larger mudd puddle either right near were ruts / holes are. or send water some place else to make a bigger mess.

 

[jenkinsph]

box blade, would be more ideal, for a 3pt hitch attachment. they are better at dragging the box blade on the ground and leveling things out. and if you need to tear up some high spots you may get better results with a box blade with rippers vs other attachments out there.

you can use you FEL. but it is a tad pain in the rump. to back drag with bucket and keep a even level doing. and would most likely result in garden rake and shovels to get things looking good.

folks have used chain link fences and dragged them behind there tractors as a finisher to help drag clumps out and smooth things out. chain link fence is kinda of a poor mans chain harrow. when chain harrow is flipped outside down so spikes are up in the air.

i have used a disc to drag out high spots into the ruts from running tractors through yard before.

===========
when ya filling in holes and ruts and like. keep in mind about "run off water" and in that do not create a larger mudd puddle either right near were ruts / holes are. or send water some place else to make a bigger mess.

Boxblades are useful tools no doubt and I have two of them but for smoothing out for a lawn area the landlplane works better and is easy to use for a novice. A landplane with the blades set flush with the skids is perfect for this type of job. On a small job such as the OP's using the fel and rakes is very doable too. Sometimes you get your best results with a maual tool for touch up work a rake is hard to beat, I have lots of experience using them too.

Have to say once you have used landplanes and boxblades for awhile it is easy to determine which is the better choice for the particular job at hand. Curious if you have used landlplanes for any length of time?

 

[boggen]

Boxblades are useful tools no doubt and I have two of them but for smoothing out for a lawn area the landlplane works better and is easy to use for a novice. A landplane with the blades set flush with the skids is perfect for this type of job. On a small job such as the OP's using the fel and rakes is very doable too. Sometimes you get your best results with a maual tool for touch up work a rake is hard to beat, I have lots of experience using them too.

Have to say once you have used landplanes and boxblades for awhile it is easy to determine which is the better choice for the particular job at hand. Curious if you have used landlplanes for any length of time?

not enough it would seem.

 

[poppey]

Hi

Thanks,
I have purchased a box blade and will try it on the lawn. I need it as well on some driveway.

 

[savageactor7]

Years ago my neighbor got my started leveling our lawn by just filling the depressions with sand and back bladeing over them. The grass eventually grows up threw the grass...easy as pie. I suppose if you have a large area to take care of you can put an old box spring mattress frame around to really level things.

If you have a good loamy soil to start sand is the very affordable and easy to work with.

 

[Army grunt]

Years ago I did mine with sand an pulled a Aerator in front of a box spring..it worked great .I gess i weighted the box spring with a few cement blocks .The Aerator kept things from packing down.

 

[sixdogs]

I have done a lot of lawns like this and there are several options. The best way I would go about it is to rototill the area, rake or grade smooth and seed. The idea is the existing grass root system is difficult to deal with and tilling it knocks down the high spots and fills the low spots. As i said, this is ideal and my first choice.

Next in line is to fill the low spots with dirt by hand and rake smooth, but that's a lot of work and will still leave an irregular lawn. A better choice for the dirt idea is to spread the dirt by hand and use a landscape (rock) rake with the tractor to drag around the dirt to fill the low spots and, to a degree scrape off the high spots. The vibrating times tear off some of the high spots and spread compacted dirt around better. A little seed and this works pretty well. I have never used a boxblade with this approach but I think it would work well by spreading dirt around and pulling over the surface, not pushing. Tines/teeth would not be used.

If you spread dirt around it needs to be very dry or it won't spread well and will hump up into little piles that are hard to deal with. Same thing if you dump it with a bucket loader. It will work if the dirt is very dry and you "shake" it out of the bucket a little at a time, move the humps around by hand and immediately grade it.

 

[jenkinsph]

Hi

Thanks,
I have purchased a box blade and will try it on the lawn. I need it as well on some driveway.

Working with boxblades requires some time to be proficient at it, working with the lawn areas may seem difficult but practice makes perfect. Hope you get good results but if you do have problems with it there is a trick or two. Besides tilting the boxblade rearwards so that you can feather the loose dirt smooth you could also bolt on some boards (lumber) to the sides with a shape similar to the small landplane I posted pictures of above. This will help smooth the ground out as these ski shapes ride across the ground averaging out the high spots and low spots. This is a cheap and easy way to get good results with a novice operator.

 

[jenkinsph]

I have done a lot of lawns like this and there are several options. The best way I would go about it is to rototill the area, rake or grade smooth and seed. The idea is the existing grass root system is difficult to deal with and tilling it knocks down the high spots and fills the low spots. As i said, this is ideal and my first choice.

Next in line is to fill the low spots with dirt by hand and rake smooth, but that's a lot of work and will still leave an irregular lawn. A better choice for the dirt idea is to spread the dirt by hand and use a landscape (rock) rake with the tractor to drag around the dirt to fill the low spots and, to a degree scrape off the high spots. The vibrating times tear off some of the high spots and spread compacted dirt around better. A little seed and this works pretty well. I have never used a boxblade with this approach but I think it would work well by spreading dirt around and pulling over the surface, not pushing. Tines/teeth would not be used.

If you spread dirt around it needs to be very dry or it won't spread well and will hump up into little piles that are hard to deal with. Same thing if you dump it with a bucket loader. It will work if the dirt is very dry and you "shake" it out of the bucket a little at a time, move the humps around by hand and immediately grade it.

I agree with this post^^^^^

I would add that most weeds will stop germinating by late summer or about August in my area. If you till the lawn area up and seed heavily after the weeds stop germinating you can get a better crop of grass growing through the fall. The roots can keep growing all winter (even if the grass on top browns out) and by next spring the grass roots will choke out most of the weeds. Weeds have a hard time competing with a hardy grass such as Fescue.

 

[bcp]

I have JD LT180 lawn mover...

What's a lawn mover?

 

[poppey]

It's not easy with multi language; it should of cause be lawn mower. Sorry for making this big confusion. I will try and use spell checker next time or may be just stick to Norwegian forums

 

[bcp]

I hadn't noticed your location. You are excused for typing with an accent.

Please don't go.

Bruce

 

[poppey]

No problem.

 

[sixdogs]

Yes, especially welcome. Most of us are very interested in the rural living or agricultural aspect of different different places and would appreciate anything you could comment on or any rural or tractor photos you could post. My only farm contact with Norway was from a friend's forestry experience and he was really impressed with the quality and attention to detail of the people he met and the forests he saw.