How to Top Dress Your Lawn - Turfco (2024)

FAQs

What is the best way to top dress a lawn? ›

You can apply top dressing using a shovel in small piles around the lawn or with a composter or fertilizer spreader. The goal is to distribute the top dressing quickly and evenly. Distribute the compost about 1/2-inch deep. Gently hand rake as you go to settle the compost evenly throughout the grass.

Compost: Well-rotted compost is a great option for top dressing a lawn. It adds organic matter and improves soil structure, making it easier for roots to penetrate the soil. Sand: If your soil is heavy clay and with poor drainage, adding sand to the top dressing can help to improve water movement.

To give your lawn that extra nutrient boost and speed up recovery, you'll need some extra lawn-care products like a lawn fertilizer and biostimulants. It's best to apply them after core aeration but before top dressing for best results. Related: What Is a Lawn Biostimulant and Why Are They Important?

It is usually best to top dress in spring or as soon as you have reached your regular weekly mow. The earlier in the growing season the better. Generally late spring to early summer is best.

After aerating, it's time for top dressing: spread either pulverized top soil or a good quality humus compost across the lawn. You don't need much—about a quarter inch or so is adequate. Then, go ahead and reseed. Be sure to invest some money in the seed and get good quality, weed-free seed.

After your lawn is scalped and before the new growth starts is the perfect time to top dress your lawn. The term top dressing refers to putting down a sand and dirt mixture over your entire lawn. This will help level the low spots in your lawn providing a better more even cut each time your lawn is mowed.

Topdressing is the best way to rejuvenate your lawn without pulling up all your grass (which is a pain) and starting over. As your grass grows through the layer of topdressing, the organic material is incorporated into the soil beneath it, adding nutrients and improving soil quality.

Lawn topdressing should be performed right after aeration as it's not nearly so useful to do it without the holes already there. As mentioned, the idea is for the topdressing to mix in with the existing clay soil.

Shovel out a small amount of your material, working in small areas, a few square feet at a time. “Fling” the materials with a smooth, sweeping motion similar to hitting a hockey puck. Spread the topdressing over the lawn to a depth of ⅛ to ½ inch. Gently rake it in or water the lawn well.

Step 4: Water it in

You last step is use a sprinkler or hose to water your top dress in. Once you have given it a good soak, try not to walk on your lawn or mow it for at least a week. You should start noticing some improvement after a month or even sometime after the first week.

How long does it take for grass to grow through top dressing? ›

Results from top dressing a lawn vary between grass variety, grass health and weather conditions. In ideal conditions for a fast-growing turf variety like TifTuf or Eureka Kikuyu you will notice results 2-3 weeks post application, for slower-growing varieties such as Sir Grange or Sir Walter results may take 4-6 weeks.

You can top dress a lawn when it is in active growth. Lawns can be top dressed twice yearly, but if you are only going to do the job once, for best results, top dress warm-season grass in spring, and cool-season grass in fall.

While there are many products you can use for lawn top dressing, sand and compost are common materials used. Lawn top dressing products such as sand and compost form a protective layer over the grass, helping to keep the roots cool and shielding them from the sun.

Rolling your Lawn

So, rolling is to firm the surface; meaning the top 1” to 2” of soil. A light roller, half filled water roller or a pedestrian lawn mower roller can be used to firm top dressing and roll after seeding.

The disadvantages of top dressing include the struggle of applying nitrogen at the correct time and potential for increased nitrogen losses. Although top dressing is a quick job to complete, it often needs to be completed when growers are busy finishing seeding or starting in-crop herbicide.

If you're looking for a short answer, then yes, you can put topsoil over grass and existing garden lawns. Although it's possible for grass to grow through the topsoil, this can only be successful depending on the thickness of topsoil applied as a top dressing.

The best time to top dress is early fall or spring all at once or in stages where you deal with the problem where and when it appears. Top dressing your lawn usually puts a lot of strain on the grass and could even kill it if not applied correctly or at the right time.

Can use a mix with 80% sand and 20% organic matter. The mix should not contain more than <5% fine gravel and <10% silt + clay or 2-5% very fine sand, 2-5% silt, 2-5% clay.

Spreading the Topsoil

Utilize a mini push spreader or a rolling aerator to spread the topsoil effectively. The steps would require you just to fill the soil in the push spreader and push it, allowing the topsoil to fall onto the ground.