When top-dressing a lawn; aerate the lawn first to improve drainage. Spread Miracle-Gro Evergreen Lawn dressing onto the lawn and use a brush or rake to work it into the holes created. So now for the bit that really matters, how easy is it to use and is it accurate. Well, I can tell you it’s as accurate as any of the other drop spreaders and more accurate than a rotatory spreader, especially right against the edge of a lawn. Walensee 24-inch Compost Spreader– I would never be without this compost spreader. Evenly apply topsoil, top dressing, compost and peat. Perfect for applying a dressing over grass seed.

Miracle-Gro® Peat Free Lawn Dressing 25 litres - Love The Garden

The risk of making your own top dressing can lead to weeds, the wrong ratio and also using the wrong type of sand – it must be lime free. After watering there may be some patchy areas. To repair, rake the area and remove dead grass. Apply Gro-Sure Smart Patch, as it contains water-retaining granules and is guaranteed to repair any patch. A perfect lawn can instantly be ruined by messy edging. Use a half-moon lawn edger like the oneabove from Burgon & Ball and a pair of edging shears, and you can solve this in a flash. Be sure to collect up the trimmings afterwards to stop the cut grass and debris building upon the lawn. Green powder-coated metal mesh basket is 60cm wide with diamond-shaped openings with 2.7 cu.ft of space.Another use for this lawn compost spreader is to fill in uneven areas in your lawns before reseeding to make the lawn more level. I have done this sometimes instead of using my specialist lawn levelling rake. Pros For this spreader to last a long time, make sure you hose down with a pressure washer after every use to remove all traces of lawn products. Fertiliser traces are corrosive to the main centre axle so it’s just a matter of maintenance. Make sure you also re-grease the axle quite often with WD40. Pros Winter is a time of rest for your lawn, and it’s important that it has time to rejuvenate and be ready for the following year. This season is a good time to think about how you are going to care for your perfect lawn come spring. Plan any changes to your lawn during the winter so that you’re ready for when the temperature outside increases.

Lawn care in autumn / RHS Gardening Lawn care in autumn / RHS Gardening

We haven’t included any handheld spreaders in our review but they’re useful to know about. These spreaders are compact for small gardening needs and are very affordable. While they do tend to throw seeds/fertiliser granules in all directions, they’re great for filling in damaged small gaps in your lawn or getting into tight areas where your larger spreader can’t reach. The larger handheld spreaders are powered by battery rather than you having to hand crank them. Capacity Try the EverGreen Wizz Year-Round Spreader (ideal for use with grass seed, fertiliser or even salt during the winter months to prevent your paths becoming slippery) or the Scotts EvenGreen ™ Drop Spreader. Top dressing is the next step after aerating. Itinvolves applying a mixof loam, sand and well-rotted organic mattertofill the aeration holes. It’s particularly useful on heavy soil, as it willimprove the soil’s texture and drainage, which should encourage better rooting and denser grass. Drop spreaders are best for lawns that contain lots of landscaping elements, such as flowers beds and narrow green strips, that need you to make tight turns. Handheld spreaders

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The grass will try to fight by increasing the root system to reach for water. Because of this, it focuses resources to keep the roots alive and as a consequence will turn brown/yellow. So in most cases the grass is not dead, just dormant, and uses as little water as possible to survive this dry spell. To find out if your grass is dormant or dead: pull it! If the grass comes out easily, with no resistance it is dead. If this doesn’t happen it means the roots are still alive. Another test is watering a small section to see if it starts greening. What to do in the meantime The autumn months are the best time to give it a vigorous rake but be careful not to be too forceful and rake too deeply as the turf gets damaged it can take a long time to recover. If you've had children and pets playing on the lawn during the summer, or perhaps it is just an area that has been neglected and become uneven, you should consider flattening it down to ensure you don't have any flooding or dry spots when the winter rains set in. Enriched lawn soil for creating new lawns, aerating and improving drainage, repairing bumps and hollows Top Dressing can also be done in spring but the soil will usually be much colder for germination to occur and the risk of frost tends to be greater. How to top dress your lawn