No matter how well you tend to your lawn all summer, brown and dead patches are inevitable. Fall is a spectacular time to add compost to either improve an already healthy lawn, fix dead patches, or do a fall overseeding with a grass seed and compost mixture. Applying compost now will give the biology an opportunity to work their way down into your soil and either replenish the health of your existing grass roots and soil or help the new seeds to take hold before the winter snow sets in. This end of the season kick will ensure strong healthy root systems for the following spring.
Why should you include compost in your lawn repair application? Compost improves turf and grass. It has excellent water retention capabilities and can hold 20 times its weight in water! It is also worth mentioning that compost not only contains all the nutrients required for the growth of grass, it also acts as a buffer by producing a neutralizing effect on the pH of the soil on which the seeds lay. It also helps control thatch and helps suppress disease-causing bacteria and fungi.
These advantages are due to the living organisms in the compost and the organic matter it provides. When compost is utilized by the soils' natural organisms it becomes humus, a gel-like mixture of soil materials, remnants of microbes, and organic matter. Compost provides all sixteen of the nutrients healthy grass needs in order to flourish.
If your goal is to improve the soil of an already healthy lawn, no grass seed mixture is needed. Compost alone will add the organic matter and biology needed to strengthen the root systems and revitalize the soil. 1-2 one-cubic foot bags of our Activated Compost per 1,000 square feet will help establish strong healthy turf. Healthy turf outcompetes weeds, requires less water, and performs better in the challenging Midwest climate.
The recommendation for patching dead areas of your lawn is to mix two pounds of grass seed per one cubic foot bag of Purple Cow Activated Compost and apply a 1/4 inch layer to the affected areas. Grass seeds don't like to be smothered so make sure you can see roughly 50% grass seeds and 50% soil/compost. Tracy Moreland from Moreland Landscape Resource, LLC had exceptional results:
"Six days...that's how long it took to see 1 inch germination of fescue on my bare spots that were seeded, top dressed and watered (daily) with Purple Cow Activated Compost, sure beat my expectations!"
For a fall overseeding application, we recommend a quarter to a half inch layer of Purple Cow Organics Classic Compost. At a 1/4 inch you will need three quarters of a cubic yard of compost to cover 1,000 square feet of lawn. If adding the seed directly into the compost, consider using two pounds of seed per 1,000 square feet of lawn (overseeding application). You can also top dress first, then add the seed on top if you desire. The sprouting rate is high as the seeds are protected against weather hazards, such as the wind, the sun, and temperature variations.
The one cubic foot bags of Activated Compost are available at most Purple Cow carrying retail stores. Click here to find your closest Purple Cow retailer. Not all stores carry all of our products so we always recommend calling ahead. Purple Cow Classic Compost is a bulk only product, available at select bulk resellers in the Madison, Milwaukee, and Chicago areas. Select "bulk" on the above store locator to find your closest bulk reseller. For more information about the Purple Cow composts or the rest of the retail line, please send us a message through the Contact tab at the top of the page.