The last post about maintaining Lawns in Altrincham covered lawn renovations and treating lawns by spiking ans scarifying them.

After this has been done a dressing can be added to help the lawn in different ways. a mixture of good quality loam, sand and peat is normally used to dress a lawn and the autumn is the best time of year to do this, however lawn treatments can be carried out at any time of the year which will improve lawn that are in bad condition.

The reason why autumn is the most beneficial time of year is that the grass stops growing in the winter but this is the time of year that the roots of grass develop so treatments now will facilitate better root growth that will lead to better top growth from the spring onwards.

The ratio of the mix depends on the type of soil that a lawn is laid on so an analysis need to be done before buying materials.

Heavy clay soils will benefit from more sand being added as this will improve drainage whereas sandy soils will be improved by having more loam and peat in the mixture.

Peat will help soil to retain moisture and is also acidic which will help the root development in the winter.

Once a decision has been made on a mix the dressing can be added this can be done by filling an wheelbarrow with the mixture and using a sieve to apply the mixture evenly over the lawn.

If there are hollows in a lawn mounds of the dressing can be laid next to the dips and a spade  can be used to drag the soil into the dip.Larger areas can be filled using a plank to move the soil around.

Once the whole lawn has been covered the whole area will need to be brushed over with a besom which is made from birch twigs and would look like a witches broom. If a besom is not available a stiff bristle  broom can be used.

It is all ways a good idea to leave some of the mixture spare as it can be used to fill dips or spread over the lawn at a later date.