Topdressing a Lawn: What, How, and Why?

Is your lawn looking a little lackluster, diseased, overcome with weeds, or just plain ugly? If your lawn could use a bit more pep in its step, go for topdressing. Topdressing a lawn is an ideal way to refresh your grass without tearing it out and starting over.

Because we’ve seen and done it all, we’ll explain why you should consider topdressing a lawn that has seen better days, how to go about DIY topdressing, and the maintenance a topdressed lawn needs to remain healthy and lush.

What Is Lawn Top Dressing?

Topdressing may sound like something you splash on top of a salad, but it’s actually the process of adding nutrient-rich compost to your grass or parts of your lawn that could use a little TLC. (You can also add topdressing to garden beds and landscaped areas.)

Benefits of Topdressing Your Lawn

The biggest benefit of topdressing is that it can help revitalize a struggling lawn. However, there’s more than meets the eye. Beneath the surface, topdressing offers even more great benefits.

Topdressing a lawn:

• Enhances the quality of your soil. By adding organic matter, you can enhance the soil’s productive properties, making your lawn greener and fuller.
• Aerates the soil, which helps it better absorb oxygen and water.
• Adds beneficial soil microbes that break down organic material to help control diseases in your lawn.
• Smooths out uneven terrain and holes in your lawn.
• Breaks down thatch.

How Do You Know It’s Time to Topdress Your Lawn?

Your struggling lawn has its own ways of asking for help. Interpret those signs and act on major indications that are telling you it may just be time to topdress your lawn:

• Yellowing grass leaves
• Never-ending weeds
• Consistently diseased areas
• Bald patches
• A wet and squishy texture long after the lawn has been watered

When Is the Best Time to Topdress Your Lawn?

The best time to topdress a lawn depends entirely on whether you have cool-season grasses (like Kentucky bluegrass, perennial ryegrass, or tall fescue) or warm-season grasses (like Bermuda, zoysia, or St. Augustine.) With both types of grass, it’s essential to topdress when the grass is actively growing.

Typically, that means late fall for cool-season grasses, while warm-season grasses will benefit from topdressing in late spring.

Tools and Equipment Needed

Looking to topdress your lawn? Before you begin, you’ll need to gather the right tools.

• Topdressing mix
• Shovel
• Wheelbarrow
• Leveling rake
• Walk-behind broadcast spreader
• Lawn coring aerator tool

How to Topdress Your Lawn

If you have the equipment, the time, and the know-how, you can topdress your own lawn. The process can be somewhat physically taxing, so take your time and make sure to drink plenty of water if working during a hot or humid day.

• Use a core aerator or power rake to remove thatch.
• Remove any loose thatch, plugs of soil, or grass clippings from the area.
• Mow your lawn as short as possible.
• If you’re overseeding (to grow new grass), do that now.
• Spread the topdressing material over the area.
• After you’ve spread it, gently rake the material.
• Water your lawn well.
• Avoid walking on the lawn for at least a week and wait about ten days to mow.

How to Maintain Your Lawn After Topdressing

After you’ve completed topdressing your lawn, continue caring for your grass so that it grows healthy. For the first week following the topdressing, water daily with about a quarter of an inch of water. This will help keep the soil moist so the grass roots can establish into the new soil amendment. During the second week, cut watering back to every two or three days, applying half an inch of water each time. After the second week, resume your normal watering schedule. (We recommend adding one inch of water per week unless you get rain.)

Give Your Lawn a Boost with Topdressing!

If putting into practice what you learned about how to topdress your lawn sounds daunting or you simply don’t have the time, reach out to your local The Grounds Guys®. We can tackle the topdressing as well as ongoing yard maintenance for you. Before we get started, The Grounds Guys provide free estimates and leave you with all questions answered. What’s more, we guarantee our work and stand by the Neighborly Done Right Promise™.

Contact us today to discuss your lawn and yard needs!