Why is my lawn so bumpy!!!
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drgoatboy

Original Poster:

1,896 posts

223 months

Friday 14th March
quotequote all
My lawn is so incredibly bumpy it's driving me mad. Not undulations but small bumps underfoot and I don't know why! The mower bumps around like crazy when I mow and it feels horrible underfoot.

Garden was landscaped and Lawn turfed 5-6 years ago. was nice and smooth but slowly developed lumps, I have dressed the lawn that helped temporarily but problem then got worse, so last year I got a tonne of quality dry top soil raked it in (with the special lawn levelling rake thingy) and it was great (but a bit muddy).
Lasted about a month before it started getting bumpy again.

Gave it a very lite mow today and it's worse than ever. I've never experienced anything like it. My local park is much smoother and only gets mowed about 4 times a year.

Doesn't seem to be loads of worm casts, grass is reasonably healthy, regularly fertilised and iron sulphate applied in the winter. Area is quite chalky but grass is rarely waterlogged. Most areas get a reasonable amount of sun, Some areas get sun all day.
Doesn't get much foot traffic either.

I do have a roller I tried out of desperation but as expected it doesn't do much.

What else can I try? Help me pistonheads, you are my only hope...


Edited by drgoatboy on Friday 14th March 19:46


Edited by drgoatboy on Friday 14th March 22:02

Zio Di Roma

1,440 posts

48 months

Friday 14th March
quotequote all
drgoatboy said:
My lawn is so incredibly bumpy it's driving me mad. Not undulations but small bumps underfoot and I don't know why! The mower bumps around like crazy when I mow and it feels horrible underfoot.

Garden was landscaped and Lawn turfed 5-6 years ago. was nice and smooth but slowly developed lumps, I have dressed the lawn that helped temporarily but problem then got worse, so last year I got a tonne of quality dry top soil raked it in (with the special lawn levelling rake thingy) and it was great (but a bit muddy).
Lasted about a month before it started getting bumpy again.

Gave it a very lite mow today and it's worse than ever. I could cry.

Doesn't seem to be loads of worm casts, grass is reasonably healthy, regularly fertilised and iron sulphate applied in the winter. Area is quite chalky but grass is rarely waterlogged. Most areas get a reasonable amount of sun, Some areas get sun all day.
Doesn't get much food traffic either.

I do have a roller I tried out of desperation but as expected it doesn't do much.

What else can I try? Help me pistonheads, you are my only hope...
Have you checked for sausages?

drgoatboy

Original Poster:

1,896 posts

223 months

Friday 14th March
quotequote all
Zio Di Roma said:
Have you checked for sausages?
Yep, no sausages. Couple of half eaten burgers but I got rid of those.

Bloody predictive text

DonkeyApple

63,076 posts

185 months

Friday 14th March
quotequote all
drgoatboy said:
My lawn is so incredibly bumpy it's driving me mad. Not undulations but small bumps underfoot and I don't know why! The mower bumps around like crazy when I mow and it feels horrible underfoot.

Garden was landscaped and Lawn turfed 5-6 years ago. was nice and smooth but slowly developed lumps, I have dressed the lawn that helped temporarily but problem then got worse, so last year I got a tonne of quality dry top soil raked it in (with the special lawn levelling rake thingy) and it was great (but a bit muddy).
Lasted about a month before it started getting bumpy again.

Gave it a very lite mow today and it's worse than ever. I could cry.

Doesn't seem to be loads of worm casts, grass is reasonably healthy, regularly fertilised and iron sulphate applied in the winter. Area is quite chalky but grass is rarely waterlogged. Most areas get a reasonable amount of sun, Some areas get sun all day.
Doesn't get much foot traffic either.

I do have a roller I tried out of desperation but as expected it doesn't do much.

What else can I try? Help me pistonheads, you are my only hope...


Edited by drgoatboy on Friday 14th March 19:46
C'est la vie. It's a living thing and lots of us don't even have mowers with any kind of roller function so our lawns get lumpier quicker. It just needs rolling.

Tim Cognito

749 posts

23 months

Friday 14th March
quotequote all
The obvious answer is to get one of these and start wacking all the lumps down.



Edited by Tim Cognito on Friday 14th March 20:21

drgoatboy

Original Poster:

1,896 posts

223 months

Friday 14th March
quotequote all
DonkeyApple said:
C'est la vie. It's a living thing and lots of us don't even have mowers with any kind of roller function so our lawns get lumpier quicker. It just needs rolling.
It is kinda a first world problem granted. A lot of people don't even have lawns so I know it's a question from a privileged position. And maybe I got a bit carried away with my angst. Still annoying though. As previously said roller does nothing of an significant impact. Well not a hand rolled one anyways.

Edited by drgoatboy on Friday 14th March 22:04

drgoatboy

Original Poster:

1,896 posts

223 months

Friday 14th March
quotequote all
Tim Cognito said:
The obvious answer is to get one of these and start wacking all the lumps down.



Edited by Tim Cognito on Friday 14th March 20:21
It's tempting....

