How to Make a Lawn Packer From a Gallon Bucket

You can purchase lawn packers, often called lawn rollers, from most home improvement centers. They are usually large plastic tanks filled with water or formed from concrete with brackets mounted to them so you can connect them to a riding lawn tractor. Unfortunately, if you have a small lawn or you simply cannot manage a large piece of equipment, most lawn rollers will not work. You can make your own lawn packer out of a gallon bucket with a lid. With a lawn packer, you can pack the soil in your lawn, flowerbed or garden to ensure you have a solid soil base.

Quick-dry cement
Garden hose
Wheelbarrow
Mixing trowel or cement-mixing auger

Instructions

- 1
  Pour a single bag of quick-drying cement powder into a wheelbarrow and add the appropriate amount of water per the instructions on the packaging.
- 2
  Mix the cement and the water together with a mixing trowel or cement-mixing auger. For this application, a cheap garden or bricklayer's trowel works.
- 3
  Fill the bucket with the cement mixture until it is full to the brim. If you do not have a sealing lid for the bucket, you must wait for the entire bucket of cement to cure so it does not come out of the bucket when you place it on its side. If you have a lid for the bucket, wait 24 to 48 hours for the cement to cure then fasten the lid to the bucket.
- 4
  Place the bucket on its side then roll it slowly over the area you want to compact. Overlap each row by 50 percent to ensure you achieve adequate packing.

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