Gardeners are being urged to pour sand on their lawns to promote thicker, lusher, greener, and healthier grass. The method, known as 'sanding your lawn', involves scattering sand across the turf to improve soil quality, drainage, and drought tolerance.
Why Sand Your Lawn?
Keeping a lawn alive is simple, but maintaining a thick, lush, and healthy lawn amid foot traffic, pests, and scorching temperatures is challenging. Sanding helps by improving soil texture, reducing pH levels, and allowing grass roots to grow deeper, enhancing drought resistance. Given recent hot weather conditions in the UK due to climate change, this extra resilience is increasingly important.
Garden experts from Plantura explain: "Sanding lawns has various beneficial effects depending on the pre-treatment, the soil type, the sand you use, and how much you apply. Essentially, if there are problems that severely impair your lawn’s growth, a large quantity of sand will improve the long-term health of your lawn. However, regular sanding with small amounts also supports growth and significantly increases resilience."
How to Apply Sand Properly
Lawn care site Moowy advises: "It’s as simple as it sounds: sprinkling a layer of sand to a maximum of 3cm will help improve your soil — especially if it is heavy and clay-like. But don’t overdo it — you can exacerbate the problem if you add too much sand too often. Over time, the sand layer gets absorbed into the ground, improving and loosening the texture and drainage of your topsoil. Adding sand also helps neutralise the pH of your soil, which will help discourage weeds and strengthen the roots of your grass plants. This allows the roots to burrow deeper, providing better drought resistance and boosting your lawn’s immunity to diseases."
It is crucial to use proper sand from a DIY store or garden centre, not play sand for children's toys. Sanding is typically done alongside scarifying (aerating), usually in spring or autumn, but gardeners can start planning now for the end of summer to carry out both tasks together.
