For a lawn to thrive, it requires proper maintenance practices. These include watering, adding fertilizers, dethatching, aerating, mowing, and topdressing. A properly maintained lawn makes your space appealing and increases the value of a property.
Topdressing refers to the addition of a layer of materials on a lawn. In the early days, topdressing was done on golf courses only. The practice has then been embraced on lawns, as it offers several benefits.
What Materials Are Used for Lawn Dressing
1. Sand
Use river sand, and not sea sand. Sea sand contains salts that might kill your grass. The sand should be fine enough to penetrate through the grass. Sand greatly enhances the drainage of the soil.
2. Compost
Compost reduces soil compaction, especially on lawns with high traffic. Compacted soils don’t get sufficient water, air, and light, which are the essential requirements for proper growth. It also improves the water retention capacity of the soil. Use compost with fine particles, as it will easily penetrate through the grass. It should not contain weed seeds too.
3. Manure
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Manure adds nutrients to the soil and improves its drainage. Ensure it has dried properly before applying it. It should also be in small particles, to avoid the formation of clumps.
4. Peat moss
Peat moss improves the water retention of a lawn. It absorbs water and makes it available for the grass.it also contains a large amount of organic matter that improves the soil structure of a lawn over time.
5. Topsoil
Use topsoil to top-dress your lawn. First, test it to ensure it will provide the right growing conditions for your grass. It should have peat, sand, and clay to form a balanced combination. Sterilize the soil, too, to get rid of weed seeds and pathogens that it might contain.
When to Top Dress A Lawn
The best time to top-dress a lawn is just before the growing season begins. This includes the beginning and the middle of the spring season, and late summer. Topdressing at the end of the growing season will do more harm than good. The grass will not grow on top of the topdressing material, resulting in smothering.
Topdressing Steps
1. Aerate Your Lawn
Lawn aeration refers to soil perforation Using an aerator. If you have not aerated your lawn for long, do it before topdressing. Aerating a lawn enables the grass to get sufficient water, sunlight, and oxygen. It also helps in dethatching, as it makes it easy for soil microorganisms to get into the thatch layer and decompose it.
2. Prepare Your Topdressing Materials.
If you are using a mixture of topdressing materials, mix them at this stage., you can also purchase the mixture that is ready for use. When using sand, ensure it does not have lime, as it might cause a PH imbalance on your lawn. When using clay, the amount of sand should be more than that of loam. Ensure that the mixture does not have huge crumps, as it will be hard to penetrate through the grass.
3. Apply the Materials on Your Lawn
Use a shovel to scoop the topdressing material and spread it on your lawn. Use a rake to spread the mixture, and ensure it does not cover the grass for more than I inch.
4. Water the Lawn
Water the lawn so that the topdressing will settle. Afterward, you can use the rake to even lumps that might have formed during watering. Avoid runoff water.
If your lawn Is medium-sized, use a hand-powered top dresser, since it saves time and is less exhausting. You can also use a battery-powered top dresser. If your lawn is extensive, applying the top dress manually or using small devices can be very daunting. Use a motorized device such as dispensing wagons.
After topdressing a lawn, give it time to rest before mowing it., the top-dress layer might make mowing difficult, and can even damage your lawnmower. Give the grass enough time to grow on top of the layer.
Benefits of Top Dressing A Lawn
1. Improves Drainage
If your lawn soil has a high clay composition, it might get waterlogged easily. Grass growing in waterlogged soils does not get sufficient air circulation and will not grow healthily. Topdressing it using sand will improve the drainage, and waterlogging will no longer be a problem.
2. Prevent Thatch Buildup
Thatch builds up in a lawn due to frequent mowing. It prevents the lower parts of grass from receiving sufficient sunlight, water from irrigation and rain, and air. Topdressing a lawn decomposes the thatch. It is actually advantageous since the decomposed materials act as organic matter to the soil and increase its fertility.
3. Improve Lawn Fertility
When you use a topdressing material with nutrients, it replenishes the lost nutrients in a lawn and increases soil fertility.
4. Maintain A Leveled Lawn
A lawn will get deep patches over time due to various reasons such as overwatering. When the patches are not very deep, topdressing them is an effective option. If the patches are very deep, you may have to reseed them as the grass cannot grow on top of the topdressing layer.
Precautions When Topdressing A Lawn
- Do not use excess materials. If you topdress for more than 1 inch, the grass will not grow above the new layer and will end up getting smothered.
- Always sieve the topdressing materials before spreading. This gets rid of large particles that might prevent grass from growing.
- When using compost, always make sure it is sterilized. Unsterilized compost may contain weed seeds that will emerge after some time, and weeds will cover your lawn within no time.
- Do not topdress a recently planted lawn. The grass root system has not gained enough strength and can easily suffocate. To be safe, topdress it after three years.
Topdressing a lawn offers it with so many benefits. Just do it the right way, using the right materials and proper timing. And you know what? You do not have to topdress it frequently. When you maintain a lawn properly, you might only need to topdress once in a year.
Frequently Asked Questions
When you should topdress a lawn depends on several factors such as its traffic and type of soil. When you maintain the lawn properly, you may not need to topdress before a year is over.
Give the lawn enough time for the topdressing layer to settle before mowing. This should last at least a week.
The best materials to use when topdressing a lawn depends on many factors, such as drainage and PH of the soil. Always conduct a soil test before topdressing, identifying what it is missing, and using it to topdress.
Topdressing a lawn offers several benefits to a lawn. It improves its drainage, air circulation, and levels it.
In winter, the grass is usually in an inactive stage, meaning that it does not grow. The grass will not grow over the topdressing layer and will remain covered for long. It won’t get access to oxygen and water and will eventually die.
