Top Dressing
Top Dressing encourages new basal growth of the grass plants - giving a thicker sward of grass. Top Dressing is also a good way to 'level out' the bumps and hollows in an uneven lawn.
Top dressing is normally carried out in mid spring. It can be done at any time in the growing season (March-October), but is normally done in the spring which results in lush lawn growth.
The type of top dressing mix to be used varies according to your basic soil type. Normally, it consists of equal parts of sifted top-soil, sharp sand and peat. (If the lawn is in need of a feed, use multi-purpose compost instead of peat! (It it often cheaper as well as being more ecologically friendly!) For Lawns on heavier soil, I would leave out the soil in the mix, and use 50/50 sharp sand and peat (or multi-purpose compost).Mix the ingredients well - on a dry day - ensuring that there are no lumps in the mix. Lightly spread to mix over the lawn and using a rake ( I find the back of my wide rake makes it easy to spread the mix and 'brush' it into the grasses of the lawn). A good stiff broom will also do the trick. Make sure that the mix goes down into the sward so that the grass is just showing through. It is better to do it lightly and in several applications throughout the season, rather than 'smother' the lawn grass in one go!
For those little hollows, apply a little extra mix. Again not too much. Far better to do these in several applications throughout the season.
© copyright 1999, P. A. Owen
Top