Top Dressing my Lawn
Not all my posts will be about software. Last week I decided to try something new, and I top dressed my lawn. I've never done it before, and I don't think I read enough about it beforehand.
Top dressing is when you spread a thin layer of soil over your lawn. The idea is that it will help fill in low spots, and it will help the grass grow better by reintroducing nutrients and organic matter to the soil.
Now that it's done, it's clear that I put too much down. Blog posts suggested that I shoot for half an inch, so I did some napkin math to calculate how much soil I would need (came out to 5 yards), and I used that as a guide as to how much to put down. I ended up putting down way too much. I used a wheelbarrow to place mounds of soil around the lawn, and I used a rake to spread. In some places it worked itself well into the grass, but in other places it just sat on top. I didn't end up using the full 5 yards either.
After spreading it with the rake, I used a stiff broom to work it into the grass. This worked pretty well in some places, but in other places it was still too much to get into the grass. I think I also left the grass too long. It would have been easier to get it in if I had cut the grass shorter.
Here are some pictures. In retrospect it's pretty easy to see that there is way too much soil. At the time I thought it would work into the grass more easily.
