Leveling your lawn has numerous benefits. Golf courses level their turf regularly to get a smooth playing surface and the practice has been gaining popularity with homeowners who want a well manicured lawn. For newly laid sod, there can be gaps between the pieces, creating a bumpy terrain. For established lawns, ruts occur over time with settling, especially around irrigation lines, and will occur with uneven freeze/thawing, especially in clay soils. This can make mowing more difficult as the mower dips into these "potholes" and result in scalp marks along with unnecessary wear and tear on your equipment. If the terrain has significant unevenness, injury can occur to those simply trying to enjoy your lawn as walking and playing will become more difficult.

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Warm season turf grass should be maintained at low cutting heights. In our area, Bermuda is ideally kept between 3/4" to 1 1/2" during the normal growing season. Achieving low cutting heights at one inch or less typically requires the use of a reel mower instead of the traditional rotary mower. Leveling your lawn will be necessary to properly use a reel mower effectively. We use reel mowers on our personal property in the DFW area so we understand the requirement by homeowners who truly love their yards.

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Adding a sand medium into the yard can help evenly distribute moisture during irrigation or rain events and will allow for deeper moisture penetration over time given our soil is mainly clay based. Avoiding pooling of moisture on the surface can also limit the chances of turf disease.

We recommend watering the day before service, but not the morning of. The following is a general outline:

1. Mow the lawn at the lowest setting possible

2. Check lawn for thatch levels, consider dethatching if excessive

3. Aerate the turf and collect core (optional but highly recommended)

4. Apply level mix (compost and sand) or mason's sand with topdressing spreader

5. Rake the mix to spread it out evenly at a thickness ranging from 1/4" to 1/2". Only 1/2” of material can be applied at a time so that you don’t smother the grass;

6. We use leveling rakes to work the mix into the turf as thoroughly as possible and leave a level surface. Push brooms may be used to expose grass blades to sunlight to assist with turf recovery.

7. Water the grass. Water will carry mix from high spots to low spots naturally

8. Monitor the progress in the area and repeat if necessary. We will leave a wheelbarrow amount of mix if requested for any minor additions after watering.

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We will measure your hard during the consultation and prepare an estimate based on area and whether aeration will be included. Schedule your free consultation online.

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You want to level during the active growing season (average high's in the '80s). For the DFW area, that is historically late April through very early October to allow for enough time for recovery. Lighter applications can be applied year round.

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This is a highly debated topic. Golf courses normally use sand only when leveling, but sand contains no nutrients for your lawn. Sand provides for a smoother surface and does improve soil conditions through improved drainage and less compaction. Given the root depth of Bermuda, having a minor layer of surface sand will not affect the turf's ability to pull nutrients from the soil. For minor leveling, especially annual visits, mason's sand can be used. We do not recommend the use of river sand as it leaves pebbles in the yard. Not good for walking or your reel mower.

For first time applications or deeper ruts, a sand-soil mix is used to add some organic matter. This will also allow proper conditions if any overseeding is being considered.

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Lawn leveling should be done once a year. If your lawn has never been leveled, it's a great idea to level once, early in the active growing season, and level again in the later part of summer.

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Compost adds some microbes (mainly bacteria and fungi) to the soil which is important to the overall soil health of your lawn but the main advantage is the addition of organic material to our clay soil. Done twice a year, topdressing your lawn with compost can feed your lawn with all of the nutrients it needs for the entire season. It contains all of the macronutrients (N-P-K) and a host of micronutrients commonly found in synthetic pelletized fertilizers. It is the most natural soil amendment and is safe to use around pets and family members.

We recommend watering the day before service, but not the morning of. The following is a general outline:

1. Mow the lawn at the normal height

2. Aerate the turf (optional but highly recommended)

3. Apply compost with topdressing spreader at a thickness of 1/4"

4. Water the grass.

5. Monitor the progress in the area and repeat if necessary.

We recommend topdressing twice a year, once in the spring and once in the fall. This is normally done in March, April, or May and again in late August, September, and October. Lawns with poor soil conditions should have more frequent applications throughout the year (we do not apply during peak winter or summer temps).

Yes. We will provide aeration without topdressing or leveling

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