Live in north Dallas and looking to add a top dressing to my yard. Yard is in pretty good shape but think adding compost/soil could help build it up. For our Ag experts, what would you recommend? Grass is bermuda and well established for the most part. TIA

1/2 inch of quality compost, and keep up your normal fertilizer schedule..

EOT

I did this last year with a top dressing that had some sand too. Worked great. I recommend…

1. Cut low
2. Dress at a depth where just a little grass poles out the top. Maybe 1/4 in or less.
3. Water

Probably no reason to fertilize during this, but may not hurt if you haven't done it yet.

Pretty easy. I recommend whatever dressing you buy should be a nice fine mix. No chunks. Just about all soil supply places have a primo top dressing that is mixed for this application.

I would wait a couple more weeks before doing. Warm season grasses like bermuda were delayed in coming out of their winter dormancy due to the non-typical colder weather we had in March. Soil temps have finally been stabilizing over 60 degrees the last 10 days which combined with recent rains should put the grass in an active growing stage. No need to put additional stress on the grass at this point before it has time to recover from the winter.

I'm planning on topdressing my backyard in early may with some sandy loam mixed with compost.

I'll be going through my first season of zoysia (new sod yard), so similar in characteristics, and here's my plan:
- wait till early to mid-May. Keep cutting low to promote lateral growth and get well into the warmer months.
- fertilize about a week before I plan to cover
- mow low and cover with masonry sand/composted topsoil as needed
- screed smooth to fill in low spots
- water in thoroughly
- continue to mow low
- enjoy beers

Before then I'll be taking care of some poa that's popped up, but I'm hoping it goes well. This is my first yard with turf grass so I'm pretty pumped about getting it off to a good start. Unfortunately the dogs and web worms seem to have other plans for me.

How are y'all spreading? I got an acre I need to do.

On a 1/4 acre, wheelbarrow loads all over the yard, spread even with a shovel and a garden rake.

On a full acre, I'd do the same on the 1/4 acre closest to the road/house. The rest I'd just do some minerals.

Planning on attempting a similar process with my St. Augustine this year. I can almost break an ankle walking across my yard due to how rough it is. Thinking a 50/50 mix of clean soil and masonry sand. I have a section of bar grating I attached a handle to that I intend to use as a drag.

I know if won't work as well as if it was short bermuda, but I'm gonna give it a shot.

I'm on a half acre and used a drag harrow hitched to a 4 wheeler to level my initial topsoil before sod and will use it again to level the sand/soil mix.

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/atv-4-ft-x-4-ft-chain-harrow-with-4-ft-drawbar?cm_vc=-10005

For moving the material around I used this dump cart attached to a 4 wheeler. Saved me a bunch of trips. The dump feature wasn't as useful, as I still had to shovel out the material without raking up too much of the in place soil, but it was better than nothing.

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/ohio-steel-125-cu-ft-poly-swivel-dump-cart?cm_vc=-10005

If anyone is in the houston/pearland area and is interested in borrowing either one for some work, let me known and im sure we can arrange something. Most days they're both just sitting in the garage.

I recommend keeping it simple with the material. Find some place close to you that sells a top dressing. Bc, IMO, a light dressing every late spring/early summer is the best thing you can do for a yard. I'm on an every other year schedule. The years I do it, the yard looks fantastic after it grows though.