Top dressing is a vital part of lawn care maintenance and can be a key factor in making critical long term improvements to the health and condition and hence the appearance of any lawn.
The soil that a lawn depends on plays a major part in the development of the lawn. Thin sandy soils or heavy clay soils are not ideal for lawns and you may need to apply a top soil dressing. You can significantly improve the quality of your top soil by adding a specific mixture of top dressing to compliment and gradually change the properties of your existing soil.
If your lawn has heavy clay soil introducing a layer of fine sandy soil top dressing on the surface will stimulate grass growth, encourage greater rooting, improve surface drainage allowing the soil surface to dry out quicker thereby reducing the opportunity for moss to develop. Serious drainage problems can be solved by introducing simple land drainage. If you spike or hollow tine aerate your lawn and then top dress the sandy soil will find its way into the holes improving ventilation and reducing compaction.
Prevention is always better than the cure and preventing compaction and limiting damp soil surfaces will certainly make it more difficult for moss to develop. Thick healthy well fed grass also makes it difficult for weeds to develop .
Top dressing is labour intensive and sourcing the right quality top dressing can be difficult and expensive when delivery costs are calculated.. Approximately 5kg of top dressing will cover 1 square metre. Grass seed can be added to the top dressing to thicken up the lawn. Top dressing is comparable to varnishing a boat several layers have to be applied over a period of time.
West Norfolk Lawn Care provides its customers with a comprehensive top dressing service which can be incorporated into the lawn care program at any time. It is most effective in the Autumn, early Winter, Spring and early summer particularly if you want to add grass seed to the mix. We can make top dressing your lawn a simple exercise. We order, source and spread the top dressing, working the dressing into your lawn using a level lute or drag mat.
Most lawn problems are caused by damp soil surfaces and thin grass growth due to, poorly fertilised and compacted soil. Combining spiking or hollow tine aeration and top dressing with over seeding is a significant proactive process improving the soil conditions and when combined with other seasonal treatments of fertiliser and herbicide helps to thicken up the grass and pre-empt other lawn problems.
