Topdressing originated among golf courses as a way to help keep their vast lawns lush and beautiful. But in recent years, topdressing has becoming increasingly more popular with homeowners to help their grass thrive in our harsh Calgary climate. Topdressing is a great alternative to chemical lawn care, and works best following aeration and overseeding. However, it can be labour intensive if the entire yard is done at once.
What Is Topdressing?
A healthy lawn requires nutrient rich soil, but it can be a challenge to improve your top soil after your grass is already established. Topdressing is the process of adding a thin layer of top quality soil that’s packed with nutrients on top of a recently aerated lawn. Typically only ¼ to ½ an inch of compost-rich, gardening soil is spread of the grass. Adding more than a ½ inch is not recommended, as it can prevent necessary solar energy from reaching your growing grass. Topdressing offers the most benefits when done in the early spring or fall.
Topdressing Advantages.
The benefits of topdressing are so fundamental to great lawn-care, that we struggle to understand how it hasn’t become a foundational best practice for lawn care programs across Calgary. A compost-rich topdressing adds organic matter and beneficial microorganisms directly into your topsoil improving the very biology of the soil. The best topdressings will also include a generous amount of fine mulch. The mulch immediately helps to improve soil structure and drainage, and slowly decomposes over the next couple years, acting as a long-term natural fertilizer for your lawn.
Topdressing reduces lawn stress, controls thatch, and provides the foundation for a dense, lush lawn. It is our opinion that adding an organic- and mulch-rich topdressing to your lawn is one of the most beneficial practices that lawn science has yet to offer.
Best Material for Topdressing.
The optimal topdressing will be a high quality soil mixed with the right amount of compost and mulch. For best results, we typically recommend that you look at our screened topsoil, 7030 garden mix, or KINGS Premium garden mix and consider how much compost your lawn will require and what soil is best for you.
When it comes to establishing a beautiful, healthy lawn, the place to start is with the soil. Your topsoil is the foundation that your grass grows from, and your lawn can only thrive when your soil has organic nutrients to offer, optimal microbes and organisms, and ideal water retention. Talk with your landscaper about topdressing today, and order KINGS Premium Garden Mix for 10% off using coupon code: MAY10 at checkout.
