Top dressing
 

HI,

I intend to top dress my lawn with a sand/compost/top soil combination, mainly sand as heavy clay.

Im going to use builders sand (from focus DIY store)as this seems finer than sharp sand.

Can anyone think of a reason why I shouldnt, ie contains something not good etc.

I cant think that it would as its dug out of a hole near Nuneaton.

I thought id just check as there is some excellent advice and knowledge on this forum which ahas served me well.

Cheers

Ed

gasdoctor wrote:
HI,

I intend to top dress my lawn with a sand/compost/top soil
combination, mainly sand as heavy clay.

Im going to use builders sand (from focus DIY store)as this seems
finer than sharp sand.


A number of points...


1 To impreove drainage and soil condition you want to get the sand as deep
as possible ie hire a morirised hollow thine aerator and go over the whole
lawn

2 DO NOT USE SOFT BUILDERS SAND, you want gritth sharp sand to act as
drainage channels

3. Top dress with a fine loam or specialised top dressing, not compst peat
or sand!

pk

Sharp sand or to use its other name 'river sand' is generally a pre-washed sand,and generally the silt content has been removed, whereas builders sand is not washed and can contain high percentages of 'clay' the very thing you are trying to get rid of.

However if you want to use a finer sand you could try silver sand, but this can be quite expensive.

Cheers for that, glad I checked.

Ill remix some, with a different sand. Ill look for silver sand and see how much.

Thanks

Ed

Hi Ed

Sand and claysoil - topsoil mixed makes concrete and would not be good
for your turf.

Aerate the lawn and topdress it with a good peatmoss. Why are you
keen on topdressing?


HI,

I intend to top dress my lawn with a sand/compost/top soil combination,
mainly sand as heavy clay.

Im going to use builders sand (from focus DIY store)as this seems finer
than sharp sand.

Can anyone think of a reason why I shouldnt, ie contains something not
good etc.

I cant think that it would as its dug out of a hole near Nuneaton.

I thought id just check as there is some excellent advice and knowledge
on this forum which ahas served me well.

Cheers

Ed

The message
from Derryl contains these words:

Hi Ed

Sand and claysoil - topsoil mixed makes concrete

Not in the UK.

Janet

Janet Baraclough wrote:

Not in the UK.

Nor in the former American colonies. What it makes is what I have, though
a liberal sprinkling of rocks adds realism.


Gary Woods AKA K2AHC- PGP key on request, or at home.earthlink.net/~garygarlic
Zone 5/6 in upstate New York, 1420' elevation. NY WO G