Presumably the soil was amended before planting and decomposition of the amendments has resulted in low places developing. Probably you will have to fill these depressions with screened topsoil or sand in order to be able to restore the desired uniformity.

thanks for your reply! can yo clarify in layman's terms what it means that the soil was amended

am i doomed with the same uneven bumpiness for our newly planted backyard that we have first spread scott's topsoil onto which i am told is composite and then planted grass on top?

Moles?

Do you have a picture of the problem?

Mowing in exactly the same patter, so the wheels of the mower slowly compact lines in the yard.

What is bumpy the ground beneath the grass or the grass itself? If it the soil below the grass, then actual soil/dirt (not top soil sold in a bag from the store) spread thinly on top will level the ground below.

If the grass itself is bumpy, you have a cultural problem such as, a crappy lawn mower, dog piss, high traffic making the soil compacted or different grass species in the lawn to name just a few possibilities for a bumpy lawn.

Bumpy and straight are not really horticulturally descriptive terms and are open to all kinds of interpretations.

Night crawlers make bumpy soil but you would see their castings I think.

For sure ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5 and everyone else's bumpy possibilities.

The ground moves and breaths with the seasons. It is not static. It is alive. As it should be.

Do you know if the professionals rototilled the surface before sodding it? Rototilling will result in a surface that starts out bumpy and gets worse for 3 years as the fluffy soil settles.

Search this forum (lawn forum) for topics on leveling. If you have bermuda the fix is relatively straight forward. If you have a northern grass, the scalping can hurt the lawn. It is probably too late to do this for a northern lawn.

I have this problem with my Zoysia grass lawn. It is caused mainly by gopher and mole damage, particularly mole damage where a tunnel collapses and makes a big depression, I’m in the process of solving that problem with garden soil and compost, mainly compost. I just put in a heavy layer of soil or compost and feather the edges so there is a nice transition. In just four weeks I’ve made major improvements in the appearance and walk ability of my lawn. My lawn is Zoysia grass and it spreads by underground rhizomes so it readily will fill in bare spots and is tolerant of being buried under soil and/or compost too.

I know what tour talking about and don’t know how to fix it either. I found it’s best to have one specific grass type. I’ve done some lawn renos and the new areas where that are just seeded have that look where the grass grows unifor. Whereas other parts of my yard that is the same kind of grass but a year old looks “bumpy.”

i just dethatched and overseeded my whole yard in hopes to geg that uniformity again. I have tttf and it mats down and doesn’t get mowed in those spots. So they either stay matted down and get all mushy or grow over the freshly cut grass

I e been told to dethatch Zoysia grass lawns. Why is that needed?