Hi everyone. Now, thanks to everyone here, I have great compost. Not quite sure of some basics. I plan to fert the beds each Spring with it but how about the lawn? How much do I apply and do I need my Scotts fert any longer?
I had a very large load of compost one year and spread it on a highly thatched section of our front yard. Within just a few days the thatch was gone. I decided to use the rest on the lawn and it performed wonders.
It is a large lawn but didn't take long with a simple shovel. I simply shook the compost from the shovel until the black material was well seen over the entire lawn. Picture it as oreo ice cream with the black the compost and the white the yard. It was enough to do the trick!
Thatch may or may not be a problem depending on what it is. IIRC true thatch is a problem of shallow matted roots usually resulting from watering too shallow and lightly. However if you are talking about a layer of dead and decaying grass blades on top of the soil beneath the live grass, I wouldn't think that would be a problem as long as the lawn is green on top. I can see how adding compost would lead to rapid breakdown of that dead material, though.
I would love to put compost on my lawn and even have a cheap source of sifted compost, but I'd need a spreader to tow behind the riding mower, which can be had for a mere $1000, too rich for my blood.
Can't you rent the spreader? It seems like the kind of thing you would use once or twice a year. No point in cluttering up the homestead with that kind of thing, even if you could afford to.