A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2004 Trying to level out yard

We moved into our house a year ago and they yard had nothing but pecan shells, rocks and a pond. We have been slowly clearing everything out (except pond) to redo the yard. The yard is in desperate need of being leveled. Is there any kind of tool someone could recommend to help with this process. We brought a bobcat in to help dig up the oleanders and realized that the bobcat was too big for our yard. Because of the pond and shed, the bobcat wasn't much help. So, is there anything else that could help with this process?

Thank you

Hmmmm
A long 3 ft or longer level
strings
stakes
a flat rake


I leveled my pool.I haven't even THOUGHT of a yard....but do have a low spot in yard& could fix with these items
Ya ever golf? that can help...ya know see how the ball lies.
you didn't say how big of an area.
Do you have drainage problems?
you could break it into areas to do.
what kind of pond?
got any pics?
looked at it after a real heavy rainfall or after days of lots of rainfall?

Hope ya saved the rocks...could use with pond or garden beds....wish I'd saved more concrete chuncks......for beds

Best thing to do would be to call someone with a tractor and a scrape blade! They can do a great job if they know what they're doing, and it doesn't take long. My husband does all kinds of tractor work and this is one of the things that he does. He has to get a new blade though....someone stole his while we were out one day. As soon as he gets another one, he will be doing our yard. Check your local paper for listings of people who do that kind of work. There are usually 4-5 ads like that in my local paper!

I leveled my yard with a rototiller and a rake. I used stakes and string and a string level to get my level mark, and just kept raking it back until it was were I wanted it. A lot of work if you have a large area though.

I didn't think abut the tractor& should have...being we got one& we grade our road out here with it.(tx rain can do wonders to dirt roads)& he's right...gotta be sure they know what their doing..we got one of them "think -he-knows-how-to-grade-the-road"and when he does.folks call us up to go fix his crap so can drive though it(he who thinks he knows is doing what he knows not with a back hoe....a HUGE one)

so have you tackled it yet?

Thanks for the reply's. We actually just thought of the rototiller idea. The area is just to difficult to get equipment in and around. So the rototiller it is.

Thanks
Rebekah

Rototiller + rakes + elbow grease worked for me. Get plenty of help if you are doing a large area. I had 4 friends help me. Plenty of cold beer and a BBQ after worked wonders.

Njoynit is sure right about the backhoe! They definitely are not the tool for road (or any other type of) grading. We always use the dozer for that. The tiller is the ticket for what you want to do. And LateShift's idea about the friends is the ticket! The beer and bar-b-q will get the friends there! (Tell them it's BYOR..."Bring Your Own Rake!)