ᐅ Leveling and Preparing the Soil Before Seeding Lawn. Help! :)

Hello everyone,

We hope you can take some time to help us out. Our plot has been roughly prepared, and now it’s our turn.

Our goal is to cover the steep slopes around the edges with ground cover plants and have a nice green lawn on the main area. It doesn’t have to be an English lawn, but it would be good if there are as few uneven spots as possible. As a layperson, I have already tried to level the contours along the edges and rake the main surface. Now we have the following questions:

• How do you generally measure whether your plot slopes from left to right? I have stretched strings along the sides to build up a straight line, but this doesn’t help much for a left-to-right slope.
• We have raked over the area three times now. The larger stones are gone, but we wonder how often one should rake over it.
• So far, we have been working with a shovel and rake. However, we wonder if there is a better way to level the plot. Do you have any ideas without calling in a professional? The last rain already left some small puddles and caused more unevenness. Would a small roller help?
• We are considering whether topsoil is necessary at all. On what basis have you made that decision?
• Do you have any tips on how to stabilize the edges better? We have improved the edge by unloading a wheelbarrow of soil and spreading it where needed. Or would it be better to unload at the base of the slope and drag the soil up to the edge of the main area?
• In general, I feel that if I walked along the edges now, most of it would crumble away. Does it just need time, or is there something else we should know about?

Thank you very much for your time. We hope you can help us!

Best regards