How To Add More Soil To Lawn

A nice, thick lawn requires salubrious soil as its base of operations, merely it'southward difficult to make changes to the soil in one case grass has been established. Virtually gardening recommendations include "working" organic matter into the soil through digging or tilling prior to planting, but this can't exist washed in one case the grass has grown. So what's a homeowner to do with an established lawn that'southward in need of some serious help?

If washed properly, the technique of "top-dressing," or adding a sparse layer of soil over your lawn, tin can ameliorate the soil without killing the existing turf. Peak-dressing addresses some common backyard problems, including:

Low spots due to rotting tree roots, settling afterward underground pipage or cablevision installation, or erosion.
Uneven terrain caused by winter freezing and thawing, h2o runoff, tunneling critters, or general soil settling over time.
Compacted soil in high-traffic areas or low-lying places where water pools.
Blank spots from variations in soil texture and nutrients, heat, drought, or other environmental damage.
Depletion of nutrients due to leaching, neglect, or repeated utilize of chemical fertilizers.

Top-dressing gradually improves soil over time. As organic affair breaks downwardly, it filters through the existing soil to meliorate texture and overall health. Meridian-dressing tin can:

Improve drainage and drought-resistance
Even out the terrain
Reduce the need for supplemental fertilizers
Transform your backyard into organic, low-maintenance, good for you turf

When to Meridian-Dress

Ideally, practice information technology in early fall or spring since you'll want to give your grass time to grow through 3-iv more mowings before severe rut or common cold, especially if you are overseeding. It tin be done all at once, or in stages. I know one meticulous gardener who height-dresses pocket-sized patches as he finds them, whereas I brought in a truckload of top-dressing mixture and had an autumn marathon.

Top-dressing involves some physical labor, simply the process is really but a few simple steps:

Step one: Aerate

Lawns should be aerated every 2-3 years, and if yours is due, commencement with a overnice core aeration. Core aeration removes plugs of soil from the ground and leaves channels for air, water, and our superlative-dressing mixture to penetrate the surface. For more information, see our article on Adventures in Aeration.

Footstep two: Prepare Your Top-Dressing

You tin can make your own top-dressing using a mixture of:

Sharp sand (not sea sand which contains lime)
Loam or topsoil (a fine crumbly soil that is neither clay nor sandy)
Peat (or compost if your soil needs a nutritional punch, but be prepared for sprouting weeds!)

For average loamy soil, mix these three ingredients equally. For applications on clay soil, reduce or eliminate the loam/topsoil. For sandy soil, reduce the sand. Your ingredients need to be dry out and sifted until there are no clumps larger than ¼".

Some other pick is to buy high-quality top-dressing mixture or bagged backyard soil. Check with your local landscape supply yard – they often take a composite topsoil mixture on hand. While you won't be able to guarantee the proportions, it's economical and sold in bulk.

Stride 3: Apply Top-Dressing

At present you're prepare to get started. Working a few square feet at a time, shovel out a small mound (mayhap two-three shovelfuls) of mixture onto your lawn.

Spread the soil using something flat, similar the dorsum side of a heavy garden rake, working it into aeration holes and covering low spots. Make sure the top-dressing is no more than 1" deep (preferably ½" or less) over the existing grass.

Go on working the mixture until your grass peeks through and the depth is fifty-fifty. I similar to flip the garden rake back and forth from the flat side to the tine side, carefully combing the grass to get the height-dressing mixture settled on the soil surface.

For low spots requiring more than a couple of inches of top-dressing, first remove the existing sod to forbid hush-hush decay that tin can impairment new grass seedlings. After filling in the low spot, either supersede the old sod or re-seed the area. You lot can also address deeper spots by adding a couple of inches of top-dressing each year, slowly building it upward over fourth dimension.

Step iv: H2o and Suit

At this point you're technically finished, but in my feel a skillful height-dressing mixture does some settling. I would recommend watering the area well (or pinnacle-dressing before a nice rain), letting the mixture settle for a day or two, then become dorsum with your rake and smooth out whatsoever little hollows or bumps that may develop.

Step 5: Plant Grass if Needed

Now you can replant grass in any blank spots. Existing grass should be able to abound through as much as an inch of top-dressing.

How Often to Peak-Dress

Problem spots may demand repeat applications, but regular, uniform top-dressing does not need to be an annual tradition. Keep in mind that you lot're adding soil, which over time will heighten your grade and affect thatch breakdown and soil environmental, so don't get overboard. Plan several calorie-free applications for troublesome yards, rather than one deep 1. For overall organic soil subpoena, a very calorie-free awarding of top-dressing brushed into aeration holes can ameliorate the soil without raising the class.

Further Information

topdressing.biz website

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