When You Should Use Grass Sand (and When You Shouldn’t)
Golf courses are known for their greener than green, perfectly manicured grass. And if you’ve been to one of them, you may have noticed a layer of sand on the links. But unlike professionally maintained sites, most people don’t have their own landscaper or gardener and, as a result, want to take matters into their own hands.
But will the sand on your lawn make the greenest grass around? Or will it end up doing more harm than good? Here’s what you need to know.
When to put sand on the lawn
The practice of spreading a layer of sand on your lawn, sometimes referred to as “fertilizing,” can have serious benefits for your grass if done correctly. According to RHS-trained gardener Simon Clifford, some examples include :
- Improvement of the topsoil structure
- Soil drainage improvement
- Providing soil with nutrients
But Larry Williams, a horticultural agent at the University of Florida’s Okaloosa County expansion department, recommends a much more careful approach to top dressing, noting that homeowners should only use it to fill in lowlands or bare areas as a way to control weeds. with a straw problem, or to cover the surface roots of trees.
When not to sand your lawn
Unfortunately, in certain situations, spreading sand on your lawn can do more harm than good. First, weed seeds, nematodes and diseases can be introduced into the practice, depending on their source, Williams said. Plus, it’s easy to pour too much sand into the lower parts of your lawn and end up smothering it, he adds.
But beyond that, he says, most homeowners aren’t equipped or able to regularly sand their lawn. “It can be difficult to distribute the sand evenly in a timely manner, ” Williams writes . “Homeowners start out with the best of intentions consistently spreading sand and finish by the end of the day only to find that the work is slow and arduous.”