Read on to discover how, when, and why you should topdress your lawn. It decreases the chance of moss and weed infestations. When you topdress, it helps break down thatch and grass clippings. It also allows the soil to retain moisture, especially during dry weather, and drains away excess moisture during heavy rainfall. Your garden is not aging, it just needs regular nurturing. Call us and we will nurture it. For a very bumpy yard with clay soil I would recommend core aerating and then top dressing with pure compost.
For a very bumpy lawn you might have to repeat the process next year, but eventually you should be able to smooth it out a lot. I would stay away from rolling it, especially since you have clay soil. That will cause even more compaction. Instead core aerating and top dressing will help work compost into the soil and that will help considerably with drainage and compaction issues.
They are designed purely to remove thatch. Your idea of core aerating and top dressing with compost is the right way to go! Great article. Exactly what I want to read.
I have a mostly dead yard of mixed grass and weeds. Clay soil. Thinking mostly compost? Low maintenance can survive in part sun. Thinking zoysia? Hi Kyle, before killing off the lawn chemically, I highly recommend looking into a sod cutter rental. They do such a neat job and you can scrape out the root system of the old lawn. People usually underestimate how much work is still left after killing their grass of with chemicals. You still have to get the dead grass, and ideally the root system out.
Once all that is removed, I agree compost is a good choice. If you really wanted to amend the soil you could put a top layer of compost down and till it into the soil and then put a final layer of compost on top that just gets raked out.
Also, I agree Zoysia sound like a good choice. Pretty low maintenance and tough. Is great in full sun but can handle some partial shade. Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately a previous owner used sod years ago and left the layer of nylon netting that is now about an inch or so below the surface.
I am also dealing with a lot of small corners and edges. I understand… then by all means try your top dressing approach. Another option is to spot spray or blanket spray the whole lawn with a product like Ortho Weed B Gone leading up to your lawn renovation.
This will kill weeds but leave the desirable grass. Then you can top dress the whole lawn and seed. Much better then nuking the whole lawn. Just a thought, hope that helps! Thanks again. Might this be an alternative to chemical?
My understanding is you can burn your warm season lawn in late winter early spring right before its ready to come out of dormancy. This kills weeds and thatch but my understanding is the grass comes back and the char acts as a natural fertilizer.
If you go down this route check locally to see if there are any restrictions on this due to safety. I just did a top dressing on my lawn of compost and half of my lawn has turned brown. Hi Josh, where are you located? It could be a number of different things, and could even be a temporary shock. If you spread the compost too thick it could suffocate existing grass. Also if the compost you put down is still breaking down it could be given off too much heat.
Bumpy lawn, lots of dandelions, some bare spots, and just had a new concrete driveway put in yesterday so that area needs grass. I do aerate spring and fall for the past 3 years. Take your lawn from bare and brown to thick and thriving with the best top dressing tips, straight from the lawn experts.
When it comes to lawns, keeping them lush and plush usually means applying a heap of synthetic fertilisers and pesticides. While this is an accepted practice, you can achieve just as great results by regularly top dressing and using a few core natural products to help improve the health of your soil.
This process is called top dressing, and many homeowners use this method as a sustainable way to keep their lawns healthy and thriving. Your lawn needs regular feeding so that the grass grows thick and evenly distributed. Top dressing, when combined with nutrient-rich organic based fertilisers , such as Activ8mate or Power Pellets can be a powerhouse booster for your turf. Depending on your turfgrass and the soil composition of your lawn, you can use sand, finely screened compost, topsoil, or a combination of these options.
Sand is a good antidote to thick clay soils, and is usually used to level uneven lawns. Top dressing your lawn with sand helps improve drainage and loosen soil density. This is the reason why you see sand used mostly in golf courses and other man-made terrains.
Lawn care providers recommend using yellow sand for top dressing because of its high porosity and good drainage potential. Compost is the best soil for top dressing your lawn. It is rich in nutrients that your turf needs for growth. Your lawn will benefit a lot from the organic matter found in compost, provided it is finished and has fillers mixed in. To know if your compost is completely finished, check that the colour, consistency, and smell are similar to soil.
If it still resembles rotten fruits and vegetables, allow your compost to mature a little bit longer. Composted soil will help improve a clay soil, but it also helps sandy soils retain more nutrients and attract additional beneficial microbes. Topsoil has a similar composition and consistency as that of planting soil.
The best type of sand for topdressing is one with a medium particle size which is neither too fine nor too coarse. This type of topsoil is good for smoothing and levelling the lawn's surface and also helps improve soil composition.
Go for quality sphagnum or finely sieved sedge peat. Adding peat-based topdressing to your lawn can acidify the soil and discourage the spread of worms. So if your lawn has huge amounts of worm casts, peat topdressing is the way to go. The loam used in topdressing should be of a higher quality and finely graded. It must be neither sandy nor too much like clay in substance. Loam top dressing is ideal for a cricket pitch as although hard, grass still grows on it.
If you have a lawn rich in sand content it can suffer from drought in the drier seasons and would, therefore, require some peat-based topdressing to improve it. And vice versa, if you have a wet lawn, adding sand can improve the drainage.
Here are the most common mixtures used:. Such lawns are very free-draining and are prone to drought during the hotter seasons. So opt for topdressing which is four parts loam, three parts peat and one part sand.
These types of lawns suffer from drainage issues, during the wetter seasons. So go for a topdressing mixture consisting of two parts loam, one part peat and four parts sand.
You can easily identify the type of soil you have by simply using your hands. Just pick up a handful of it and squeeze it together.
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