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Soil Preparation For Raised Bed Garden

Top dressing the lawn is basically the term used in describing the process of adding or dressing a fine layer of good quality soil which is often a mixture of peat, loam and sand during the autumn or spring season. The fact is that grass is also stimulated to produce new shoots and it makes the turf dense thereby preventing the weeds from sprouting or the moss from infesting your garden. Therefore lawn top dressing fills out all these hollows and levels the surface.

An appropriate mixture for an average or good soil would include mixture of 4 different parts together such as 2 parts of river sand, loam and one part of granulated peat. This mixture should then be put into 1/4 inch of sieve. After all these soil ingredients are properly mixed, it should be applied evenly at two pounds every square yard. So, after the application is done the mixture is worked into the surface of the garden with stiff broom or with the back of a rake.

This working of mixture into the soil surface is very important as it would help in getting the grass smothered. In case your lawn or garden is on sandy soil then the mixture must contain double the overall quantity of peat and halve of the sand quality. It would help the sandy soil of your garden to retain moisture better while making it resistant from drought.

However for the lawn that includes clayey soil then the composition of mixture used must contain 2 parts of loan, one part of peat and 4 parts of sand. This combination of soil mixture would allow better drainage and so would help the rots of the turn to grow in a healthy manner.

You should always remember that these measurements in lawn top dressing are through volumes. Thereof if the soil in your lawn is particularly compacted or heavy with particles that range from 1/16 to nearly 1/32 inches in size then only sand should be spread in thin layer. Make sure it is not more than 3 pounds is being used for the mixture you create.

Moreover before you can scatter the sand, ensure your lawn is aerated which means that the air channels must be created in your lawn so that there is free air circulation around the roots of the grass. You can do this by either removing the small cores which can be 5 to 10 cms deep or even by putting some spikes in the garden.

Article Source: GardenGap.com

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