I'm in North Texas and this lawn has been neglected for years but I'm determined to get a nice turf. I've been cutting at 0.5" with a reel mower but the lawn is still so much higher than my sidewalk and makes the edge look terrible. Is this all thatch?
I noticed a ton of dirt there too but was wondering if there's a way to lower this without cutting into the dirt. Would hitting it with a thatch rake do it? I know it'll probably look terrible right after so I'm hesitant to try it unless it's really what I need here…
by Matrixfx187
44 Comments
Unfortunately, there’s not much you can do, someone laid sod the lazy way and just laid it on top of the existing soil instead of using a sod cutter and digging down 1-2″ BELOW the sidewalk before laying the sod.
It looks pretty good IMO.
I had this issue when i took possession of my house.. about 30 yrs ago.
I hastily took a spade shovel and cut into the lawn about 18″ at sidewalk level and flipped the grass back then removed enough dirt so when I flipped the grass back It was level with the surrounding cement. This allowed me to mow without burning/removing the grass. My lawn Is sort of humped now but.. I can at least mow.
Raise the sidewalk
Your soil is built up that much above the sidewalk – that’s not thatch you’re seeing on the edge, that’s grass that has grown along the vertical edge of the soil. Go out with a pocketknife and ‘cut’ in to the edge somewhere to see for yourself.
I think your choices are regrade the soil along the driveway – which, I’ve never used a reel mower but I understand they really like smooth surfaces, so would mean tearing up and re-grading several feet along the edge?
Or use landscaping paver stones to ‘edge’ the lawn along the driveway and allow the soil to remain at it’s current height.
Unfortunately with the soil that high, you’ll need to remove some of the turf. Could you remove the first 2-3 ft around the edges and just slope the grass then reinstall sod?
Do a nice cobblestone sidewalk border
I’ve heard of people using a pressure washer and a very narrow tip and blasting the soil out right by the side walk.
Get a concrete guy to come in and raise it and put a design on it. It’s amazing what these guys can do!
I think you need a better edger tool and you will have a nice looking edge. Not much you can do about the height without tearing it all down and starting from ground zero.
lol doesn’t seem like a “problem” to me. I’d save that time and money towards something else.
what’s wrong with it??
Could you rent a sod cutter and cut it out, dig down a few inches and put it back?
Just cut 1 row of sod, dig out the soil to the desired height. Re-install sod
The brown lawn underneath the green looks like thatch. Is it spongy when you stand on it?
You could attack it with a vertimower and put the wheels on the footpath so the blades take out the raised edge
maybe taper the lawn into the sidewalk and replant some grass? Not many options…
Aerate, machine roll then aerate again. Make sure grass is soggy-NOT mushy
+1 vote for edging
I actually love a few inches above the sidewalk look.
If you edge it right, it looks cleaner.
But Im coolseason grass so if I had a bermuda, I might want what you are talking about
Just rip it all out and start from scratch. It’ll be worth it and not a complete waste of time. Having the lawn closer to the sidewalk is what dreams are made of.
My family has managed to do it by constantly driving over the grass next to the driveway…
Just use a spade to cut the edge at a bias each year. Removing a bunch of dirt at a time.
It will keep settling over time. If you don’t like how it looks you can tamp it down a little, remembering you will likely cut that portion down again next year.
Its just multiple years of missing maintenance showing people never edged it by hand.
Rent a sod cutter, cut a wide strip out, maybe 8’. Stack cut sod onto sidewalk temporarily. Use sod cutter again on bare dirt to loosen 1-2” of dirt and remove it. Lay the previously cut sod back and water it like crazy.
I would over excavate a bit and level it all nicely with sand. After a few weeks you won’t even know it was done.
Sod cutter is a cheap rental and makes the work so much easier.
Erosion will get it. It would my yard anyway. Chop A fancy edge on it at an angle.
I’d thoroughly de thatch it and see what it’s like after, if you’ve much of a height difference once that’s done roll the shite out of the edge (when the ground is wet but not saturated) so it grades from pavement to lawn.
Rent a sod cutter, roll your grass, and then cut out the existing soil a few inches so your sod will be level with the concrete, reinstall your existing sod.
I’ve been contemplating how to lower areas of my lawn and I wonder if yearly heavy aerator and removal of the plugs would eventually start to lower the law. It would be a long term play but in theory it should work. You are removing a few inches of soil in each plug and those holes would fill back in with compression of the soil. Just don’t backfill the holes with a topper.
Looks OK, but you could do some aggressive plug aerating over the course of a couple years and collect/relocate the plugs offsite. Your lawn wont hate you for it.
Rent a sod cutter cut the sod quick, roll it up, dig the soil down a bit, re-lay the sod. You can sod cut a few rows back and feather in the elevation as you go.
Sidewalk looks fairly new. Or maybe just washed. But find out what ever is level. Or not holding pooling water. And bring the other to that spec. If you need to lower the ground. Get an edger and cut a few squares of sod out of your way to dig some dirt out from under it. Then place sod back over the now recessed lawn. If the sidewalk is lower. You can make a whole in the dirt on side of slab and put a bottle jack under it to lift and fill in with extra materials. Or drill pilot holes in the slab and fill it with foam.
Wouldn’t touch it. The work won’t be worth it. Just use a weedwhacker on the edging and don’t run your mower over it
The quick permanent fix is to yes Rent a sod cutter you knew it before posting. You don’t need to do the entire lawn just remove about three strips with the cutter so roughly 6 feet. Roll the sod setting it aside then make three more passes with the sod cutter to remove the soil.
Now reset the sod and here’s the trick use sand to fix the difference in elevation of the old sod with the sod you just relayed. Over the next 3 months keep applying sand until the grade looks smooth.
It would be easier to raise the sidewalk… the grass is attached to the earth, you can’t lower earth, if you did it would negatively affect the moon.
How about doing a gradual grading from the concrete? I would think tapering from about 12 – 16” would be enough so it would be almost negligible visually?
I use a scarafier from sun joe to ease the transition. Set it to be high to start, put one side on the sidewalk and slowly push forward. Then clean up the mess and the grass will heal quickly.
And do aeration and pick up the plugs. That will lower it a smidge and help level it too.
It doesn’t look like it’s cut at .5inch. It looks like your mower is floating on top of 1inch grass. Scalp the shit out of that grass and reset the height of cut.
What kind of mower? You need a heavy reel for that. There is a crown layer of grass in there that needs to be cut down so you can get the grass to leaf out at a lower height. No way to do it besides scalping and maintaining with super frequent mowing at your desired height.
You want the grass above your driveway and sidewalk. That way you can mow with a reel mower without having the drum grinding on the sidewalk.
Is it Bermuda grass?
lol,dude.. why?
sod cut, roll, skid steer, soil removal to desired level, compact, relay sod, now deal with drainage issues you created. idk man… yoi coul look at hhardscap9ng the edge to create a gradual transition instead?
Hollow core, don’t fill.
Let’s fix something not broken today.
I have the opposite problem, and believe me, having shit fall into your yard from the street sucks way more. Edge it every so often, and if you decide you really, really want to, cut back a few inches and add a very short “wall.”
I watered the edges really well until soft. Then drove my pick up on it. Solved!
You have created a nice layer of topsoil under your grass. Why not aerate the lawn a few times over a season and use the plugs elsewhere?
Not without extreme patience and effort on your part.
I’ll bet your lobster is too buttery, too