Ideally you wouldn’t have to do this in the first place. By laying quality sand and soil at the beginning before laying lawn down will hopefully avoid this process altogether. But if you want to improve your lawn and soil, then continue reading.
A healthy lawn requires healthy soil, but it’s often difficult with an already established lawn in place. This is where top-dressing comes in. Top dressing can help with:
- Uneven terrain caused during the cooler seasons by freezing and thawing, run-off, tunnelling insects and bugs, and soil settling over longer periods of time.
- Nutrient deficiencies caused by leaching, neglect, or use of chemical fertilzers
- General environmental damage causing bare spots, in turn caused by variations in soil texture and nutrients, drought or heat
- Low spot areas, particularly with those who have rotting tree roots or underground pipe erosion
Top-dressing is a method that gradually improves soil over time. As the soil breaks down , it filters through the existing soil – improving its texture and general health. This is only the beginning when it comes to the best lawn & garden tips. Check out a couple more below:
Ideal Time to Consider Top-Dressing
Autumn is the ideal time to consider top-dressing your lawn. This gives your grass some time to grow through three to four mowing’s and before the peak of summer and winter hit. Top-dressing can all be done at once or in stages, this entirely depends on you. Some like to plug away at it and get little bits of soil delivered at a time, whilst others prefer to order a big truckload and do it all at once. Either way the choice is yours. Here you will find more on the top-dressing process.
How Often Should You Top-Dress?
This really depends on your lawn and location of your home. Troublesome areas may require more attention and repeated application, however you still don’t need to do every year. The reason being is that each time you top-dress you are adding moer soil, which over time raises your grade and can affect thatch breakdown and therefore overall soil ecology. Therefore, it is essential to not go overboard. A good approach is to plan ahead. More frequent but lighter applications for troublesome yards will go a lot further as opposed to one deep application. For overall organic soil amendment, a very light application of top-dressing brushed into aeration holes can improve the soil without raising the grade.