How To Topdress Your Lawn With Compost

Four weeks ago, this lawn was in desperate need of rejuvenation. And in four weeks, the transformation was remarkable, but not surprising. And that's because there are specific steps that you can take to really get great results. So let me walk you back four weeks ago to the very beginning, and I'll show you what I did to breathe new life into this cool season, fesky lawn. In late September here in Zone 7b, my cool season lawn was looking pretty tired from a hot, dry summer. But not to worry, I knew the seven steps I needed to do to restore my lawn to peak condition in just four weeks. The steps to rejuvenating your lawn are going to require access to the soil with as few obstructions as possible. So the best way to set the stage is to mow your lawn at a much lower setting than any other time of the year. This will create a cleaner surface to pave the way for the remaining steps. Once the lawn is cut very low, it's time to clear the surface of thatch and debris that can block access of water and nutrients into the soil. It's an easy process to do with a good stiff rake. The next step is optional, but highly recommended. Rent a core aerator and run it back and forth, and then again from side to side so that you've made two complete passes over your lawn. The cores extracted from your soil will quickly break back down into the soil within a day or two. In the meantime, the openings created are ideal for receiving the important ingredients that are about to be applied. There are three ingredients that go into the renovation of a cool season lawn. The first two, fertilizer and grass seed, and it doesn't matter in what order that you apply them, but the quality of the product, well that's everything. Select high quality grass seed that makes for a good cool season lawn. Fescue and bluegrass are two of the most popular, and apply the seed at the rate recommended on the package. One of the biggest reasons cool season lawns fail to establish is because it's applied too thickly. Don't make that mistake. More is not better, and it will choke itself out when it's over applied. The other ingredient is fertilizer. I prefer to use a non-burning, slow-release, organically derived nitrogen-based fertilizer for all my lawn applications. Milorganite is what I've been using for years with great results. And again, just like with the grass seed, apply whatever fertilizer you use at the rate listed on the packaging. More is not better, and a little bit goes a long way. Now it's time for the not-so-secret ingredient to bring new life into your lawn, and that is compost. It does a great job of greening up the grass and improving the soil that it's growing in, and when you use it in combination with a natural fertilizer, they work better together for longer lasting results. You can make compost at home for free, but realistically it's hard to make enough to cover your entire lawn area. So look to find a bulk source from a landscape supply company or nursery if you can find it, or you might have a company locally that can load up your truck or deliver it like I have done each year. But no matter how you get it to your lawn, you'll need to provide a light topdressing over all of it, and that can be done manually by broadcasting it shovel by shovel full, and that works fine. It's how I've done it for years, but there is also a mechanical way to do this, which is great for larger applications especially. You can rent a topdressing spreader. I paid about $350 for 24 hours. This equipment evenly and easily distributes the compost onto your lawn, but you still have to load the hopper. If you've got equipment to help you with that, good for you, but it's a manual process for me. Again, a little bit goes a long way. I set the applicator to apply one half inch over all the grass, and that has worked very well. The compost applies nutrient-rich microbes and organic matter to improve the health of your soil and your lawn, so it's the perfect combination to really get your lawn off to a good start and keep it growing strong. The final step in the absence of rain is to keep the grass seed moist until it germinates. That's important because you don't want to let the seed dry out at this critical point. Just a light watering once or twice a day should do the trick, and then you can back off on the supplemental irrigation once it sprouts. So that's it. Follow these seven steps to breathe new life into your fall cool season lawn too. The whole project takes only about a weekend, but the results that you'll get, well that will last season after season.