It also improves the structure of the soil by improving its cation exchange capacity (CEC), or the soil’s ability to hold nutrients and water. The members of the UKLCA are experienced and dedicated professionals who can provide their expertise on a variety of lawn care treatment methods to ensure your lawn is at its best and healthiest all year round. Handheld spreaders (or sometimes just “hand spreaders”) are the cheapest, but also the least efficient type of spreader. Give the lawn a few days rest before using or mowing, otherwise you will blunt your mower on the top dressing material that is still on the grass leaves.

As always, outside of the below tips, contacting a member of the UKLCA is always a great way to ensure your lawn is in its best condition. At times, thatch forms densely enough to absorb rainwater, making your lawn very uncomfortable to walk on each time it rains. The Fracture-tine blades make straight cuts in the soil, so with no cores to clear and fast ground-speed, this form of aeration will be much cheaper than Hollow-tining, while delivering different benefits. Drop spreaders may look similar to rotary spreaders, in that they both have wheels and a high capacity hopper for your fertiliser or seeds. Top dressing is applied to lawns to level out any minor imperfections on the surface of a lawn and it helps to create an ideal environment for new grass seeds to germinate.

Although other materials can be used for top dressing, compost takes the number one spot, and it’s what I always use on my lawn. Whether you need to level out bumps and depressions in your lawn or improve soil quality, an Ecolawn Compost Spreader can help you achieve your goals. When snow settles on a lawn for any length of time, it incubates the disease which can only be seen once the snow has melted away. Also, unlike the Handy spreader we just reviewed, this option is heavy duty enough to distribute salt, as well as grit. However, the “rotary” in the name actually refers to the rotating disc inside the device that spreads your fertiliser around.

The first time I realized that I needed a top dressing spreader, was when I embarked on a home improvement project to spread a layer of compost over my entire lawn – by hand. It’s not recommended for use with salts, but using Epsom salt occasionally on your lawn with this spreader should be fine.Top dressing in conjunction with other lawn care maintenance procedures is not only highly beneficial, but can often save time. You can only get so far with the back of a rake so now you need either a stiff brush or levelling lute to move and agitate the dressing into the turf. It works with essentially any material with small enough granules, including salt, and you have a lot of control over how fast it spreads with the included settings. Applying at half to one kilo means you can repeat this as often as you like throughout the growing season. Keeping your lawn debris free and leave free is not just a great way to improve its look, but also its health.