A beautiful garden helps to improve the overall look and feel of any home, and the lawn is just as important. There’s no point in having beautiful blooming flowers if the grass is unkempt, overgrown, or dead.
Sometimes, you might find that your lawn needs work, but this can be difficult once the grass has begun to grow. Problems with your soil could include depletion of nutrients, bare spots, compacted soil, uneven patches, or low spots. All of this results in your lawn, quite simply, not looking as good as it could. As you head into summer, with BBQs and summer parties right around the corner, it’s important for your lawn to be looking its best.
If you think your lawn could do with some work, there is a solution! Top dressing is a commonly used solution to fix this problem when the grass has already grown. Read on to find out more about top dressing your lawn and if it’s right for you.
Why Is Top Dressing Useful?
Using top soil dressing works over time, gradually improving your soil. There are many benefits to using top dressing, which includes:
- Improving drainage
- Improving drought-resistance
- Helping to even out the terrain
- Helping to make your lawn into low-maintenance
- Improving the health of your lawn
- Reducing the need for supplemental fertilizers
- Increasing nutrient retention
- Increasing disease and pest resistance
Top soil is usually made from organic material that is high in nutrients. This can include amounts of clay, sand and silt.
When Should You Do It?
First off, there are only two reasons why you would need to top dress your soil. Firstly, this is if your lawn is uneven or there are indentations on the surface, and secondly, if you are looking to add nutrients to the soil as part of a lawn care regime.
If you are not doing either of these two things, top dressing isn’t required. If done incorrectly or when not required, it could, in fact, damage your lawn. There are two ways to top dress your lawn. You can either do small patches are you find them, or do it all at once.
However, regardless of how you choose to do it, you want to do this during the growing season, and the earlier the better. You want to be doing it when you’re most frequently mowing your lawn (when you mow about once a week). Do not top dress when the lawn is in its dormant phase, or you run the risk of damaging or killing the lawn completely.
You should avoid top dressing if rain is forecast, as this can make the dressing difficult to deal with. It is also recommended that a week or two prior to top dressing your lawn that you apply fertilizer to your lawn. This will help to assist with the lawn’s growth and help the turf to push through the top dressing quicker and easier.
Also, remember to water your lawn once you have finished applying the top dressing. This will help to give the lawn a boost. Make sure to continue to regularly water in the coming weeks as well.
How Often Should You Do It?
You’ll only really be top dressing when you see a problem, so it doesn’t need to become something you do every year. It is usually done to correct poor preparation and a lack of soil underneath the grass or to help fill in low spots or uneven patches.
If you find you have trouble spots that keep reoccurring, these might need repeat applications. Make sure to not go overboard; you’re adding soil, so this can raise your grade and affect soil ecology.
There was once a myth that top dressing should be done every Spring, however, if your lawn has no problems you won’t have to do so at all. If you decide that you want to improve the surface of your lawn or add nutrients, you’ll want to be sure to follow the advice above for the best results possible!
Start Shopping for Lawn Care Supplies!
Does Copper Tape Stop Slugs?
Does copper tape stop slugs? The answer is yes. And you can use this simple solution to keep your plants safe from those slimy plant-eating pests. Repel Slimy Garden Invaders Without Harm Despite being relatively small and very slow-moving, slugs can do a lot of...
Coffee Grounds For Flowers
For many of us, there’s nothing we’d rather do than relax with a cup of coffee near the flower garden. Most people don’t realize however that the grounds used to make our coffee can help to increase the health and beauty of our garden. Here’s what you’ll need to know...
Coffee Grounds For Roses
Using coffee grounds for roses is a fabulous way to improve the health of your plants, helping them to produce those gorgeous flowers you’ve been dreaming of. But there are a few things you’ll need to know before getting started. Conditions Roses Prefer Roses do best...
Do Roses Like Coffee Grounds?
Do roses like coffee grounds? This is something many gardeners wonder about, especially since feeding roses coffee grounds has been a practice that’s been around a very long time. The answer is yes they do, and here’s what you’ll want to know. Roses And Acidic Soil...
