# Leveling / Grading Yard



## AlphaPilot (Aug 6, 2012)

I have about an acre of front 'yard' that I hired a guy to grade and fill in all the holes. He used a Caterpillar and it is far from being nice enough to lay grass seed. I tried to ask if he could do more fine tuning but I think he doesn't want to go to the effort and do that even at $150 an hour.

I used a tractor and a blade behind it last year to try and do some work and didn't have much luck. What do you find works best to grade a yard and prep it for grass seed after new house construction?


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## JD367 (Apr 6, 2015)

Drag an old bed springs or chain link fence gate behind a lawn tractor,on fresh dirt,to level it.
you can see this on you tube videos.


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## cleveman (Dec 17, 2011)

I used a disc for years, then a blade turned backwards. On my last build, I bought a disc which I could pick up with my tractor, plus the disc is much easier to adjust. But I still have to switch over to my blade, which is a pain.

You have to hit the soil at the right time when the moisture is good.

So, disc to loosen up the soil and use the blade and a rake, whatever, to get your grade the way you want it. Then disc again to loosen up the hard soil which you left exposed when you bladed away the loose stuff.

Now put your blade on your tractor and drag it around mounted so the rounded over side is going forward. This will just flatten everything.

Do some more raking as necessary.

Seed.

Now get two fan rakes and pull them behind your body. You'll be able to cover a 4' wide area approximately. Rake very lightly. You just walk around.

Get your roller behind your tractor and roll the seed in.

Now spread straw over everything and keep it moist, not wet. 

The most important part is the straw. It will keep the wind away, the rain from washing you out, and the ground moister longer. It will also be the most expensive part. People sell straw here for $7/bale.


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## Colbyt (Jan 27, 2014)

An acre is a lot. The Cat will never do the job because it is moving chunks of dirt and compacting it as it rides over. You need a tractor with a box scraper (for sod) or better yet one with a rear mount tiller (for seed or sod) to reduce the top few inches to fine texture. Then any type of blade will level it; the bed springs would work great if the dirt is tilled.


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## AlphaPilot (Aug 6, 2012)

Step 1: Find a Ford 8N for sale, lol. Looking to borrow a family member's tractor with a blade for now to see how that goes. Would sure be nice if the newer smaller garden tractors that had blades and tillers were affordable instead of 10, 15, or 20k.


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## Yodaman (Mar 9, 2015)

tractor and rake, it will peel off the high spots and deposit in the low areas. And will pull out lg stones, roots etc. After a few hours you will be ready to seed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaPwUXlhYXY

you can rent them, also you can rent smaller versions you can pull behind a lawn tractor


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