Zone 5A, Rhode Island, Very sunny lot.

Does anyone have experience topdressing their lawn with compost? Can I do
it now? Does it help? What should I know???

I've got a typical builders lot with typical lousy soil I've tried to amend
over the years. Tilling the lawn is out of the question. I've read that
applying a topdress of compost would really help the soil.

Opinions, thoughts, advice please. I am also trying to switch to a more
organic fertilizer program as well, so any help would be appreciated.

Thank you for your time.

In article , "JohnnyC"
wrote:

Zone 5A, Rhode Island, Very sunny lot.

Does anyone have experience topdressing their lawn with compost? Can I do
it now? Does it help? What should I know???

I've got a typical builders lot with typical lousy soil I've tried to amend
over the years. Tilling the lawn is out of the question. I've read that
applying a topdress of compost would really help the soil.

Opinions, thoughts, advice please. I am also trying to switch to a more
organic fertilizer program as well, so any help would be appreciated.

Thank you for your time.

My Dad would say till it and annual Rye for a few years. Turned in.
I'd say shrink it and plant perennials. My wife would say the kids
needed a lawn but just as long as the impatients prosper OK. My kids say
why not a larger path to the grill. My UPS guy says can I have a few of
your plants .

Bill who is sort of going towards more arable.

arable
adj : (of farmland) capable of being farmed productively [syn:
{cultivable},
{cultivatable}, {tillable}]

--
Garden in shade zone 5 S Jersey USA

On 23 apr., 17:23, Bill wrote:
In article , "JohnnyC"
wrote:

Zone 5A, Rhode Island, Very sunny lot.

Does anyone have experience topdressing their lawn with compost? *Can I do
it now? *Does it help? *What should I know???

I've got a typical builders lot with typical lousy soil I've tried to amend
over the years. *Tilling the lawn is out of the question. *I've read that
applying a topdress of compost would really help the soil.

Opinions, thoughts, advice please. *I am also trying to switch to a more
organic fertilizer program as well, so any help would be appreciated.

Thank you for your time.

*My Dad would say till it and annual Rye for a few years. *Turned in.
I'd say shrink it and plant perennials. *My wife would say the kids
needed a lawn but just as long as the impatients prosper OK. My kids say
why not a larger path to the grill. My UPS guy says can I have a few of
your plants .

Bill who is sort of going towards more arable.

arable
* * *adj : (of farmland) capable of being farmed productively [syn:
{cultivable},
* * * * * * {cultivatable}, {tillable}]

--
Garden in shade zone 5 S Jersey USA

Hahaha, you gave me a great idea! Thanks!

Bhogi wrote:
On 23 apr., 17:23, Bill wrote:
In article , "JohnnyC"
wrote:

Zone 5A, Rhode Island, Very sunny lot.

Does anyone have experience topdressing their lawn with compost?
Can I do it now? Does it help? What should I know???

I've got a typical builders lot with typical lousy soil I've tried
to amend over the years. Tilling the lawn is out of the question.
I've read that applying a topdress of compost would really help
the
soil.

Opinions, thoughts, advice please. I am also trying to switch to a
more organic fertilizer program as well, so any help would be
appreciated.

Thank you for your time.

My Dad would say till it and annual Rye for a few years. Turned in.
I'd say shrink it and plant perennials. My wife would say the kids
needed a lawn but just as long as the impatients prosper OK. My
kids
say why not a larger path to the grill. My UPS guy says can I have
a
few of your plants .

Bill who is sort of going towards more arable.

arable
adj : (of farmland) capable of being farmed productively [syn:
{cultivable},
{cultivatable}, {tillable}]

--
Garden in shade zone 5 S Jersey USA

Hahaha, you gave me a great idea! Thanks!

Have you had a professional soil analysis performed? It's difficult
to fix something until you know for sure what's wrong with it.

--
--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)

On Wed, 23 Apr 2008 10:32:58 -0400, "JohnnyC" wrote:

Zone 5A, Rhode Island, Very sunny lot.

