Use pretty much anything that’s comfortable for you to lift and allows you to move a lot of compost. In general, you should be fine to use almost any type of spreadable material in any lawn seed spreader. However, there are exceptions to this rule. After top dressing your lawn, these microbes break down the thatch, freeing the trapped water and air (and saving you a weekend of work). Leveling the Lawn In our latest article, the lawn care specialists at the UKLCA have put together our top 5 autumn lawn care tips. Why Is Autumn Lawn Care Important? When it comes to topdressing putting greens and other smaller areas, you want a topdressing tool that makes the process work seamlessly.

It helps reduce thatch — Golfers want a smooth surface to play on, and you can only achieve that when you don’t have a lot of thatch. Plus, thatch causes problems to turfgrass by smothering the crowns at the soil line—too much thatch results in turf diseases. Start by mowing the lawn in two or three directions, lowering the mower each time to remove and collect the top growth of grass. improvement of soil biology, by adding in the beneficial micro-organisms which are present in compost Once the top dressing has been applied to the lawn, be sure to water the lawn daily during spells of dry weather. 8. Mowing It’s designed to spread a thin layer of peat moss over seed, but will work well for finely screened compost as well.

Planning & Preparation for Top Dressing

A broadcast spreader has a spinning wheel attached beneath a single hole from which the compost drops. When the wheel spins, it tosses seed or fertilizer across the lawn instead of dropping it beneath the spreader directly. Why should you topdress your greens throughout the growing season? Here are the benefits for regular topdressing: Although other materials can be used for top dressing, compost takes the number one spot, and it’s what I always use on my lawn. Not all lawns need dethatching, and if your lawn isn’t plagued by heavy thatch, compost contains microbes that digest the thatch you do have, meaning you’ll probably never have choose the best dethatcher and mechanically dethatch your yard.

On a hand spreader, there’s normally a switch you can turn to control how much is released with each rotation of the handle. Yeah, I’m a big proponent of taking your time and top-dressing little-by-little to build your soil. What you’ve described will work well, and might work even better if you add screened compost, which will probably accelerate your timeline. I’d also try adding some biochar (I like this one from The Andersons) to build your soil and help hold the nutrients you spread to ensure your grass has access to them and they aren’t simply running off. Top dressing is a great way to add organic matter and nutrients to the topsoil. I prefer it to using bags of lawn fertilizer … even organic lawn fertilizer. Our members’ knowledge of the lawn sector is second to none, meaning they can give professional advice to help you. However, in this instance, our winter lawn care tips include: Reduce Mowing In terms of price, this spreader is about in between the two others we just reviewed. It’s made of plastic, but it’s a more sturdy material than you’ll find on the Scotts spreader we looked at earlier.The fungus produces white patches which, in severe cases, can turn pink; unfortunately the only way to avoid these diseases is to try and keep snow off the lawn which frankly is difficult. This is the process of adding material to the surface of the lawn grass; usually loam or sandy loam mixes, sand or organic material Also, if you grow clover on your lawn, you won’t need to apply extra synthetic fertilizers. Clover naturally adds nitrogen into your soil and replenishes it throughout the season. Breaks Down Thatch

I don’t recommend that you use fine sand over coarse-textured soil unless you’re trying to do some light leveling in your yard. Note that with a drop spreader, the size of your lawn feed pellets or salt granules aren’t such a big deal. This is because you can simply widen the opening to allow larger pellets to flow more freely while ensuring a good spread width. How to use a lawn spreader – the right way If you don’t match the topdressing to the existing soil profile, you increase the chances of poor turfgrass quality and uneven play. And the golfers who play on your greens will let you know their displeasure of the rough playing surface.

I recommend this one from West Coast Seeds. I actually have an entire article about Micro Clover lawns you may be interested in as well. I recommend the Pipolina raw seed. There is a slight downside to this automated design though – it’s slightly less precise. Although you can control the spreading rate with the trigger on the handle, you can be more precise when rotating a handle.

if no rain is in the forecast, you should water your lawn after top-dressing, to ensure that the compost seeps into the soil

Follow up

However, they can be raked up if you don’t want these to be trodden into the surface, paths or patios.