How To Use Coffee Grounds For Grass
You’ll want to think twice before you toss your used coffee grounds in the trash every day. Those grounds can actually be used to feed and increase the health of your lawn. Here’s everything you’ll want to know about using coffee grounds for grass. Advantages Of...
Are Coffee Grounds Good For Grass?
Are coffee grounds good for grass? The answer is yes, so you may want to think twice before throwing away your used grounds after your morning cup of coffee. Instead, you can put them to work helping increase the beauty of your lawn. Benefits Of Using Coffee Grounds...
Are Worms Good For Your Lawn?
Despite their slimy looks worms are well-known for being very helpful in the garden. But are worms good for your lawn? You bet they are, and here’s why! Aeration As worms travel from place to place in the soil below your lawn, they create a maze of tunnels. And those...
How To Use Coffee Grounds For Snails
You don’t have to kill those annoying garden snails in order to keep them from eating your plants. In fact, you can use your morning coffee as a non-lethal weapon against them. When they come into contact with your coffee grounds snails will turn right around and...
How To Use Coffee Grounds For Ants
There are endless sprays and poisons you can use to get rid of ants. However, you won’t have to look any further than your morning cup of coffee if you’d like a repellent that doesn’t contain any harmful chemicals. By using coffee grounds ants will stay away and kids...
Which Plants Like Coffee Grounds?
While using coffee grounds in the garden offers quite a few benefits, they can be slightly acid and therefore not appropriate for all plants. So which plants like coffee grounds? Here’s what you’ll need to know. The Basics Of Coffee Grounds Coffee grounds contain...
Coffee Grounds And Hydrangeas
While many people love their hydrangeas, they often would love them even more if they were blue. Luckily the grounds from your morning cup of coffee can help you to achieve those gorgeous blue blooms. Here’s what you’ll need to know about coffee grounds and...
Coffee Grounds For Worms
Worms are an extremely helpful component of any compost bin or pile, not to mention worm farms. And it turns your morning cup of coffee can contribute to their diet. Using coffee grounds for worms is an easy way to keep them from heading to the local landfill while...
Using Coffee Grounds In The Garden
Your morning cup of coffee can help you to not only start your day off right, but in the garden as well. The grounds used to make it have many important properties that are ideal for both plants and soil. By using your coffee grounds in the garden you’ll be able to...
Using Coffee Grounds In Compost
It’s estimated that over two billion cups of coffee are consumed around the world each and every day. And that’s an enormous volume of grounds which are used and then tossed in the trash. By using coffee grounds in compost instead, you can help cut down on waste and...
Used Tea Bags In The Garden
Many people don’t realize that once you’ve had a cup of tea, your tea bag can be used again in quite a few other ways. There are actually many great uses for used tea bags in the garden. And here are some of the best! Free Natural Fertilizer The tea leaves and...
Used Tea Bags In The Compost
The next time you have your daily cup of tea, you may want to think twice about throwing that tea bag in the trash. Instead of contributing extra waste to landfills, you can help the environment and your garden by placing used tea bags in the compost. But before you...
5 Eco-Unfriendly Things You Do That Kill Your Garden
Any budding gardener out there wants to do the best for their garden and their plants. But are you accidentally causing it harm? Here are five eco-friendly things you do that kill your garden: Buying Plants that Contain Pesticides You may not use pesticides yourself...
7 Reasons You Need to Start Gardening Now
Looking for a fun hobby to help you relax? Get outside and get to work in a garden. Gardening has a variety of benefits for your mental, physical and spiritual health. Wondering how tending to plants can help you tend to your health? Here are seven ways gardening can...
Quick Tips To Speed Up Compost Times
Compost is an excellent soil conditioner and natural fertilizer. However, it can take quite a while for it to break down into a form that you can use. Luckily there are a handful of simple things you can do to help speed up compost times without much effort. Size In...
6 Common Types Of Soil Deficiency And How To Solve Them
Unfortunately, not all soil has the nutrients that plants need to grow and thrive. In some cases, it may be lacking in one area or another and therefore need a boost. Here are the most common types of soil deficiency and the best ways to deal with each of them....