HOW TO SMOOTH AND LEVEL A BUMPY FIELD OR LAWN

How do you smooth and level a bumpy field or lawn? We get asked this questions a lot: I have a really rough section of my yard that I'd like to turn a level lawn. What do I do? Today we'll tell you our strategy and show you some of the work to get there.
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This video is for entertainment purposes only. Good Works Tractors (Good Works Lawn & Power, LLC) cannot be held responsible for content found in any video. Always reference your owners manuals, use extreme caution, and proceed at your own risk.

[@GoodWorksTractors]

Shop for your tractor tools here and don't forget we ship Nationwide! www.tractortools.com

[@aaronburford5701]

I enjoy your commentary! You have the voice and the presentation! Love the tiller and how the ground looks like!

[@brookeepps1080]

Darn! I wish I would have watched this BEFORE I got the box blade. Everything you said about box blades troubles is exactly what I have experienced

[@danlichtenberger6462]

Courtney, Another great video. Good job keeping the people informed. I’ve had a JD 550 tiller on a JD 955 since 1993. As one person also said earlier, I would not trade it for anything. It pretty much stays on my tractor year round. The oddest use I ever had for it was once we had an ice glazing and then snow over that. I needed to push the snow off my driveway and since I use the tiller as ballast in the off season, I put the PTO to mid PTO which allowed the PTO tines to roll when I put the tiller down m. It then rolled over the gravel and broke up the ice glaze and it kept my tractor tracking straight on the glazed part I was driving very slowly over. Nothing was ideal in this scenario I might add. It really was such an odd usage, but when ya have one for almost 30 years you get creative. I’ve also left the PTO in rear PTO mode and the tines then don’t move and I use tiller as almost like a box blade and tillers drag flap on back smooths out piled up dirt and dirt flows through the tines rather well. I would HIGHLY recommend a tiller to anyone. I like it so much I bought a 681 when I bought my JD 4066R this spring. It is an absolute beast of a tiller too.

[@danholmblad9925]

Morning sir. You are right in that method. I have been doing that for 30 years. So keep up the good work. Have a great day.

[@GoodWorksTractors]

Appreciate it, have a good one!

[@1of7]

Thank you or this video. You addressed a lot of questions I have about areas of my property and given me some good ideas about dealing with them.

[@johngersna3263]

Courtney, I have a 20'×30' garden. And a 2007 John Deere 2305. I bought a tiller 2 years ago and I can tell you that i wouldn't sell it for 3 times what I paid for it. This was a great video. God bless and have a wonderful day. 👍👍🙂

[@GoodWorksTractors]

Sweet, glad to hear it John!

[@kenwaller676]

Courtney I am sure this worked, I would like to share how I did a larger area. Use a turning plow then a set of discs and then the tiller.

[@aaronburford5701]

Rewatched! Excellent video, great step by step comtemt! Love the attachments, great end result at rhe end of the video! Looks amazing!

[@mleachx1]

I had about 2.5 acre area that was used for hay that had huge ruts when I built my house and made mowing with a rider hurt your back or get you stuck. This was the solution I used as well. Local guy on facebook tilled it for me with an old tractor. I used my friend's atv to drag a large frame I made from lumber that I'd wrapped with old chain link fence. That area is now more smooth than where the builder used their bobcat to grade around the house. I also didnt spray or scrape the topsoil and just tilled it all, and I didnt even need to seed it, the field grass came back on its own.

[@dthomas2047]

Great channel, really enjoying your advice.

[@shitloveaduck]

