Lumpy Lawn

I enjoy walking through my grass barefoot and feeling the cool grass between my toes.

My problem is that I purchased a house that has a lawn with very lumpy ground.  Not sure at this point if it is dirt or soil.  This is not very comfortable to walk or nap on.  (O yeah, I like to nap on my lawn, too.)

Any suggestions on how to de-lump my lawn?  I have considered rolling, but that apparently compacts the soil and that is BAD.  I am considering aerating the lawn but am not sure if that will actually solve the lumpy issue.  Besides it will cost $65 to rent the plugger.

Thank you in advance for the advice.

Aerating will make it extra, extra lumpy.

Two general approaches:

1)  make the surface smooth.  It will still be hard, but there are ways to eliminate the lumps.

2)  make the soil soft.  When you walk around and step on a lump, it will smash flat and you won't really notice it.

I think you should aspire for number 2.  It's a longer term solution and will have other benefits.

I think that the key to getting number 2 is going to be to add organic matter to your soil and encourage earthworms. 

Are you already mowing high?

Thank you for the response.

I have been mowing high the entire year that I have been there.  I have it on the highest setting of my mower which is about 3 inches. Unfortunately I have an acre and use a riding mower that has mulching blades but still has the chute attached.  Therefore, it does not qualify as a mulching mower.

I have NO idea what type of grass is there other then there is a lot of clover.  The house was built in the 1950's and I am pretty sure the people that lived there the five years before me could not have cared less about the lawn.

Since I fit into the cheap and lazy category this is a really good site for me.  The one thing that I am considering is taking the tons of leaves that get dumped on my lawn and instead of hauling them off to the back fence to sit for the next several years I will spread them out and use my push mulching mower on the highest setting to pulverize the pieces.

Based on your #2 suggestion would this be the best way to get a nice soft lawn?

Mulching leaves into your lawn would be an excellent approach!

what about just leaving last fall's leaves? is that ok?

I think that depends. Mulching last fall's leaves would probably be a good thing. How many leaves fell on the area last fall? If you have a big pile of leaves from last fall, that would probably not be good for the grass under the pile.

If you leave the leaves, it is very good for the tree and will smother the grass. 

so put the leaves where there used to be mulch around the tree?

Trees tends to mulch themselves perfectly!

If you wish to have grass under your trees, you will probably want to run a mulching mower over some dry leaves.  That way, the grass can grow up between the leaf bits.  Otherwise, the leaves will smother the grass so that the tree is not competing with the leaves.