Has anyone had this experience with Topdressing?

I am trying to apply some “Lawn and turf Dressing” by Westland but found the product rather “greasy”, inasmuch as it tends to stick to the ground in little clumps and is therefore impossible to spread evenly with a lute; even when at first “drizzling” the dressing from a large hand-held jug, the lute will not spread it over the whole surface as it would topsoil ... (?)

 

Hi,

Not used it, but pics on the web show it looking like you describe, think it needs to be scattered around and then evened out with a stiff broom.

 

In reply to the title, no, but I once had a near miss with a cross-dressing

 

Surely you should tell us more!

 

Well, this is an upstanding, family forum but as it's early and there's probably only shiney up and about ....
It happened many years ago when I lived in the Greater Manchester area.......
I can't say more, just that he had a Wigan address
(Oh the overwhelming temptation to add: "And don't call me shirley" ).

 

You were spot on with your advice to use a stiff broom; the soil evades the lute but cannot escape the broom.

Madame Lao was most impressed; she said: Not bad for someone who’s never handled a broom! I said, “How can you say that?” She answered “With great facility”. Toujours le mot pour rire.

On a different note: A few months ago, having run out of topsoil, I used some topdressing to re-seed a couple of patches, using the usual methods; none of the seeds germinated in those areas; is there some element in topdressing that would cause that?

 

What a tease you are! Also we don't what "Shirley" implies in the context of a Wigan address ... or is that a Wigan dress?

 

I'm not surprised it didn't work.

 

Tut! Not a fan of Leslie Nielsen, then?

 

@noisette47 the humour really got me when I saw Airplane at the cinema. I sometimes can't stifle myself and I was laughing so hard people turned around and looked at me! The disco scene OMG!

Thanks for reminding me of that hoot

 

I added 3mm top soil over all my lawns in the back it actually made it better, but in the front nothing really germinated and the existing grass because frail, and patchy after moweing as it became stuck the the surface and would not pop up. I tried a blower and and plastic fork, but it was just too weak. I will have to fix it this weekend by just reseeding it like it is a dead patch.

 

Hi, what is going on here?
Is it still actual?

 

@AlishaHart

Well: a question on topdressing was asked and answered before taking a diversion via humour to success, more humour and then came back to topdressing.
All quite usual on this forum.

Apologies, but what do you mean by: "is it still actual?"

 

An email from this Forum is linked in my computer to a notification warning sound consisting of Handel’s Hallelujah... always such a pleasure to hear from the members.

prompts me to ask Which part of the Thread are you asking about? I had had a puzzling and counterproductive experience with a particular type of top dressing and, wondering if, perhaps, I had misapplied it, sought advice. As always, answers came in many (and always welcomed) forms, some amusing and facetious, some informative and helpful; within a few hours, my problem was solved. Unless you are looking for midday at fourteen hundred hours (always a pursuit I enjoy, as there’s never any knowing what an upturned stone might reveal), there’s not much more to it.

is puzzling; looking up the various uses and misuses of the word “actual”, including legal ones, does not help in answering your question ... other than: yes, it was and is real and — if we want to misuse the word “actual” — it is still of yesterday, today and tomorrow, since topdressing is a recurring requirement.

Looking forward to reading your answers to my answers in question.

All best.

 

I'm a bit skeptical about commercial top dressing mixes for lawns. Here's why.

Before we can decide what to do to help a lawn, we must first understand why it's not thriving. In my experience, it is far more likely due to the fact that the soil surface has become severely compacted over time. The consequence being a multitude of problems. Rain water can't drain quickly, so it sits on the surface for too long, waterlogging the roots, and providing a perfect environment for moss, which competes with grass. The compacted surface also makes it difficult for grass to go through its natural lifecycle, which involves spreading by sending out roots sideways, which should then root into the soil, but instead sit on the surface. A lack of aeration caused by the compacted crust also inhibits worms to some degree from doing their job.

Top dressing is valuable, to provide loose soil for roots to get into, but I think it largely just sits on the surface.

When I've dealt with a struggling lawn in the past, I followed the advice of my elderly neighbour, who was a far better gardener than I'll ever be. It goes something like this. First, get some air holes in it. There are proper tools for this bit I just use my fork.

Next, top dress with sharp sand. Just whack it on, and then spread it with a rake. The rake is quite brutal, but it helps rip out moss and dead growth, and further breaks up the crust. The sharp sand provides a nice loose environment for grass roots and is inhospitable for moss.

Then if feeding is necessary, I just use miracle grow. Nothing lawn specific which I believe is high in nitrogen, good for leafy growth, but I want the roots to be strong, then the top will sort itself out. I'm not saying lawn specific feeds are bad, I'm just not convinced they are particularly good, when a generic feed works very well.

So, in summary, sort the soil first, then largely, the grass will sort itself.