2 Important Spring Activities for Your Lawn

Your Sod is a living organism, that in order to remain green, strong, and healthy requires a constant (and balanced) supply of nutrients and water. The key to a successful lawn lies in the soil upon which it grows. Over the course of the season, the grassroots draw the nutrients they need from the soil. So a constant replenishment of these nutrients is required to keep your lawn green and healthy. In addition, parts of the lawn may get damaged due to increased traffic, or close proximity to nutrient-draining plants and trees. For your Lawn consider doing these 2 Important Spring Activities.

Spring is a wonderful time to replenish the soil and repair the damaged parts – as, during this time root development and growth are accelerated, rain is abundant, and temperatures relatively mild – perfect conditions for top dressing and overseeding.

Top Dressing

Top Dressing is the process of improving the quality of your soil, by covering it with a fresh layer of nutrients and mineral-rich substances like compost, manure, grow max or triple mix. Covering your lawn with such substances once a year (spring or fall) significantly improves the top layer of the soil – where grass roots live – nutrients quickly sink into the root area, and support their growth development which is accelerated in the spring.
A highly effective method to top-dress your lawn is with granulated compost (as it is easy to apply, and provides a slow-release effect, feeding the grassroots with nutrients over time.

For our clients, we purchase granulated compost at Angelo’s Garden Centre and distribute it conveniently with our spreader.

Over-Seeding

Overseeding is the process of repairing damaged parts of your existing lawn. It is done by spreading grass seed over the damaged parts and (very important!) covering it with a 1” thick layer of soil. Covering the seed with soil is important, as seeds will only germinate underground.
Grass seed compliments the existing lawn, and fills up the bare patches. We recommend limiting overseeding small areas, as large areas will also foster the growth of weeds (which grow much faster than grass seed). And with the pesticide ban in Toronto and the GTA area (which we passionately support) are almost impossible to prevent when overseeding extensive areas. 

Sodding is more appropriate when creating a whole new lawn.

It is important to make sure that overseeding is done early in the spring or in the fall, when temperatures are mild and are not likely to go over 21C, and to keep the surface constantly moist for the first 21 days. Overseeding is also great and is the only solution for shady areas: while there is no commercially available shade-sod, there is amazing shade grass seed, and we always suggest shade over-seed when Sodding a garden with shady parts.

Unlike sodding, which could be done at any time of year, both activities are great to be done in spring, when grass growth and root development is at its peak. Having said that, both activities may also be done in the fall (especially top dressing) – you will see the results first thing in the spring.