Top Dressing – what is it and why should I do it?

Q. What is top dressing and why should I do it?

A. The best bowling greens have benefitted from top dressing for hundreds of years, the oldest in the world dating back to before A.D.1299. When you top dress a lawn you add a fine layer of fresh soil to the lawn’s surface which helps to build soil quality over time and provide benefits for the lawn. If you have sandy soil it will help it to retain moisture and resist drought. Clay soil will drain better and root development will be helped. Timing is important and it’s best to aerate and/or scarify the lawn before applying top dressing. Top dressing will help to even out the lawn, filling in hollows, and it helps to stimulate the production of new shoots for a denser grass cover, keeping weeds and moss at bay.