Top Dressing a Lawn
If your goal is to seed an existing lawn, then use garden mix to create good soil-to-seed contact. However, if your current soil has too much clay or your lawn is uneven, choose a top dressing with a percentage of sand. And still, if you wish to build stronger soil choose Compost, which delivers more organic material and nutrients.
Prior to applying your soil, cut the lawn down to 1.5 inches or less. A shorter lawn will decrease the amount soil needed to complete your project. Cutting your lawn at 1.5 inches or less may scalp in some areas but don’t worry — you are about to get all the benefits of Top Dressing!
Distribute the soil material, into piles, on your lawn, or alternatively, you can broadcast the soil with a shovel. Using a rake, spread the material to 1/8 of an inch. This will be thick enough to allow new grass blades to poke through. If the grass is buried in the soil the lawn will not receive sunlight or oxygen, creating a situation where you could damage the lawn.
Water your lawn to allow the top dressing to make its way down to the root system. With a thorough saturation of water, your soil is now steeping into the lawn, creating a tea. Water the lawn for 35 minutes per watering zone or until water begins to run onto pavement or concrete. Once water begins to run onto concrete the soil has reached it’s saturation maximum and can no longer take in any more water.
Calgary Top Dressing 1
Garden Dressing in Calgary
Loam is a combination of Sand, Clay, Silt and Organic matter. In Calgary, we have clay-like soil conditions, which is hard for air to penetrate and water to drain away. For clay-like soils, choose a Garden Mmix with a certain amount of sand and peat. A good rule is, one-inch depth of Garden Mix turned into your soil.