Leveling lawn bumps with roller vs top soil in hollows?

[nmalik]

Hi all,

Nearly all the website guides I read say that leveling lawn bumps can’t be done with a roller and the best thing is to fill hollows with top soil and reseed. That is quite a long process and I think bumps reappear each year in my lawn. In contrast, buying a lawn roller is cheap and the process should be quick, perhaps followed by aeration to relieve compaction? Any thoughts?

Thanks.

[applestar]

What kind of bumps are they? I think that would be the crucial point.

This is an armchair argument and not from experience, based on my experience with characteristics of soil in my garden.

Intuitively, I think what a roller would do is compress the soil down. But soil is full of air so compressing higher areas down just means you have densely packed vs not so densely packed soil. To truly level same consistency soil, you have to re-distribute it by digging or scraping the higher areas and putting the excess in the lower areas. On bare ground, it's easiest to fork the soil loose, then rake and level.

So in a lawn where this is not an option, I think you would HAVE to fill in the lower areas with imported extra soil, but what you end up is a gently sloping hill. Depending on what you use, and how much lower, the filled area will take a while to recover, and may end up being uneven as far as grass characteristic/texture since initially they would struggle to grow up above the filled soil, they might even be smothered and decline, but if you add soil that is enriching with extra nutrients, those areas with extra topsoil layer may end up growing more lush later on.

BUT like I implied at the beginning, if the bumps are not sane consistency as the rest of the ground -- such as mole hills and runs, then compressing the loose soil down to level with the rest of the ground makes sense.

[nmalik]

Thanks for your reply. The inconsistency in level between areas of the lawn are very small and only noticeable when you walk on the lawn. For the last 3 years, I have tried solving the problem with topdressing using topsoil and slicing high areas with a shovel but it still isn't quite right!

[Allyn]

I guess I'm wondering what circumstance creates the bumps that rolling can't fix.....like what specifically are those articles addressing? I would imagine it depends on how the bumps are forming as to how to level them.

We have very hydraulic soil here and it's just about impossible not to have bumps. Driving a vehicle over the ground pushes the soil down here, which causes a bump to rise over there. Rain that soaks in at the top of the hill, runs under the topsoil and gushes out like a fountain at the bottom of the hill, displacing soil and making bumps.

A solution that works for me is to till the yard when the ground is so uneven I feel like I'm navigating wilderness terrain when walking across it, and then pull a grader across the tilled dirt to level it. If I simply added soil to the hollows, I'd be giving the next bump more dirt to rise even higher.

So I guess the question is, where are your bumps coming from?

[nmalik]

Thanks Allyn for the information.

Here in London we have heavy clay soil. My Garden is lined by Conifer trees on one side, so I wonder if the roots are causing the problem?