Grading & Leveling Dirt

Place a stake near your house's foundation and another near the end of your property.

Connect the stakes with your string and attach the string level to the string somewhere near the middle.

Adjust the string up and down on the stake farthest from your house until the string reads level. Keep the string on the stake near your house close to the ground.

Analyze the slope of your property. An Ideal grade will go downhill 1 foot for every 50 feet. For example, if your stakes are 50 feet apart and your string is level, the string nearest your house should be near the ground and the string farther from the house should be 12 inches off the ground. This will show that your soil is a foot lower 50 feet from your house than it is right by the house.

Begin removing topsoil from the part of your yard farthest from the house and move it using the wheel barrow toward your house's foundation. This is the most labor-intensive part of the process and may take some time.

Begin smoothing out topsoil using a hard rake once measurements show that your slope is approximately correct. Large piles of topsoil should be leveled out as necessary to make your yard appear even.

Seek out any lumps or pits in the garden. Dig up uneven bumps and transfer them to holes in the garden, then smooth out the soil with your hard rake.