Question
Hi Charlotte
Thank you for taking the time to answer. There really are no "low" spots to fill in. These are bumps less than an inch or so high and scattered aroung the entire lawn. I hardly ever bag, I thought mulching was the way to go and it is much less work. The grass seems thick green and healthy. When I fist moved here 4 years ago the lawn was full of undesirable thick bladed grasses I have overseeded a few times and the new seed seems to have overtaken all the undesirable grass. The soil is mainly clay. I have read that if I power rake, core aerate, and then topdress with a sharp sand and then roll it will help this problem.
-------------------------

Followup To

Question -
Does mulching your lawn eventually cause a bumpy lawn? I mulch most of the time, I live in Michigan, I have tried rolling out the little bumps to no avail, I have tried top dressing with topsoil and reseeding. Do you think aerating and power raking will help smooth out these little annoying bumps? My lawn mower seems to bounce all over the place while mowing. All in all the lawn looks very nice. It is mainly a mixture of kentucky blue and perrinial rye.

Answer -
Hi Rick;
Sure it will.
Whay are you mulching your lawn?
I would fill in the low places with good soil, and let the grass cover, and STOP mulching. You could seed in tha bare places.
There is no need to mulch.
Write me and please tell me why you are mulching. I need to know more about your lawn care problem before I can advise how to fix it.
It really sounds like you got some bad advice about lawn care.
I did too, a long time ago.
Worked myself to death for a mediocre lawn for over 40 years before I got on an organic program, made my life so much easier, and got a much more beautiful lawn and garden.
Charlotte


Answer
Ok, so you are calling leaving the grass clippings,"Mulching?
Ok, right. LOL
I just call it leaving the grass clippings.
That shouldn't make bumps, because there would be a level layer of clippings.
Anyway, with leaving the clippings, and watering, those clippings turn to compost pretty fast.
I don't know what could be causing the bumps.
I haven't seen that happen.
I thought you were mulching a couple of inches with bark mulch etc.
Do you use a riding mower?
If you use a riding mower, they are heavier than the push ones, because you are sitting over the cupping blades. That could be causing the ground to push up in some places, if the ground is damp enough to be soft.
If that isn't it, I have no idea what could be causing those bumps.
What you describe to help the clay, would do some good for a short time, but if you just use an organic program, us the lava sand, and alfalfa meal, and sugar ( or dry molasses) the microbes will continually work on enriching the soil, and that breaks down that clay.
If you use dry molasses, use 10 pounds per 1000 sq.ft.
If your grass is growing, then the clay is not so hard it is choking out the grass. You could take the time to let the microbes and nutrients enrich the soil.
If you can add 2 inches of granulated gypsum, and let that work over the winter, it will be looser soil about 3 or 3 inches down, by spring. You could put more on, and it all just keeps working down through the soil, loosening it up as it goes. In three or four years of an organic program, and especially if you also use some granulated gypsum, you would have good top soil down about 6 inches or more, and it just keeps getting better.
Se, I spent so many years aerating, tilling in, applying this and that, and none of it ever did much real good, and wore me out.
I am just hooked on letting the little critters God designed to do the job, do it.
They do it much better than I ever did, and they work cheap.LOL
Last spring I paid the years subscription fee for Howard Garrett's website.
He is one of the leading organic experts in the country. He mostly addresses Texas gardeners, but he does test gardens and lawns all over the country.
He does some commercial sites too.
The fee of $25.00 buys total access to his site, the videos on how to do so much, and the organic products and what you can expect from them, and access to the questions and answer forums.
I have learned so much more, from watching the videos and just reading the forum posts.
You also get an online magazine monthly, and a newsletter by snail mail.
If you want to check it out, this is the address.

    www.dirtdoctor.com

Charlotte