DonkeyApple

63,076 posts

185 months

Saturday 15th March
quotequote all
drgoatboy said:
DonkeyApple said:
C'est la vie. It's a living thing and lots of us don't even have mowers with any kind of roller function so our lawns get lumpier quicker. It just needs rolling.
It is kinda a first world problem granted. A lot of people don't even have lawns so I know it's a question from a privileged position. And maybe I got a bit carried away with my angst. Still annoying though. As previously said roller does nothing of an significant impact. Well not a hand rolled one anyways.

Edited by drgoatboy on Friday 14th March 22:04
I didn't mean it that way at all. It's that the soil gets lifted by frost, then ants and worms do their bit and over time what you describe happens. Older style mowers at least had a roller quite often so a bit of the issue was dealt with during mowing but most of us use mowers these days that have no rolling function so our lawns get lumpy more quickly. Rolling the lawn sorts it out, assuming the roller is heavy enough.

drgoatboy

Original Poster:

1,896 posts

223 months

Saturday 15th March
quotequote all
DonkeyApple said:
I didn't mean it that way at all. It's that the soil gets lifted by frost, then ants and worms do their bit and over time what you describe happens. Older style mowers at least had a roller quite often so a bit of the issue was dealt with during mowing but most of us use mowers these days that have no rolling function so our lawns get lumpy more quickly. Rolling the lawn sorts it out, assuming the roller is heavy enough.
Ah whoops, sorry.

I think my roller is about as heavy as you can get short of towing it behind something, unfortunately it does very little. This is definitely above and beyond what I would expect to be normal. I'm not lawn expert (obviously) but have never had anything like this before or experienced it on anyone else's lawns or parks

Edited by drgoatboy on Saturday 15th March 08:39

DonkeyApple

63,076 posts

185 months

Saturday 15th March
quotequote all
drgoatboy said:
Ah whoops, sorry.

I think my roller is about as heavy as you can get short of towing it behind something, unfortunately it does very little. This is definitely above and beyond what I would expect to be normal. I'm not lawn expert (obviously) but have never had anything like this before or experienced it on anyone else's lawns or oarks
How odd. It's usually just frost action and forna that create the lumpiness and a good rolling with a traditional concrete lawn roller does the trick. The plastic barrels willed with water or sand aren't always heavy enough and can be a bugger to move anyway due to the inevitable air gap.

sospan

2,685 posts

238 months

Saturday 15th March
quotequote all
Look on you tube for some good posts on lawn care.
Basically sort drainage, top dresswith soil/seed mix, as the dressing fills the hollows when you spread it. Your lawn won't sort itself and you need to do some maintenance. It takes time and regular care. The early days are the ones to persevere with. It gets easier as the improvements develope.
It's like watching fitness videos expecting to get fit without actually doing the exercise.

Cow Corner

572 posts

46 months

Saturday 15th March
quotequote all
Yup, there are no shortcuts…

It’s important to decide how far you want to go - I.e. do you want a perfect, almost bowling green lawn, or do you just want to improve what you have. The size of the lawn (or your available time) is likely to partially decide.

In our previous house, we had a lawn that pretty damn good, but it was only small, so going through a full lawn care procedure twice a year (as well as regular feed and weeding was feasible. At our current house it’s just a case of making the best of it, though I am hoping to scarify, top dress and overseed this spring, but that will be it!


drgoatboy

Original Poster:

1,896 posts

223 months

Saturday 15th March
quotequote all
Thanks both, I have raked, dressed and over seeded as well as fully leveling but it just gets worse rather than better I thought I knew what I was doing but maybe not. I spent days and days on it last summer it it was lovely and flat for about a month...

I don't want perfection but it would be nice to be able to walk on it without it feeling horrible.

Tim Cognito

749 posts

23 months

Saturday 15th March
quotequote all
Is it a new build and you have about 20mm of top soil on top of a load of rocks?

drgoatboy

Original Poster:

1,896 posts

223 months

Saturday 15th March
quotequote all
Tim Cognito said:
Is it a new build and you have about 20mm of top soil on top of a load of rocks?
Nah, it's pretty clear to be honest.

Grande Pedro

679 posts

12 months

Saturday 15th March
quotequote all
Any sign of moles, voles or shrews? Sometimes their tunnels can create lumps and dips but you usually see the holes or molehills and know they're there.

drgoatboy

Original Poster:

1,896 posts

223 months

Saturday 15th March
quotequote all
Grande Pedro said:
Any sign of moles, voles or shrews? Sometimes their tunnels can create lumps and dips but you usually see the holes or molehills and know they're there.
Definitely no moles, and I would be surprised if there are any voles/shrews.
We have a pretty big cat that keeps most animals away....

Craikeybaby

11,480 posts

241 months

Saturday 15th March
quotequote all
My lawn is similar, I'm not sure what makes it bumpier the worms or the kids...

drgoatboy

Original Poster:

1,896 posts

223 months

Saturday 15th March
quotequote all
Craikeybaby said:
My lawn is similar, I'm not sure what makes it bumpier the worms or the kids...
Ha ha!
On this occasion I don't think I can blame the kids!

Sorry yours is bumpy too but it makes me feel a bit better it's not just me

Edited by drgoatboy on Saturday 15th March 21:50

drgoatboy

Original Poster:

1,896 posts

223 months

Saturday 15th March
quotequote all
I don't think this helps but a quick pic.