Top Dressing For Success

What is top dressing? Top dressing (or lawn dressing) is when you add a fine soil mixture to your lawn’s surface. Top dressing is a great way to give grassy areas an extra boost and elevate your landscape’s appearance. By top dressing your turf, you’ll not only fill in dips to even out lumpy terrain; you’ll also be treating your grass to a number of benefits by improving soil quality. And that means creating a lush, smooth landscape that’s barefoot running worthy.

Top benefits of top dressing
Something as simple as a top layer across your lawn provides a host of healthy benefits, including:

• Sandy soils retain moisture better and becoming more drought resistant
• Clay soils drains better to encourage strong grass roots
• Grass produces more new shoots for a denser lawn that’s better equipped to fend off weeds and moss
• Combat disease with organic matter
• Help to reduce lawn traffic stress and compaction problems

Ready to start top dressing turf? Here’s how.
Another benefit of top dressing is that it’s pretty easy to do. No fancy top dressing equipment (just a spade and rake will do) or complicated instructions are required. But for the best results, follow these basics:

• Start out clear. If your lawn has more than a half-inch of thatch, dethatch your lawn before dressing it up. Be sure to remove the debris left after dethatching to give room for your top dress to sink in. Next, give your lawn a fresh mowing. And this time, rake out any grass clippings after – for the same reason.
• Decompress. If your lawn is highly compacted, aerating your lawn before top dressing will help the lawn absorb nutrients. If you have decent soil, you can leave the cores to decompose naturally. If the soil is poor, rake off the cores.
• Dress it up! Many use compost as their top dressing. Others prefer a mixture of loam, sand and peat. The latter can be especially helpful for soil that’s clay-like. Whichever you choose, the layer you spread should be fine to help it make its way through the grass and penetrate the soil. Use a spade to spread about one-fourth to one-half inch of top dressing, filling in any dips or holes you come across. Then gently brush the grass with the back of a rake to help the lawn dressing reach the soil. The goal should be that you don’t see dressing on top of the grass. If you see excess, remove it. And you’re done!

Prime time for top dressing
Early autumn – say, September – is the best time to top dress. If you’re serious about a super-looking lawn, top dressing should be done each year. Then you’re sure to get your grass in show-off condition.