What type of soil?

I have been trying to get a nice level and even lawn all summer. I did manage to get some seeds growing, but then as soon as I cut it most of it died. My lawn is looking better now than it did at the start of summer though. Then I guessed why, I was using compost!

What�s the best soil type to use? Should I try and level the lawn over the winter and in spring sow some more grass seeds in the bald patches?

TIA

 

Darn, I've started replying to this and I'm being called for Sunday dinner

I'll reply in detail about soil types tomorrow, but for now Smiler, don't be afraid to reseed now, as you'll probably get a better result than you would in spring.

Also, capitalise on the gains you've made over the summer, and apply an autumn feed - you don't want to go backwards over the winter and spend the first two months of next year getting back to where you are now. Sorry for the half post, but the lamb smells good

 

Thats ok, it give me something to think about thank you.

Hope your dinner was good

 

Delicious thanks! :D

So, the first question I was going to ask was whether you were looking at adding quite a lot of soil, or just leveling humps and hollows - if you're going to be doing little bits you could use pretty much whatever soil you wanted, because you wouldn't be adding enough to make any detrimental difference.

If you're looking at adding say an inch over the entire lawn, then you may need to consider below, about the ideal soil:

[1] The "perfect" soil would have a good quantity of organic matter in it, to hold on to nutrients and water, but would also drain fairly well. I wouldn't want add any great depth of compost because although it is high in OM, it doesn't firm down very well, and holds onto water a bit too well.

The other thing to consider is that if you have a fairly inert native soil, with little OM in it, adding a high OM content soil on top can cause problems. Grass roots tend to only go as deep as they need to in order to get water and nutrient - less productive roots simply die off. So if you added a high OM content soil on top of a low OM content soil, you would run the risk of "root break" where the roots exist only in the top, nutrient / water rich layer. This causes problems when you get into drought situations as the shallow root system can't cope in stressful conditions.

[2] The other main thing to consider with a soil is the soil particle shape, size, and distribution. If this sounds a bit in depth, it isn't - read on, because it's quite important

Grass (and all plant) roots grow in the air spaces between soil particles, rather than in the soil itself, so the provision of plenty of air space is vital (hence aeration being a good thing). Different shaped and sized soil particles can actually lock together to make a less penetrable surface. If you imagine a soil made out of cricket balls, all rounded and evenly sized, you would have plenty of air space between them. But if you added a soil of smaller particles, in this example, marble sized, you would be partially "capping" the surface. Add to this the possibility of the imported soil being more angular in nature, and you would definitely be risking this kind of capping. This would reduce the air pockets within the soil, impede drainage, and do all kinds of mean and nasty things.

This is why I'm not a fan of using sharp sand to improve drainage - it generally works ok because the particles, although angular, are much bigger than the smaller particles of a clay based lawn, but the principle remains the same.

So, to put an end to the over sized essay, I'd be tempted to say that when you are looking at top dressing, the best soil is the one you already have, because you know it is compatible. If you had a really duff soil, you could hollow tine, and fill the holes with a better soil - at least this way you'd be getting better soil into the existing profile, rather than just adding it on top. But it's back breaking, and I don't think the rewards really justify the effort.

What you could think about doing is hollow tining, leaving the cores on the surface to dry, and then scarifying straight over the top. As you pull the thatch out, the scarifier smashes the cores up and gives you a very nice top dressing - aeration, scarification and top dressing all in one, not bad eh?

I'll shut up now before you die of boredom

 

Wow, thanks Will.

I have only had a chance to scan this and will have a proper read again soon, but I wanted to thank you for the info you have given me.

 

You're welcome Smiler - sorry for the late reply - I've only just checked in