Top-dress Your Lawn With Compost

by Craig Kolodge Ph.D. (aka Dr. K)

Did you know that adding a top-dressing of our compost during the dormant winter months in California provides your lawn with some amazing benefits?  Not only does it improve the soil, it also helps to strengthen the lawn’s root system! This translates into a healthier lawn that looks great!

The SPVS go-to product for top-dressing is our Nitro-Blend Compost which is a 60-40 blend of our Planter’s Blend and Valley’s Best Composts. Planter’s Blend (60%) is USCC STA certified and meets all the recommended standards for enhancing and improving the health of your lawn. It also increases the water holding capacity of soil to make better use of our valuable winter rains. The remaining 40% of Nitro-Blend is our popular Valley’s Best manure-based compost which really increases the biology of the soil while improving the nutritive value of the blend.

Check out the informative video below published by the USCC (US Composting Council) to learn more about the benefits of and techniques for applying a compost top-dressing to your lawn. Keep in mind that the video was produced on the East Coast so the seasonal grasses mentioned in the video should be adjusted for California turf types, especially our dormant summer perennials like Bermuda grass or St. Augustine. In San Diego County, you only need to apply ¼”- 1⁄2” of compost as a top-dressing to be effective.  It doesn’t take much to have a positive impact on the turf when Spring and warmer weather comes around. As always, let me know if you have any questions.

Try our Blower Truck Installation Service on larger lawns for a fast, uniform application. Ask us for details.