Level out your uneven yard with the best results by doing the 7 easy hacks on how to level a backyard!
A bulging and uneven yard is problematic on many levels. In the lushness of the grass and the vibrance of the external decor, an uneven yard stands out as eye-sore.
But being an eye-soar becomes least of the concerns when your uneven yard causes your kids, guests, friends, and even pets to trip, fall, and succumb to injuries.
Worst, your professional landscaper is nowhere to be found!
No worries: you can do it all by yourself in no time with our 7 hacks on how to level a backyard and earn the best results now!
Necessary Preparations and Some Questions on How to Level a Backyard
Before embarking on leveling your yard, you ought to think more thoroughly about it than you expect. You cannot afford to ruin your expensive lawn over a haphazard act.
Even if you can afford it, selecting and buying high-quality lawns for your yard takes serious time. Living with a damaged yard, though temporary, still feels bad.
Ultimately, leveling the yard does not go without the price. So, you have to act wisely on it by making the necessary preparations and asking yourself the right questions.
Here are some questions:
- Is it worthy to level my yard all by myself?
Yes! It very much is. Asking for professional landscaping help can already cost you around $1,000-2,000.00 for an hour’s work. Imagine how much you can save by doing the job yourself.
Doing it all by yourself downs the cost to not less than $500.00. And that includes having to buy equipment in case you don’t have one.
Suppose you already have the equipment and that you are creatively resourceful enough, then expect a meager $100.00 or less to slip out of your pocket.
- Is it difficult to level my yard?
Contrary to popular belief, leveling the yard is practical and easy. But that is only so if you have made the right preparation and mastered the 7 hacks on how to level a backyard with the best results.
- Does it take so much time to level the yard?
It should not necessarily take that much time because it is highly determined by your own pacing.
If you haste on it, then it should be brief. But if you prefer to take time on how to level a large yard for precision, it will take longer.
Here are the tools to prepare on how to level uneven backyard:
- Sand
- Shovel
- 4 Stakes
- Push broom
- Thatch Rake
- Topsoil
- Seeds
- Water Sprinkler
- Lawnmower
- Garden Tiller
- Compost
- Bow rake
How to Level a Backyard: 7 Easy Hacks
Hack #1: Determine and decide on the size of the area that needed the yard job.
Estimate the size of the area that needed dethatching by looking into the distribution pattern of the lumps.
Are these lumps huddled together in one area or dispersed?
Is the whole lawn infected with the lumps?
Then it may be high time to dig up and dethatch the entire lawn.
Hack #2: Trim the lawn with a mower.
Once you have determined and decided on the size of the area that needed treatment, begin trimming the yard lawn with a mower. This should clear your path of unlevel grass heights, clumpy grass tips, and excess growths.
Note: Do extend mowing beyond exposing the grass blade’s stem as this would result in the grass easily drying out.
Hack #3: De-thatch sections of the lawn.
Look closely into your lawn. Focus on the thatches. Decide which area in your lawn needed de-thatching.
Thatches refer to the accumulated dirt, decayed grass, and/composts. A ½ inch of thatch layered directly on top of your grass is the standard length. But if it gets thicker than that, then it can sufficiently suffocate the grass.
Once you can decide which area to de-thatch, pick up your thatch rake and use it to pull out the excess thatch from the lawn.
Hack #4: Thicken the area underneath the grass with mixed soils. Use tiller.
Firstly, inspect the lawn area for low or sunken spots. If you find one, dig up the grass, till out the soil, and leave out a shallow section for the filling.
The filling, which is basically a mixture of soils, comprises of one part compost, two parts sand, and two parts topsoil.
Why these three? The sand, because of its distributed density, holds the soil in place, while the topsoil and compost nourish the grass with ample nutrients.
Hack #6: Drive the stakes into the area of the lawn you aim to level.
- Sharpen the tip of your stakes for easy piercing.
- Drive the (4) stakes as framing corners around the area where you intend to perform the procedures on how to level uneven backyard.
- Link the stakes (to draw either a rectangle or square) to each other by tying a string around their standing tips.
- Draw the level between the string and the soil (at 3-5 feet intervals) to easily determine which area needed either lowering or raising (also applicable to actions on how to level a large yard). If the level tool indicates horizontal flatness, then you can proceed with the flattening. If not, then you will have to shovel the soil out for redistribution– the penultimate tip on how to level a backyard.
Hack #7: Flatten the soil to level.
- Firstly, redistribute the soil mixture within the land area set by your 4 stakes. Then, make sure that you evenly distribute the soil mixture across the area.
- Secondly, maintain a depth between the soil and the blade grass between ½-¼ inches. A pile deeper than that would already suffocate the grass.
- Third, redistribute the soil mixture across the area once again. But this time, use the back of a bow rake for fast results.
- Fourth, since the grass blades are expected to be buried under the thick pile of soil, gauge it this time for a full mixture using a push broom. Do it until a portion of the glass blades become visible. This should provide it opportunity to breathe.
- When done, insert seeds into the pockets between the grasses for fast regrowth.
- Reapply another pile of soil mixture if the distribution is still not equal.
- Finally, water the soil for assisted nourishment. Sue sprinklers for convenience.
Conclusion
Leveling the yard all by yourself may sound difficult, but it really is worth the challenge taken. By simply learning the 7 hacks on how to level a backyard, you do not only get to earn the best results– clearer pathway, neat landscape, easy drainage, etc.– but you also get to be known forever as an expert landscaper.