Does anyone have experience topdressing their lawn with compost? Can I do
it now? Does it help? What should I know???

I've got a typical builders lot with typical lousy soil I've tried to amend
over the years. Tilling the lawn is out of the question. I've read that
applying a topdress of compost would really help the soil.

Opinions, thoughts, advice please. I am also trying to switch to a more
organic fertilizer program as well, so any help would be appreciated.

Thank you for your time.

I have top dressed lawns. There's a knack to throwing a shovelful
evenly over the lawn. One year I used mushroom compost (mostly rotted
horse manure) and regret to say I had an enormous weed issue. You can
use compost at any time.

On Apr 23, 10:32�am, "JohnnyC" wrote:
Zone 5A, Rhode Island, Very sunny lot.

Does anyone have experience topdressing their lawn with compost? �Can I do
it now? �Does it help? �What should I know???

I've got a typical builders lot with typical lousy soil I've tried to amend
over the years. �Tilling the lawn is out of the question. �I've read that
applying a topdress of compost would really help the soil.

Opinions, thoughts, advice please. �I am also trying to switch to a more
organic fertilizer program as well, so any help would be appreciated.

Thank you for your time.

Sounds like you need topsoil. compost is something done with organic
matter to produce humus... compost is a verb. You can top dress with
topsoil but humos makes the best top dressing... depending on size of
the area and how much money you can budget you can also top dress with
a blend of top soil, humus, peat moss, cow manure, etc. But you can't
top dress with compost, compost is something you do (a verb), not
something you use.. if your organic matter is not fully composted than
it's mulch, not somthing good to apply to a lawn.

I just came in from spreading compost on my lawn. There's a knack to
throwing it with a shovel so there's a layer, or just spread it with a
rake.

I put a pile in between my roses. If the compost sprouts weeds at
least they'll be in easy reach. After it sits for a few weeks I'll
spread it around the roses better.

Good luck.

On Apr 23, 10:32*am, "JohnnyC" wrote:
Zone 5A, Rhode Island, Very sunny lot.

Does anyone have experience topdressing their lawn with compost? *Can I do
it now? *Does it help? *What should I know???

I've got a typical builders lot with typical lousy soil I've tried to amend
over the years. *Tilling the lawn is out of the question. *I've read that
applying a topdress of compost would really help the soil.

Opinions, thoughts, advice please. *I am also trying to switch to a more
organic fertilizer program as well, so any help would be appreciated.

Thank you for your time.

I use a shovel to throw compost in place, and then use the pointy side
of a "landscape rank" to spread it out, and then I turn the landscape
rank upside down and use the flat side to "smoothen" the compost.
Honestly, I only do this if I have a lot of compost/top-soil to top
dress the lawn. If I only have a few left to spread around (after I
have used most in the vegetable/flower garden), I will simply use the
shovel to throw them out as wide as possible.

The way mentioned above seems like more appropriate for top dressing
lawn with top soil because top soil is easier to spread. If you use
compost, you may have to screen it to get the fine stuff; otherwise,
compost can be chunky and is hard to spread. And screening the
compost can be very physically exhausting if you want to get a large
quantity of compost for top dressing the whole lawn. Therefore, you
may be better off top dressing using top soil instead of compost. I
have done this before (screening and top dressing lawn with compost);
but only for a small area. I cannot imagine doing this for the entire
lawn.

If you really want to add organic matters into the lawn, you may be
better off using a mulching mower (instead of bagging the grass
clippings), and applying organic fertilizer, and staying away from
using insecticide to save the earthworms. Since I have started doing
mulching, I feel that the rich top soil layer of my lawn has grown
deeper (used to be very very thin) based on my sampling around the
lawn using a soil prong. Doing this probably costs you less, makes
you less tiring, uses up less of your time. Now, I only top dress if
I need to re-seed small areas in my lawn.

Hope this helps.

Jay Chan

We us certified organic mushroom soil and screened leaf compost to top
dress.

