Topdressing your lawn is often beneficial as it evens and levels bumpy terrain, making mowing easier and minimizing. Topdressing your lawn even when its surface seems level has many benefits, especially for soil health. Here are a few reasons why you should try it.
Adds organic matter to soils
By its definition, top dressing entails spreading a thin layer of special topsoil on your lawn. This soil can be in the form of compost manure, which contains nutrients that will enrich your soil’s overall quality and fertility, allowing your grass to sprout and flourish, eliminating the need for fertilizer.
Reduces soil compaction
When soil particles are pressed together, the pore space between them reduces, leading to aeration-related problems. Water infiltration and drainage also become an issue, while compacted soils also mean that roots must apply greater pressure to breach the compacted layer. Topdressing the lawn with a few inches of compost can resolve the compaction problem by introducing earthworms and other soil fauna that gradually loosen the soil.
Reduce lawn disease
When used as top dressers, compost and other well-decomposed sources of organic matter act as a substrate on which disease-suppressive microorganisms can flourish. These biological components decrease the severity of lawn disease by inhibiting the activity of pathogenic fungi within the soil.
Enhance water retention for sandy soil
Sandy soils are renowned for their high drainage properties, which means that the grass does not have enough time to absorb the water and can thus die. Topdressing the soil with a soil type that allows for more water retention can help achieve the right balance of water retention, allowing your lawn to flourish.
Reduce thatch
Thatch accumulation occurs when microbes cannot break down organic matter at a fast rate, leading to excessive buildup. Lawn top dressing with natural soils allows for a faster rate of thatch decomposition, thus preventing it from accumulating.
Compost has a higher cation exchange capacity
Cation exchange capacity (CEC) measures a soil’s ability to hold nutrients, particularly positively charged ions such as potassium, calcium, and magnesium. The higher the CEC, the higher the soil’s fertility. Topdressing your lawn with compost can improve the CEC of your loam soil by up to ten times, resulting in a healthier, greener lawn.
Are you encountering a problem with your lawn soil or have a lawn that needs leveling? Accurate Lawn Leveling can resolve that for you. Contact us today for lawn and landscaping solutions around Dallas, Houston, and Oklahoma.