All true!! 😊😊 I have tried this with both a tractor and small gas powered tillers steered by myself. - Front tine tillers are an adventure,,,, 😂😂. They will beat you UP in areas other than already tilled soil. They are challenging to use to break up sod, but you can go really deep if you want ir need to. Definitely just small areas. - rear tine self propelled tillers, still steered by hand are much easier to use. A challenge to turn with (unless to spend big, big dollars on one with brakes for each wheel. Those are really nice. You could,, just could,,,, use one for an area like we saw in this video. It’s gonna take you a LOT of time and walking to get this large of an area done, but the rear tine, self propelled tillers are definitely easier for breaking sod. - tractor mounted tillers,,,,, there’s no comparison!!! 😂😂. You drive the tractor,,,,,. Your neck will hurt from turning to see what’s being done all the time, the uneven terrain can leave you a bit sore depending on how in shape, or used to running on rough ground you are, but NOTHING like the aches & pains you will have from the smaller gas powered tillers! Nothing like those at all!! 😂😂. They work the soil more, break it up into smaller pieces. If you sprayed or scalped the area for the sun to burn the grass etc to nothing, then you will get the best results and with enough passes will almost have powder for dirt (depending on how dry or wet it is. I like the dethatching rake used here to pick up what just isn’t worth tilling in 4 more times etc. it worked really slick. We would use our harrows and go in circles over the area and if they clogged up, would drag them to the side to clean them out (this can be hard work. We just disconnected ours, grabbed one side with a chain (both sides had draw bars) and roll it over top of itself. Everything tend to let go a the flipping it the other way moves it away from the debris (kind of). Then more circles. You can get almost perfectly level soil this way, but it’s more work, way more work, than is apparently the case with the dethatcher!!!! I wish I had seen this video about 55 years ago! Where were you then Courtney??? 😂😂😂.

[@andrewkirch5920]

Summit's back!!!!! WOOOT!

[@johnpyle8027]

Two years ago I bought a TYM T 264, same as a T 25 minus the air ride seat. It had a FEL on it and I bought a 60" woods tiller. I take care of about 4 acres and we built in 1991 so over the years after disturbing the land there were places the water found and reshaped things and about 600' of ditch line. Plus I needed to fill in almost 12" around my foundation. I ran the tiller across the top of the ditch with one side over and the other on the flat side and went back and forth what seemed like a hundred times then pushed the dirt into the ditch lessening the slope and smothing everything out. I barely slow down now on my zero turn. I needed a LOT of dirt around the house and I had a place they put the soil that cam out of my lagoon that was about a foot higher than the rest of the lawn. I tilled and tilled that spot and created about 10 yards of dirt which I put all around the foundation. It was just as soft as it could be. I went nuts with the grass seed, may have used 3 times what I needed and covered it with straw. I got it just in time! It rained for a few days and in about 4 or five days I had really thick grass. I honestly believe the tractor paid for itself in that one job vs if I hired someone to do the work. When I was done the tractor was right at the 50 hour service mark. The other thing I never knew I needed was pallet forks! I never pick up anything manually now! My sisters make fun of me and say things like, if you were wall papering a room you would figure out a way to use the tractor! lol

[@jamesyates5191]

Thanks for a great video. Now I need yet another implement 😀

[@wingman8447]

I have that CMP rake. One of the most versatile attachments I own

[@GoodWorksTractors]

Glad to hear it!

[@aaronburford5701]

This was great commentary and excellent commentary! You have a great voice for recording , easy to listen to! Liked , Viewed, Subscribed,n

[@PurpleNovember]

I’ve put good sized rollers on the back of tillers and they work great!!! The best rollers are the machined ones and they are also the most expensive but the landscapers loved them. Plan on spending as much as the tiller cost if not more. I’ll take out clumps and high spots with a heavy duty flail mower with hammers. Keep working in different directions until it’s smooth.

[@vinsonhelton7141]

Excellent video Enjoyed it

[@daved8551]

I did essentially this same process for a 20x20 flower bed i removed to return to grass yard. However, no matter what implement i used i just couldnt get it smooth. SO i went on Marketplace and bought an older Mauldin double roller vibratory compactor (the kind you drive)... 1 ton with empty drums, 2 tons with them filled with water. It was $2000 but man, what an addition to the arsenal. The ground was smooth and flat like an iceskating rink. I seeded over it and in 2 weeks i had green peach fuzz. Currently its the ONLY portion of my yard that is smooth and flat. Hahaha. After our NY winter ends, while the ground is wet in the spring, im going to roll the entire yard.

[@forceon959]

We used to do this method and it does work. Tiller, rake. But then when we had a few acres to level out rented a power rake. It did so well we wound up buying one to have and use. 90' landplane but they do make them smaller. I know they are expensive so if somebody has a small job to do they can look locally for somebody to rent one for a weekend. Usually just a few hundred dollars. Or you can even rent a skid steer and one and do the job pretty fast. Not sure if you sell power rakes so may not help your sales but nothing like a good power rake to fine tune and level land out. Even with sod on it.

[@tommybounds3220]

Thank you for the video.

