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Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2007 6:12 pm
by Ramsey
Hi,
I have just finished excavating an area of land and have made it fairly flat. I mainly just used a 1.5t mini-digger and the bull-dozer bit on the front of it. Now, however, I need to get it much flatter in order to lay turf.
Is there any tool or plant that will help me to do this other than a shovel and rake? I have heard of people using bobcats or sod-cutters, but I'm not sure these would really be much better than a mini-digger (as it is already fairly flat).
Many thanks,
Ramsey 
Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2007 7:49 pm
by Pablo
Wait till the spring and rotavate it bobcats etc are too heavy to put onto soil at this time of year and will compact the ground so that water won't drain freely. Your digger has probably damaged the soil structure already so it will need rotavating anyway. Plant machinery takes a lot of skill to do this sort of thing even when conditions are perfect.
Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2007 7:51 pm
by surreyhillslandscapes.com
Shovel and big landscaping rake is all I can think of but if you use a rotorvator on it first it would help to loosen up the soil and make it easier to rake. either that or grade it out with the bucket of your machine. Think a bobcat would make a lot of mess..
Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2007 8:48 pm
by DeckmanAdam
If its turned over and raked out roughly to your level then running a screed rail over it works well.
Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2007 10:19 pm
by Stuarty
Rotovator, landscape rake and elbow grease. A good eye helps too. An area for turf never comes straight from the back of a machine.
Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2008 7:44 pm
by Artisan
What you really need is one of these....
Powerharrow
Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2008 10:02 pm
by Pablo
They have their uses but the ground still needs to be broken up and levelled and warm and dry before you use it . It saves you the work in raking a tilth into the soil but you still need to rake once you've used it to give a perfect finish. Quite heavy too.
Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2008 6:32 am
by seanandruby
I watched a gardener a few years ago. He had an old ladder 3 metres long, he weighted it down with a couple of blocks, tied two pieces of rope to it. He pulled it up and down, back and forth till it was level. It seemed hard work ( isn't it always? ) but it did a good job. He said " it had to be the one with the rebated square edge"
Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2008 3:23 pm
by Stuarty
At work we have 2 machines similar to what Artisan posted, we have the cultivator and the power harrow, both are good in their own right but they dont take the need away for rakes. If it is very tough ground we run over it with the cultivator and then break up the lumps and roughly level off with the harrows. Only problem with out cultivator is its a metre wide - too wide to drive through almost all residential gates. And taking the head off of it to lift it in is just a pain in the arse.
Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2008 4:17 pm
by DeckmanAdam
seanandruby wrote:I watched a gardener a few years ago. He had an old ladder 3 metres long, he weighted it down with a couple of blocks, tied two pieces of rope to it. He pulled it up and down, back and forth till it was level. It seemed hard work ( isn't it always? ) but it did a good job. He said " it had to be the one with the rebated square edge"
Thats simliar to what we do, after its been turned over broken up and compacted.
Use a 14' of 6x2 pull down and drag it across with two or three men on it....looks lovely on the eye when its turfed.