Fixing hollows in lawn

Boots234

Hopefully a basic question for seasoned gardeners. We recently bought our house and we have quite a few hollows in our lawn that I would like to level out. Is it a case of throwing topsoil into the hollow and putting grass seed on top or am I completely wrong? Also, what would be the best time of year to be doing this? With 2 small kids I don't have a lot of free time so looking for the quickest/easiest way of sorting this. Thanks

Harry Palmr

Take a spade, mark the outer edge of the hollow then go back an inch or two edge the area with spade, divide up so it's like apple tart sections (!) and then slide under the sod remove sections break up the soil underneath a bit and fill with top soil, flatten area by walking it then add or subtract as needed until as level as possible then sow seeds if you can do this in the next few weeks the grass should take fine.

Another method, is to actually keep the grass turf in position at the outer edge and to cut underneath along the section edges and the fold the turf back outwards then fill hollow with top soil and then fold the sections back over and they'll knit back together over the winter.

randomguy

I saw a suggestion on here a few months ago that worked for me.
Use a spade to cut a large "H" into the lawn in the hollow, with the two long cuts on either side of the hollow and the crossbar in the middle of the hollow.
You now have two potential sods, each having been cut on three sides, and each remaining connected to the lawn at all times (the top and bottom of the "H" with no cut remains connected). Use the spade to get in and loosen underneath each. Peel back one sod from the crossbar upwards. Peel back the other sod from the crossbar downwards.
Fill in the hollow with earth and/or compost.
Unroll the 2 sods back over the new earth, so that they meet again in the middle. Stamp down to level and to get the edges closed again.
Hey presto - hollow filled with no need to reseed.
With thanks to whoever posted this idea over the summer!!! Worked for me anyway. Hardest part was judging how much earth to put in.

Living Off The Splash

I did this a few years back. The lawnmower could not get in to the hollows to cut the grass. I just cut out the sod, filled the hollow and put the sod back on top. I put a little more soil in the hollow to allow for it to settle. Worked fine.

Boots234

Just to come back to this, is it topsoil or compost that is used to fill in the hollows or does it make a difference?