Many if not most of us in Australia have poor quality soils growing underneath our lawns, and seeing how our lawn derive all their nutrients and health from the soil, this too means that the health of our lawns over their entire lives, can be negatively impacted. We may as a result struggle always in maintaining our lawns to the high standard which they could otherwise be growing to.
The reason why it is said that most of us could be dealing with this problem is that many of Australia’s soils aren’t the best on their own, and many new homes built over the decades and centuries never really did much of anything to improve soils before lawns were grown at these properties. So let’s take a look at some ways we could improve our lawn soils for lawns that are already established.
Mulch Lawn Mowing
Far and away the very best thing we can all do for our lawns to improve our lawn soils right now is to start mulch mowing. Our rotary lawn mowers these days all come with a mulching plug included, and all we need do is insert the mulching plug securely into the rear chute of the lawn mower and we’re good to go.
These mulching plugs then force the lawn clippings through the lawn mower blades many times, before depositing them back into the lawn sward, with some left on top of the lawn. These finely chopped lawn clippings will feed the lawn with Nitrogen, as well as decompose back into the lawn soil to improve the lawn soil quality over the entire life of the lawn.
Mulch mowing is a lifetime practice to continually improve our lawn soil and our lawns, over the entire life of our lawns. There is really nothing better for our lawns to continually keep improving them, forever, than to start mulch mowing our lawns from now on. It really is time for us all to permanently retire our lawn mower catchers.
Lawn Coring
Lawn coring is the process of running a coring machine over our lawns to remove plugs of soil, lawn and thatch as they are pulled out with the hollow tines of the lawn coring machine. This is a great process used to aerate a compacted lawn, as well as to improve lawn soils, and it’s what we do next which will aid in bettering our soil.
Once the lawn coring is complete we will be left with a lawn covered in all these plugs of soil and turf. To improve the underlying soil of the lawn we should use a rotary mower to suck all these plugs up off the lawn, and to then dispose of them, either in the garden beds or bin.
Next we would apply a suitable top soil to the lawn, and to spread out that soil so that it fills in all the little holes created in the turf. While the holes are filled in we would also be left with a thin layer of the better soil left on top of the lawn, all of it working together to give us a better lawn soil. We could repeat this process every year for a few years, or we could do it once every few years, it’s up to you as to what you want to do with your own lawns.
Which type of soil should be used to improve the lawn soil?
That depends on the soil you already have present at your property.
For heavy clay based soils, we may want to consider topping up the lawn with straight sand, which is suitable for use on our lawns. This sand will aid in any drainage problems that we may have for the lawn.
Likewise if we already have a heavily nutrient rich soil, straight sand may be the best option.
Alternatively, if we have very sandy and / or hydrophobic soils, we would instead put down a very dark and rich soil, as this would have the greatest impact to improve such poor lawn soils for the better.
Sandy loams can also be very good to use on lawns, and may be an option for many different lawn soil types, though they are not rich organically.
Top Dressing Lawns
Top dressing our lawn wouldn’t be much different in practice than just outlined for lawn coring, though of course our lawns would have no holes to fill in, so the added soil would not be going down into the soil profile, but sitting on top of the lawn only.
Top dressing to improve lawn soils is great for poor quality sandy soil types, whereby we would spread out a thin layer of rich soil on top of the lawn. A lot of that added soil layer would seep into the thatch layer of the turf, and the lawn would simply grow to cover up the added soil.
Now obviously, the improvement to the soil is not going to be as good as if we had cored the lawn first and then gotten the new soil directly into the old soil, but simply top dressing is still an option, and will still help with our improved lawn and soil care.
Top dressing a clay based soil, except with an occasional application of Gypsum to help break up the clay, really won’t do much at all to improve lawn soil, because in reality all we doing is spreading sand on top of the lawn, which does nothing to help in improving the clay underneath the lawn.
Replacing The Top Layer Of Soil
This is an extreme measure, and expensive, and would only be suitable for few. This may be done before a new lawn is installed for better health for the future lawn, or in the extremest cases, an entire lawn dug out, and some soil, and better soil put down, and new lawn put down.
As I said, it’s extreme, and not something that most of us should even consider doing.
Having said that, if we do already have bare soil areas, perhaps on a new home site, and if we have poor quality soils, then this would be our ideal opportunity to add some sand to a clay based soil, or to add rich organic soil to a sandy soil, and to then dig it though with a rotary hoe and to level out the soil before the new lawn goes down. This is not extreme, is very worthwhile to consider, and not overly expensive, though it will cost some and will cost in time and effort.
Conclusion
Mulch mowing is the very best thing we can all do to improve the quality of our lawn soils. It’s absolutely free, and there really isn’t anything better to improve the soil in our lawns, and our lawns themselves, over the entire lifespan of the lawn.
We should all start mulch mowing our lawns beginning immediately, and do it from now on.
There are many organic based products which can greatly aid in improving lawn soils as well, these are different to the regular chemical fertilisers that most of us use, and which might be better described as lawn or soil tonics, rather than as fertilisers. While these tonics do contain incredible amounts of nutrients to directly feed our lawns and soils, they also greatly aid in promoting microbial activity within the soil itself, to help the soil to improve itself with what it already has available to it.
We could also add organic soil to a sandy soil as a top-dress, or to lawn core and then add an appropriate better soil to our lawns root zone directly, or to remove and replace the soil entirely - which in almost every case is not recommended due to cost factors, we can add Gypsum to a clay based soil also.
These are all our better options to help improve lawn soils. Mulch mowing being the best option of all.
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