It would be a food source for the soil.


--
Sincerely,
John A. Keslick, Jr.
Consulting Tree Biologist
http://home.ccil.org/~treeman
and www.treedictionary.com
Beware of so-called tree experts who do not understand tree biology.
Storms, fires, floods, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions keep reminding us
that we are not the boss.
Some people will buy products they do not understand and not buy books that
will give them understanding.



"JohnnyC" wrote in message
...
Zone 5A, Rhode Island, Very sunny lot.

Does anyone have experience topdressing their lawn with compost? Can I do
it now? Does it help? What should I know???

I've got a typical builders lot with typical lousy soil I've tried to
amend over the years. Tilling the lawn is out of the question. I've read
that applying a topdress of compost would really help the soil.

Opinions, thoughts, advice please. I am also trying to switch to a more
organic fertilizer program as well, so any help would be appreciated.

Thank you for your time.

"Sheldon" wrote in message
...
On Apr 23, 10:32?am, "JohnnyC" wrote:
Zone 5A, Rhode Island, Very sunny lot.

Does anyone have experience topdressing their lawn with compost? ?Can I do
it now? ?Does it help? ?What should I know???

I've got a typical builders lot with typical lousy soil I've tried to
amend
over the years. ?Tilling the lawn is out of the question. ?I've read that
applying a topdress of compost would really help the soil.

Opinions, thoughts, advice please. ?I am also trying to switch to a more
organic fertilizer program as well, so any help would be appreciated.

Thank you for your time.

Sounds like you need topsoil. compost is something done with organic
matter to produce humus... compost is a verb. You can top dress with
topsoil but humos makes the best top dressing... depending on size of
the area and how much money you can budget you can also top dress with
a blend of top soil, humus, peat moss, cow manure, etc. But you can't
top dress with compost, compost is something you do (a verb), not
something you use.. if your organic matter is not fully composted than
it's mulch, not somthing good to apply to a lawn.

My dictionary, and several others I checked on line, give compost as both a
noun and a verb - as below.

Brian

Definition: 1.. \Com"post\ (?; 277), n.[OF. compost, fr. L.
compositus,
p. p. See {Composite}.]
1. A mixture; a compound. [R.]

A sad compost of more bitter than sweet. --Hammond.

2. (Agric.) A mixture for fertilizing land; esp., a
composition of various substances (as muck, mold, lime,
and stable manure) thoroughly mingled and decomposed, as
in a compost heap.

And do not spread the compost on the weeds To make
them ranker. --Shak.

2.. \Com"post\, v. t.
1. To manure with compost.

2. To mingle, as different fertilizing substances, in a mass
where they will decompose and form into a compost.

"JohnnyC" wrote in message
...
Zone 5A, Rhode Island, Very sunny lot.

Does anyone have experience topdressing their lawn with compost? Can I do
it now? Does it help? What should I know???

I also started with a typical builder's lawn. I've topdressed with compost
several times. Here's a few tips
- do it early in the season before the grass gets too tall
- if the grass is already growing, mow short before doing it. You don't want
the compost to smother the blades
- core aerate if possible before doing it. Then the compost will fall
loosely into the empty holes and you get the compost a little deeper into
the ground
- make sure your compost is well composted. There's some stuff that's more
like ground up wood chps mixed with municipal sludge and then speed
composted (this comes from the beechwood chips from the Budweiser plant in
Merrimack, NH). This stuff was too "hot" (and a bit smelly).
- smoothing out the compost and getting the blades of grass to stick up can
be very tedious. There's a very simple device that's used on golf courses
after sand is spread. It's basically a bunch of 2x3s or 2x4s (maybe 2 or 3ft
long) that is tied together into a mat with spaces between the wood (kind of
like a venetian blind). It's dragged around behind a tractor or by hand. You
can also do this if you have an old piece of chain link fence.

-al sung
Rapid Realm Technology, Inc.
Hopkinton, MA
(Zone 6a)