7 Simple Tips for Using Compost on Your Lawn to Grow Greener Grass

While compost is commonly used in vegetable, flower, and herb gardens, home gardeners often overlook the many benefits that compost brings to lawns. Using compost for lawns is an excellent way to both improve the soil and help green up your grass naturally. Plus, if you make your own compost, it’s practically free. Here’s why you may want to use compost for your lawn and how to apply it properly to get all its benefits.

How Compost Benefits Lawns

Grass becomes patchy, dry, and brown if it doesn’t receive the moisture and nutrients it needs to grow. Applying compost before planting grass seeds or using compost as an amendment on established lawns benefits lawns in several ways:

• Lush, green growth. Compost naturally increases the fertility of soil because it is packed with nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. These nutrients fuel grass growth, reduce patchy spots, and help seeds germinate and root faster. Beyond that, compost also contains a lot of beneficial microbes that increase the availability of soil nutrients and make grass more resistant to pests and diseases.
• Improved soil structure. Working compost into the soil or applying it as a topdressing slowly improves soil structure and counteracts compact soils and pH issues. Compost helps to improve soil, whether you have alkaline, acidic, sandy, or clay-heavy soil.
• Better water retention and drainage. Amending your lawn with compost increases the ability of the soil to hold water while at the same time improving the drainage of heavy, dense soil that is often soggy and muddy after heavy rainfall.
• Reduced need for pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizer. Because compost adds nutrients to the soil, compost-enriched lawns require less commercial fertilizer. Healthy, strong grass is also more resistant to pests and diseases and fends off weeds better, so it potentially eliminate the need for pesticides and herbicides.

Tips for Using Compost on Lawns

Synthetic non-organic lawn fertilizers provide a quick fix for lawn problems, but they usually need to be reapplied regularly, and they may leach into waterways or cause a build-up of salt that can burn turf grass. Compost, similarly to organic lawn fertilizers, doesn’t pose these same risks, and it provides longer-term support for grass and soil health.

Whether you’re applying homemade compost or purchasing compost from local garden centers, here are a few tips to ensure your lawn reaps major rewards from compost applications.

1. Buy in Bulk

If you don’t have the space to make your own compost, you can purchase compost in bulk from garden centers or landscaping companies. Bulk deliveries of compost are usually much cheaper than bagged compost, and they don’t produce nearly as much plastic waste.

2. Inspect Compost Before Buying

Before purchasing compost, ask for a sample of the compost you’re thinking about buying. Healthy compost should be black or dark brown, and it should have a light, fluffy texture and a pleasant, earthy smell. Unhealthy compost, on the other hand, may seem lumpy, dry, and emit
unpleasant odors—and it may even contain weeds, rocks, or bits of plastic.

Some compost companies may be able to furnish you with test results showing the nutrient makeup and pH levels of the compost you want to buy. You can also test compost samples yourself through your local cooperative extension office to make sure the compost meets your standards.

3. Calculate How Much Compost You’ll Need

Compost is either applied before planting grass lawns or as a topdressing on existing grass. You’ll need more compost to establish a new lawn. Follow this formula:

• For newly established lawns: 16 cubic feet of compost for 100 square feet of lawn
• For established lawns: 2 cubic feet for 100 square feet of lawn

4. Use Compost Before Planting Grass

If you’re starting a new lawn and want grass seeds to grow better, apply compost before sowing grass seeds. To start, remove any weeds, rocks, or other debris from the planting area and rake the soil flat. Then, spread a 2-inch layer of compost over the planting area and work the compost into the top 6 inches of bare soil with a tiller.

Once the area is prepared, plant the grass seeds, add a light covering of straw to keep the seeds from washing away and deter birds from eating it, and water well. Just be sure not to water the area so much that the compost and grass seeds wash away.

5. Apply Compost on Existing Lawns

If you have established grass that needs some TLC, apply compost as a topdressing across your lawn in spring or fall. To start, simply spread a 1/4 to 1/2-inch layer of compost evenly across your grass. Then, rake the compost in so that the grass blades are mostly exposed above the compost layer, and water your entire lawn well.

Topdressings of compost are usually applied once or twice a year, but there is no harm in adding even more compost to your lawn if your soil is very poor. Unlike synthetic fertilizers, it’s hard to overdo it with compost. But don’t apply so much compost that you smother your grass.

6. Spread Compost Evenly

Whether you’re using compost on bare soil before planting grass seeds or an existing lawn, there are two main ways to apply compost: with a shovel or a broadcast spreader.

Using a shovel tends to be a more labor-intensive process, but it’s a great option if you don’t want to purchase new lawn care equipment. Just fill up a wheelbarrow with compost and shovel 3 to 4 shovelfuls of compost into small piles dotted across your lawn. Then, use a rake to spread each pile of compost evenly in all directions until the compost is dispersed and your lawn is covered.

Using a topdressing machine or broadcast spreader works too; however, some spreaders get easily clogged with compost, so it’s important to use a spreader with a big hopper or bucket on the top. To apply, pile compost into the spreader hopper and push the spreader across your lawn in a north-to-south direction. Then, repeat this process in an east-to-west direction to create a checkerboard-like pattern of compost that evenly covers your lawn.

7. Use Grass Clippings as Compost

Instead of collecting and discarding grass clippings, leave them on the lawn every time you mow. Like compost, grass clippings slowly break down into the soil and provide a slow release of nutrients to grass plants.

If you have a mulching mower, you can mow over nutrient-rich autumn leaves on your grass in the fall to act as a natural fertilizer as they break down.