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Garden floors are not naturally level. This bothers many garden owners, because uneven ground in the garden is often difficult to work on and has a negative effect on the execution of maintenance. Fortunately, with the right methods, this problem can be solved, since garden soil is movable soil that can be shaped into the desired shape with enough work.
preparation
An important step before leveling is to improve and check the floor. This should be able to be worked on, because there are often numerous obstacles or objects that make it difficult to use the equipment or tools. For this reason, check the area to be straightened for the following materials and objects, which you then remove as best as possible:
- stones
- Roots, branches, other plant parts
- rubbish
- movable pieces of furniture
- garden tools
- construction materials
- garbage
The fewer objects or plant parts that are in the way, the easier it is to use the methods below to straighten the ground. Stones in particular are often a problem because they are very difficult to remove. If you don't want to create a lawn, then small stones are not a problem, but in an emergency use a roller screen for this. Roots, on the other hand, can be quite a headache, especially if they belong to a tree or a resident plant. In this case, you have to think about how to implement them in a species-appropriate manner. To make your work even easier, you should also mark out the corresponding area:
- Place posts around desired area
- stretch strings between them
- place them a few centimeters above the ground
- use plumb to determine the highest and lowest points on the surface
Once you have identified the highest and lowest points, you can choose a value between the two numbers to bring the surface to that height. This will make it easier for you to decide which of the garden floor leveling ideas is best for your project. With a small gap between the two values, you can often leave a little more wiggle room.
tip: If your garden soil is riddled with large stones, heavy equipment or the help of a professional must be used in most cases. Since stony soil in the garden can only be effectively removed with tools such as a pickaxe, straightening is very laborious and time-consuming.
straighten the ground
Once the floor is prepared, you can start leveling. Depending on the size of your garden or the area to be worked, it is helpful if you have another person help you with the different methods. It can sometimes take a little longer to get a straight surface, especially if you don't use heavy grading equipment and have to move everything by hand. There are a total of three ideas that you can use to level the floor on your own and without having to pay any real high costs. These are especially recommended when stomp isn't helpful.
tip: A possible alternative to the ideas below is to pour a foundation if you don't need the soil in the garden for plants. In this way, the garden floor can be leveled just as effectively, but you need significantly more work and materials for this.
removal
For as long as anyone can remember, removing the ground has proven to be a time-consuming but easy-to-implement method of straightening it. As the term suggests, with this method you remove so much soil until the desired depth is reached, so that the garden soil is level and can be used for your purposes without any problems. This is particularly recommended if you want to adjust an elevation such as on a slope or if you find hills on the property that are just annoying. You need the following tool for the removal:
- spade
- shovel
- optional: Pickaxe
- gloves
As already mentioned, a pickaxe is mainly used for solid stone accumulations. You don't always see such stones, as they are a little deeper in the ground and can often only be seen when they are removed. To use this method, simply begin by digging up the dirt on the higher ground with a spade or shovel. The choice of tool depends on the structure and compaction of the soil. For example, if you need to remove a turf, it is advisable to use the spade first and then the shovel. Proceed as follows with the excavation:
- collect in wheelbarrow
- mix together if necessary
- put in a sieve if necessary
- this allows them to remove even more stones
- fill the area with excavated earth
The excavated earth is simply spread generously over the area to be leveled at the desired height. Most importantly, you need to close any holes or indentations to allow for the ground plane. This should be compacted a little with a hand tamper or a vibrating machine and can then be covered with the remaining excavated earth. Alternatively, you can also distribute gravel, sand or a larger amount of additional soil on this. It is important here to compensate for the unevenness by removing the higher parts of the floor, with which the lower ones are filled.
Fill up
When filling in, you use a similar tactic as when removing, except that you do not redistribute the existing soil material at all. For this you mainly need a substrate or sediment to fill in the soil, with which you level out unevenness. There is a large selection available for this, which you can easily mix with each other:
- Earth
- sand
- gravel
When choosing the soil, you should rely on conventional garden soil, which preferably comes from the same region. A combination with sand significantly improves the permeability of the soil in the garden, which of course benefits your plants. Even lawns benefit from it. It is important that when filling up, you make sure that you reach the desired height after compacting. For this reason, you need around 15 percent more material to fix the loss of height due to compaction.
tip: If you then want to use the straight garden soil for growing plants, you can also enrich it with compost. In this way, you save yourself this step and can devote yourself to gardening in a relaxed manner.
hand roller
Hand rollers are classic garden tools that are filled with sand or water and can weigh between 50 and 200 kilos. The devices are typically used to roll the lawn so that it is level and can form a dense turf. It is precisely this principle that you use to level small bumps that have arisen, for example, due to accumulations of earth or external forces. Unfortunately, rolling isn't worth it to accommodate different heights. Only the existing soil is distributed by the weight that occurs, thus enabling a straight level. For this method you will need the following items:
- hand roller
- rake
You can either purchase hand rollers yourself or rent them from hardware stores and specialist companies for around ten to twelve euros per day. Use strong tines for a rake, because fan brooms are not really suitable for this method. Once you have the supplies, use the following steps to level the garden:
- remove sod as needed
- this makes it easier to use the roller
- in addition, differences in height are easier to recognize
- then spread the soil with a rake
- this reduces the height differences
- now guide the roller slowly over the ground
- avoid tight corners
- ride one track after the other
- use more force on bumps
- this will level them
- repeat until entire surface is level
Admittedly, this method can take a long time depending on the condition of the floor and is only suitable for the top layer. Straightening deeper holes is only possible with this method if you fill them up beforehand or remove larger heaps of earth. It is important with this method that you distribute the soil in the garden as finely as possible. You can therefore also drive the roller into smaller accumulations and thus displace them, which makes straightening much easier. However, this work step, like the general use of the roller, tends to get in the arms. Therefore, it is easier if you take turns with someone.
tip: If the bumps are very small, you can use a simple wooden board to level the soil instead of the hand roller. Place this on part of the area and tamp to level the garden soil.