[@angkeats3685]

“Enough to make this video” 😊

[@WasHereAlone]

Great video, how deep do you have your tiller set?

[@tacticalsnoopy]

Great video

[@GoodWorksTractors]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@AdamLProductions]

If you have a small-ish lawn and don't want to rip everything all up, apply a generous amount of soil to the areas you want to smooth out and hit it with a landscape rake. The rake will distribute the soil evenly and level the areas. This technique works great for low spots. A bit more work for high spots since you'll need to distribute over a large area to level things out. Thought I'd share so people don't think they have to destroy their lawns to get them level.

[@sonsofliberty3081]

I'm not sure you've actually tried this. When you go over a bump, the rake follows. You never get it level.

[@jonhmallari3772]

I have a small-ish lawn and I’m trying to level it out since it’s very much uneven due to poor drainage, I’m thinking about leveling it first and then doing a French drain, what’s y’all’s opinion on that?

[@KevinJD2030]

To level a piece of land out i would first determine how much roots there will be in the ground. If it's not much or much thick ones I would just till it with a rotary tiller and till it up really fine. And than just flatten out with a boxblade. If there are much roots I would firstly pul a shank ripper trough it and trie to pul out as much as possible. Collect the big roots rotor till it and then boxbalde it. The ripping will take a lot of time but it's the only way to save te blades on the rotary tiller from the thick roots.

[@SlackerU]

My Land Pride RTR would have broken something hitting those roots 5:30 thought at the top tilling-hight it is ideal for leveling if the feet are sliding on fairly level paths, I like how it leaves little rows of rooted-grass where I can notch out the peak of a hill every few months, or pull a few slivers of soil out of a ditch.

[@GoodWorksTractors]

Neah, tillers are tough! Including your Land Pride. They are designed to work in extremely rough conditions. Worst case, you break the bolts off a tine. Get some new bolts and back in business. That's what they're made for :)

[@kurtloftfield4537]

Thanks for the lesson, i will be doing a bunch of this next spring! How wide of a dethatcher/rake will a 1025R comfortably pull? I assume for level appearance the wider the better right?

[@GoodWorksTractors]

You're welcome. The dethatcher only comes in 60" and the 1025r handles it just fine. It only weighs 50 lbs.

[@kurtloftfield4537]

@@GoodWorksTractors thanks!

[@capewj8807]

When you’re back blading with the bucket, or just going over with the bucket to level are you floating it?

[@Iceman-Iceman]

After you tilled this plot of land, why didn't you use a pulverizer vs the dethatcher rake?

[@russbowman6801]

How about using disc harrows to level the ground?

[@ryanscott1989]

This makes me want to buy the Summit tx25h more.

[@rcclassiccrawlers4368]

In my experience doing an area the size of yours 40x80 I would rent a gas powered sod cutter and cut the whole area. Then roll up the first 3 - 4'. Then take a loader bucket, put it in float and gently scoop up the cut sod. Granted you'll have to get rid of it, but in my opinion it's worth it. Then go back remove stumps, level or whatever you need to do.

[@MIoffGridAdventures]

Exactly what I needed right now. How did you know? :)

[@cussinirishdesigns3977]

I am getting a tow behind tiller bc I can’t get a tractor yet but I have grass but it’s like bumps of grass and does pull out easily but is there something like the tiller but finer to chop the clumps up?

[@haraldmoeller-cp6nj]

Hi guys , so my question is whether the summit box plane was any good? Thanks for the vids. Always a great way to destress.😎

[@GoodWorksTractors]

Yeah, really cool design and practical as well. Only downside is it's getting close to the price of buying a stand alone box blade and land plane.

[@kenalford5380]

How long does it take you to till an acre?

[@haraldmoeller-cp6nj]

Courtney we live in the NE and we grow rocks. Great video but rocks will be rocks. Box plane?

[@GoodWorksTractors]

Some places aren't meant to have smooth lawns and fields :) I don't sell the box plane, that is available through Summit

[@richardbritton5280]

Great vid Courtney ty 👏👍💪🏆🏆👴🐕🤔🦌🤠😎🙏💙☕️

[@fuzzywigglebutt]

Problem I have is if I use a tiller, our soil contains a lot of rocks that are mostly fist size. It would be impossible to pick them all up even with a rock bucket. Where the builder put the septic system, I did manage to remove some of the larger rocks in the drain field with a landscape rack. When the soil is wet, I mashed the rocks into the soil with a roller so mower doesn't constantly hit them. I have some areas I would like to level, but I am afraid if I use a tiller I would be starting over with rock collection / rolling again. 😞

[@GoodWorksTractors]

Yeah, some areas just aren't well suited for lawns. Depending on other factors, perhaps you could bring in screened top soil.

