Lumpy lawn

[Rick]

I grew up in Long Island where they have a very sandy soil that allowed a lawn to grow very uniform without bumbs or lumps in the soil. I now live in Pennsylvania where we have a soil very heavy with clay. My lawn grows ok but the ground is very lumpy and bumpy when you walk on it. Further more the clay soil seems to cake and crack and push itself up in lumps when it freezes in winter.Is there anything I can do to make a better foundation, other than shipping in new top soil and starting all over.

[Beecrofter]

Keep adding organic material to build the tilth of the soil. This includes returning the clippings to the soil. If you have access to mushroom compost or municipal compost top dressing the lawn would work very well. But cutting often enough so that the clippings can lay there and rot and also mowing the fall leaves will go a long way towards improving your lawn soil.