Dropped lawn

Hi,

New poster here, I have had a look through and can see similar threads but I am not sure they are quite the same.

I bought a new house last year which had a garden that needed some work doing to it.

I dug up a lot of flower beds and lay some turf the length of the garden not long after moving in. The grass has taken and is doing fine - frustratingly it is even all level. However, that whole section has dropped a little - maybe an inch or 2. Lesson learnt for next time.

I am reluctant to dig the whole thing up again because its not a quick job.

Is there any way I can level it off without having to dig it all up?

 

You can get away with adding soil slowly to bring up the levels, add a bit of soil then let grass grow then add a bit more and so on

 

Sorry, I have a few questions as I am new to this.
Can I start it now through winter?
Do I just put the soil on top and leave it or flatten it down?
How often should I do it?

 

Tony, yes add soil gradually...half an inch to an inch will be fine. Use back of a rake to move it through the grass.
I raised the level on a small lawn a few years back....raised by couple of inches. Some grass grew through it and I over seeded too. Worked very well.
Yes, begin now but anticipate slow if any grass growth (depending on how mild your winter is) over winter.
I much prefer adding soil to digging up turf . In practice soil still has to be added to any turf lifting anyway to get levels right

 

I really cant lift the turn up. We are talking about 25-30ft by 2ft.
It would be quite soul destroying to know it needs lifting up.

Thanks for the replies.

 

Welcome to the corner

I filled in some holes a few weeks ago where a caravan had sunk into the ground

 

Dress the lawn over a period so it regains it height. The risk doing it now is weather and if we have a long spell of wet weather that will simply wash the soil down before the turf bonds.
It will take a few applications to put the height back and if the soil when the turf was laid was not compacted correctly it may drop a bit more before it settles.
Dressing the lawn in one go at a time will insure you can get the level correctly.
If however the lawn does sink more or the soil prep for the turf is too soft the best way is to lift and prep again ie you walk on the turf and sink in or the mower sinks in. Ive seen a few lawns where it was so soft it was near impossible to mow with a petrol mower.

 

So, I should be putting about an inch of soil on top and compressing it?

 

An inch would probably be enough, but if compressed then probably not, although it would not be a million miles off and in all honesty I would probably be happy enough with it at that point.

I dont mind that part of the garden being muddy all winter, its down one side of the garden, my little girl wont be playing out as its getting too cold so it will not really be used until next year anyway.

The biggest issue I suppose is that we want it looking right for May as its her birthday and we will be having friends/family over (assuming dry weather).

 

Tony, its not really going to be difficult

Top dressing in layers over winter and early spring will get you to where you want to be. Well before May grass will be growing apace.....as I said, any areas where grass is still sparse a light overseeding will restore your lawn.

However, since you wont mind the muddy appearance over winter etc., I would level the area with soil to the required level now......remember the adjoining turf will be higher so allow for this. Then, during dry periods firm with your heels and rake level and do this a few times. Then it's just a matter of seeding in late March. Come May it will all look fine

 

So I put the soil on, compress it and then see where we are in March time and put a bit of seed down if not growing through in places?

 

Forget "compress" tony.....firm it and the best way is to walk on your heels over it. Then rake it level. If you do this a few times before sowing seed in spring your level will be firm and even.
When sowing the seed do sow in 2 directions.....lightly and evenly one way, lightly rake then do same in opposite direction

 

Would that not be classed as compressing? :P