[@PurpleNovember]

That sucks! I know what that’s like Screened soil or bring in a soil screener. With a lot of rocks in the soil you’ll probably have to go down a good foot or more. Lots and lots of work!

[@elained9591]

We have an abundance of those aggravating small rocks. I’m sure we’d be in the billionaire category if I had a penny for each of them🤣. My work around is now to throw them in the bucket when I’m mowing and picking up sticks from all the trees. I dump them in the burn pile After it’s burned down, I just put them to the outside of the burn area since I really don’t know what else to do with them. But it beats what I did last year which was throw them under the nearest tree so the guy we hired would quit hitting them with his mower blades and then fuss about it. I also mow high as the 1025R allows

[@driverjamescopeland]

Just the tiller and a good chain drag would've been sufficient. My favorite drag leveler, is the springs from an old mattress or box springs. I can't believe no one has offered that as a legitimate product... as they're the most effective drag leveler I've ever used. They level, smooth contours, drag away plant material, and kick larger rocks up.

[@raymondjoseph7177]

Box blade is just like you said. If you don't have a tilt and turn rear, it's a big mess. I keep looking for a tiller. Ill find one dam it. Lol

[@ghostridergale]

Now after you get your ground all nice and smooth, then you have to figure out how to keep the moles/voles out of your property that’s going to dig up your nice yard and before long your nice yard will look as bad as it did before you started the project! Especially when you have neighbors on all sides of your property that do nothing to control the moles /voles in their yard. Only a matter of time till those pest find their way to your property!

[@about12acres]

*Side eyes box blade with disdain* I wish I would have seen this a few months ago 😅

[@GoodWorksTractors]

Haha, I saw that box blade in action :)

[@juleswinnfield826]

👍

[@GoodWorksTractors]

Thanks Jules

[@huskyhooligans999]

Stone burier is the best tool for this job bar none, imho!

[@GoodWorksTractors]

Not a good use of money for the average compact tractor owner. Tiller works well and much more versatile.

[@justanotherviewer52]

Pretty sure a mini-grader would come in handy somewhere during the process.

[@GoodWorksTractors]

Maybe, but I don't think it's necessary.

[@justanotherviewer52]

I agree, but I just think a mini-grader would be so cool. Besides, nobody makes one anyway, 🙂 @@GoodWorksTractors

[@GoodWorksTractors]

Haha, totally get that!!

[@tdiguru8461]

Harley Rake is the only correct answer to this problem.

[@thomasmiles9585]

$30k for equipment and you have a nice yard

[@davidsmith3623]

Ever hear of a harley rake? An old timer says they work well to level the lawn..

[@GoodWorksTractors]

Way too expensive for 99% of home owners. Good tool though.

[@rharrell1]

The easiest way to do this is to use a surface seed planter, zip seeder, or even a small corn planter. You can level a spot by just adding compost instead of fertilizer. Just is easier and will cost less money and time playing with machinery. It takes years for the soil to recover from tillage soil aggregation which is how healthy living soil absorbs water is pretty much destroyed when this is done plus you are creating all kinds of weed issues with tillage.

[@GoodWorksTractors]

All well and good, but you forgot about the entire point of this process which is leveling out a bumpy field. Your idea works for overseeding only on an undisturbed plot.

[@elained9591]

I think Mr Courtney is spot on with this video. It’s also a great time to add the fertilizer (and lime) as needed to get those seeds started

[@jeffsmith7840]

Didn’t even watch the video yet. But harely rake hands down. No time to watch

[@GoodWorksTractors]

Great tool for commercial use, but not for 99% of home owners. Way too expensive and a tiller is much more versatile. You can take your family on a nice Hawaiian vacation for the price of a harley rake.

[@forceon959]

@GoodWorksTractors Many places you can rent one for the weekend for a few hundred dollars. But yes too much money - ours was $18,000 for a homeowner to use one. Still nothing like a power rake. Renting is a good option ​@GoodWorksTractors