How do I fill large holes in the yard?

Fill them up with dirt or soil. They will continue to sink until such time as soil becomes as compacted as the surrounding area.

Fill the hole with fill soil to within 1 inch of ground level, using a garden spade or scoop shovel. Mix together equal parts fill dirt and compost with a garden fork. The amount of fill dirt and compost you need depends on the size of the hole.

When I've filled holes in the yard, I've always put in some topsoil, then tamped down (there's a tool for this), then added more topsoil, repeat the tamping, etc. Invariably, rain and time settles the soil, and I've always needed to add more. So if you have a lot of holes, you could get topsoil delivered by truck and have it dumped where you can take wheelbarrows of it to the yard, and keep some on hand for refilling the holes as they sink.

The only other thing I can think of is to have the whole yard dug and leveled, adding topsoil as necessary.

Beverly,

The gravel will not prevent sinking. As suggested, you need to tamp the soil to match the surrounding areas. If a square tamping tool is to big or heavy for you to manage, take a length of scrap 2x4 and make it a comfortable length so you are not bending over to far. Use it to tamp the soil. You can also take to pieces the same length, screw them together and use them both at the same time, which will give you more tamping surface.

Hi Beverly. I'm Cindy. I would not put rocks in the holes. Sooner or later some will come to the surface. And you don't want your lawn mower to shoot out any rocks. It could be very dangerous and it might take chunks out of the lawn mower's blade. Fill the holes with fill dirt almost to the top. Then mix one part each of top soil, manure, and sand. Then mix in some grass seed and top the holes off with this mix. Keep them watered and you will see new grass in approx 6 weeks. Good luck Beverly.

Hi Beverly, we had a similar problem when we moved into our home years ago. Your best bet is to mix up some topsoil and sand and/or compost. Fill the holes and trample it down hard to compact as much as possible. Fill again and repeat. You may find a small indent after the first rains so save some of the soil mixture to repeat again.

We had an issue after we had our cesspool replaced. They left a deep hole over the old one. We just kept filling it with dirt and tamping it down. It would get wet and settle and we would add more dirt. It took about a full year of weather changes to fully settle.

Sounds like you just need to get more soil and fill the holes. You may have to do this more than once since the first fill will most likely compact down and you'll need to add some more later in the season. After that, then you can add grass seed and try to get your lawn back to normal again.

Find soil and fill the holes with this. Wait awhile as the soil will settle, then add more. Then you could sprinkle grass seed on top and water.

Have a landscaping supply company drop off a load of soil and refill the holes. It will settle so you might have to top off again after a year or so.

If you can find fill dirt or good topsoil so you can fill these holes, tap them down and keep up the process after each rain. Plant grass seeds in the late fall or early spring so they can establish a good root system.

Depending on how deep the holes are, mitigating how much the fill material sinks over time can be done by tamping (soil should be very moist for best compaction), but tamping only reaches 2"-3" depth at a time, so you may need repeat "layers". Frequent heavy watering also speeds up compaction. Adding sand to your fill mixture will help in the long run, because soil breaks down (settles) over time, whereas sand remains stable. That's why sand is used to level golf turf. Yet, while soil compaction mitigates the problem of settling (sinking) over time, it creates a problem for new grass (which requires looser soil to grow well). I've had to make the same choice myself and would rather have healthy grass and adjust spots that settle later, versus grass that struggles to thrive in areas filled with highly compacted soil.

IF YOU HAVE BORDERS OR FLOWER BEDS, USE SOME OF THAT SOIL AND THEN REPLACE FROM DONNER SITE WITH cOMPOST!

Fill the holes with gravel at the bottom, then top with a mix of topsoil and compost. Pack it down well, and add more as it settles. Plant grass to help with stabilization.

Soil compacted down.

Since this is a new home to you, you might consider making a landscape plan for the yard and then purchase and install plantings before filling in all the holes that were left by the previous owner's dogs. That may keep you from doing a bunch of extra work. It will take some time before the holes filled in by soil will be level throughout but you might consider building some berms, very large rocks, etc. for interest. Your County Cooperative Extension Agent's office can be a huge help in advising you about soil testing, plants that work well in your area, etc.

I had the same issue when we moved into our place. What worked for us was filling the holes with a mix of soil and some gravel. It helps with drainage and keeps the ground from sinking. I packed it down pretty well, then topped it off with some fresh topsoil. We seeded it and watered it regularly until the grass came back. It took a little patience, but it worked out nicely.

I would put gravel in them and then top it with good soil.

For filling in those holes, you can start by raking out any loose debris. Then, fill the holes with a mix of topsoil and compost to help with drainage and support new grass growth. Tamp it down well so it doesn’t sink again, and consider adding some grass seed on top to blend it in.

Hello Beverly: Sometimes you can get free, clean fill dirt to fill the holes. I wouldn't use stones or rocks, but just dirt and pack it pretty good. You may even fill the holes 1/4 of the way and water it well and then add more dirt to 1/2 way and water and 3/4 of the way and then all the way. This will give the dirt an opportunity to sink in and compact.

Fill the holes with the material that has been removed because of the dogs digging, and tamp down!