What Can I Do If My Yard Is Uneven With Holes?

Top Dressing

• If the holes are between 2 and 4 inches deep, they are fairly mild and can be handled easily on your own. Simply fill the hole with 1 to 2 inches of top soil and seed it over at the beginning of the growing season. Do this for one or two years, until the amount of soil that you put in levels the yard. This method is called top dressing, and it is a simple and reliable way to take care of a mildly uneven lawn on your own.

Core Cultivation

• If the holes in the lawn are not deep but plentiful, consider core cultivation. In core cultivation, a machine pulls plugs of soil out of your lawn, leaving small cylinders of earth all over the yard. Then the plugs are broken up with a rake and the holes in the lawn are filled with a fine organic compound before being reseeded. This serves to give your lawn a significantly even look and it is also a healthy way to ensure that your lawn has its aeration and hydration needs fulfilled.

Professional Renovation

• When the holes in your lawn are very deep and very broad, it is not feasible to top-dress them slowly over a period of years. Instead contact a professional lawn leveling service and get an assessment on how much it would take to level all or some of your lawn. Professional renovation would also have the advantage of allowing you to amend your lawn completely as part of the process.

Time Frame

• When leveling your lawn, make sure that the bulk of the soil removal or addition is completed by late spring. During the cooler spring months, you can see what areas need to be leveled more clearly and you will also be able to take advantage of a full growing season for the grass that you have newly seeded.