Hamilton,

So you havea a hard and lumpy grass situation.

I'm afraid you'd have to bite the bullet on this one. YOu have 3 options and all will involve loose dirt. One is to rototile, 2nd is to add more topsoil to level the yard, the third, is to strip your grass and add new sod.

You'll have to live with it. Frost will heave the soil, your kids and dog will leave foot depressions if they play on it while wet -- any solution will need to be repeated every spring.

Rolling is not recommended as it compacts the soil. If your soil is high in clay it will get hard in the summer, but so will any soil if it sees a lot of foot (kids and dogs) traffic.

You could try areating and top dressing for marginial improvement in soil texture; by repeating yearly you will build better soil over time.

Could it be a mole problem?

Thanks everyone, after asking around a few garden centers I was given pretty much the same info.

Thanks again.

Will a thick top dressing with a sandy loom soil with a lot of sand in it not help her situation? The earth worms in the soil will gradually mix the sand with the clay soil and the lumps will not be as hard as before and will easily erode to level off and further formation of such mounds will be reduced. However, this will require more sand mixed in the sandy loom.

I guess all of us are experiencing the same thing in Hamilton? My back yard is like that too and I don't have young kids or animals all over it. I found that our problem was mostly from mice overwintering under the snow and their tunneling and we also found evidence of moles or voles (whatever you like) that tunnel from underground. Could this be what you're experiencing and don't know it?

If a grass lawn is as lumpy as the person has described, adding sandy loam is not going to help much. I use horticultural sand as top dressing to help build up the grass layer. But beneath such layer, you will still encounter the hardpack clay which because of it's quality will take a long time to straighten out. Lumps can be caused by stones, building refuse and wood, animal holes, etc. Also, when it rains, these become a muddy, soggy mess. In my own yard, I have a heavy clay area - such that when i walk on it when it;'s wet, I leave shoe prints. It will take a lot more than simply top dressing.

If the lady is desperate, then add a good deal of good topsoil, have it leveled properly, and then lay down sod. This way, the grass is instant, the mess is kept to a miminum.

Ianna

Thanks again for all the info. we ended up leveling it off with some top soil and seeds for now. it looks great so far.

hamiltonblooms