Rolling a lawn

UMWolve

New home owner and have a lumpy yard. Neighbors claim the previous owner's were always digging in the yard. Not sure why. Dead bodies ?? Anyways, how do I go about rolling my lawn and when would be the best time to do it. Should I purchase a roller or can I just hire a landscaping company to come do it for me ??

I live just across the river from Cincinnati, Ohio in Northern Kentucky suburbs. Weather is in the 40's right now.

titanoman

What's a roller? Like a highway paver?

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DrHicks

I've got a 4' wide roller that I can fill with water & get up to 900lbs in it. I pull it with the garden tractor.

There are certain things it works well for, like flattening out mole tunnels and allowing me to see new burrowing, so I can go nuts with the pitch fork.

A roller will not, however, even out a rough lawn. That will be a continuous process that's either done by hand, or by tilling and dragging. I'd suggest you get some fill dirt, fill in & smooth out low spots, then seed with grass.

Wiscbldr

A lawn roller (large metal or plastic tube with water or sand filled and either pulled or pushed around a lawn) will work well for spring thaw when there is leftover heave and the lawn is uneven. The best time imho is in the spring after the thaw, and after the first mow. Given your midwest area, thats probably in mid/late April or early May. As DrHicks said, you can also use it to flatten out the mole burrows.

If you check your local craigslist, you can probably find rollers fairly cheap. I think I pd $50 for an old metal one...and its only been used once or twice..and there it sits taking up space. You can also contact your local rental places to see if you can simply rent it come spring.

Good luck!