Recommendation? Really rough lawn

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Shann

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Sep 2, 2004
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I enjoyed reading the thread about landscaping and plantings and didn't want to hijack it. My lawn is about 2 acres and really really rough. It is flat, but I can't even mow at "top speed" on my zero turn in many areas because of the roughness and bumpiness of the lawn. It is even hard to walk over. Not like rutted (although there are a few of those) just bumpy.

This has slowly been getting worse over the past 25 years. I live in Vermont, so lots of freezing and thawing. I see no evidence of moles or burrowing pests.

I "think" that I need to have the lawn aerated but I'm not sure that is it. Its way too big for me to do myself, as I also take care of 3 other lawns and don't want to spend every free minute mowing. The grass is generally in good condition. I don't use fertilizer or pesticide and have not overseeded except in a couple of areas.

What can be done?
 
The best remedy is to top dress the yard with sand, compost, and topsoil or just sand and topsoil about a 1/2" deep. Do not cover the grass. I'm going through the same thing trying to resurrect my yard and just haven't had the time nor will to do it. Red clay and rocks don't make for a good base for a nice lawn.

This is a common issue with older yards. Over the years turf grass thins, gets compacted and does not cover as well. Freezing and thawing makes it even worse.
 
I agree with JB in SC, that over the years turf can get compacted. I reside on the East Coast and my lawn transformed once I started to aerate and water regularly. My neighbors now have lawn envy. :)
 
Aeration will definitely help, due to the soil here I have to core aerate. Some turf grasses need de-thatching regularly as well.
 
Thanks for the info. What is the difference between aeration, core aeration and dethatching?

JB in SC I feel your pain. Its enough just to try to keep ahead of the mowing, to say nothing of everything else that needs to get done! I don't have too many rocks, but do have clay.
 
If it were my yard and want to improve it, I'd do the top dress thing and rake things smoother. You probably have blue grass which I believe is a fescue and that should respond well to aeration and over seeding. You over seed after aeration and it is best done in the early fall (like September). You typically water until the seed germinates and gets about an inch tall. At that point, hopefully there is enough rainfall to keep things going but the new grass does not have a well developed root structure and needs water.

In my area, we always "core aerate". The local Ace Hardware rents them and I can pretty much do my entire yard in half a day if I really stick to it and then return the unit. Basically the old aerators were just drag behind a mower attachment that pokes holes in the ground. Core aeratiers are usually smaller machines sized about like a big garden tiller that has powered wheels. It punches "cores" or cylinders of soil versus just poking holes in the yard. These small tubes of soil will be lying on the surface of your yard. It would certainly take a good while to do your entire yard.... probably a couple days.

If you want a nice yard, I would suggest at least occasional fertilization, and weed control as needed. Things aren't cheap when you have such a large turf area. The easiest approach is to do the top dress, yearly lime, aeration and over seeding in the fall and then hire a lawn service company to take care of the fertilization if you can afford it. I would guess several $100 dollars per application due to the acreage involved.

The other option is to take special care of certain areas that you have more interest in and leave the others less cared for.
 
Shann said:
Thanks for the info. What is the difference between aeration, core aeration and dethatching?

JB in SC I feel your pain. Its enough just to try to keep ahead of the mowing, to say nothing of everything else that needs to get done! I don't have too many rocks, but do have clay.
Click to expand...

22-rimfire 22-rimfire has done a good job of explaining how core aeration is done. if you have clay it's a necessity. De-thatching can be done with a rake or a pull behind. Actually if you core aerate that usually does a good job of de-thatching most cool climate grasses.

There are top dressing machines available to rent in some areas. With a yard that big I'd attack the worst spots first. Also if you haven't had a soil sample tested recently, I'd definitely get that done just to see what if anything needs to be done. We have to lime here due to the acidic red clay, 40 to 80 pounds per 1000 square feet. The soil sample will tell you which type lime you need (if any) and usually our Extension Agent gives us an estimate of how much. One of my friends is a retired college Ag professor, he's a wealth of knowledge.
 
The really "bumpy" parts might best be re-done as it scraped or tilled, smoothed out, and re-planted with grass. Only you know how bumpy. You can do a tremendous amount of work in a day with a bobcat and they are easy to operate. But of course you would have to re-seed torn up areas if you like with grass.

Hint: Within reason, the thicker the straw cover, the less you need to water and you might even get by not watering at all if it rains much as the straw stays damp for a while.

I will also tell you that doing the aeration with the core aerator is not fun. The unit pretty much beats you to death. ;) I do it every other year in September.

My neighbor had a bunch of trees cut down (big ones-like two feet in diameter). The tree cutting outfit re-graded her yard taking the humps out and so forth with a bobcat. Afterwards, I was talking to her and she said I guess I need to plant some grass... I said, yep if you want a yard versus a bunch of weeds. I told her she had a perfect opportunity to seed the disturbed portion of her yard, but it talks a commitment.... seeding, putting down straw, watering until the grass is up pretty much daily.... she said I can do that and got a little huffy. I thought.... yeah, I bet you can. Hope I see it. Well, it has been a good 5-6 months and she never re-seeded or did squat. Weeds now grow and she doesn't mow it..... I liked the trees better.
 
Yeah, I've done the reseeding thing when we took down a big barn and had the foundation dug out (a big commercial sized barn). I reseeded, raked, put down straw and watered, the whole nine yards. The biggest PITA was watering, I had a couple hundred foot hoses with sprinklers. The area was so big that I had to move the sprinklers a half dozen times every watering to get the new area watered evenly.

I told my wife that the yard was the reason I bought the house. And it will probably be the reason that I sell the house!
 
I gave up on re-seeding, I bought half pallets of sod to fill in the bad spots. Water is an issue, the rates here are double what most pay. Zoning laws prevent a well for irrigation, I only water my sod until it gets well established. I had fescue but put down bermuda and centipede sod. The yard has no fescue now.

We had quite a number of trees taken down over the years, but even with stumps ground the area eventually collapses when the root system rots out and requires filling with topsoil.

That's the deal with my hell's half acre....
 
Here in PNW we get more frost heave than snow. Lawns thatch badly, and need to be cut (thatched) every couple years. After a while the answer is total removal and leveling of the lawn, with new seed. It takes 2-3 weeks for seed to fill in, but it's pretty fast. I'm one of the very few who roll the lawn, usually in March or April when the ground is still soft. That helps. Golf courses roll more often.
 
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