NJ Lawns Community

Hey everyone, I'm a homeowner in Paramus and I've been using those big box store granular fertilizers for the past 3 years now. You know, the usual Scott's or Miracle-Gro stuff you grab at Home Depot in Hackensack. And honestly? My lawn still looks average at best. Some patches here and there, fungus issues in the humid summer, and I'm dumping probably $400+ a year on this stuff. I'm tired of burning money honestly. Has anyone in Bergen County actually tried doing compost top dressing instead? Like the real deal - getting screened compost and putting it down yourself. Was it actually worth the effort? I'm mainly running tall fescue and some KBG in my backyard. Looking for honest feedback before I commit to trying this.

Oh my god, totally worth it. I started doing compost top dressing three seasons ago in Ridgewood and I'll never go back to synthetics. Here's the thing nobody tells you - it's not a quick fix. Month one, honestly my lawn looked kinda the same. But by end of season two? Night and day difference. The soil biology just gets so much better. I get mine from LEEDY's in Garfield - they sell by the yard and it's actually cheaper than those bags once you do the math. I put down about 1/4 inch in early spring right when the ground thaws out, around late March/early April for tall fespue. Takes some work but my lawn is literally the greenest on the block now.

I'll respectfully disagree a bit. Done compost top dressing for two years in Fair Lawn and yeah it helps soil but honestly? I still need to seed and aerate too. Compost alone won't fix your compaction issues or bare spots. Here's what I'd recommend - check your soil pH first. Got mine tested through the Rutgers cooperative extension in New Brunswick, super cheap. My issue turned out to be lime needed, not fertilizer. Once I add that plus compost? Whole different ballgame. Don't expect magic from just compost if your soil base stinks. Do thesoil test first people!

@WeedWarrior That's actually really helpful, thanks. I didn't even think about pH. How do you go about getting that test done? Just mail something in or do you go through the county extension office?

@LawnLover Exactly what he said! I think I paid like $20 or something for the basic test. You can actually get kits at the Bergen County extension office on Farm Lane in Hackensack or order online through Rutgers. They tell you exactly what your soil needs. Biggest game changer honestly. My compost was great but I was wasting it because my phosphorus was already sky high. Now I do a light compost top dress maybe once a year and hit whatever the soil test says I'm missing. Way cheaper in the long run.

Exactly. Also timing matters - I do mine in late fall, around mid-October before we get that first hard frost. Allows the compost to integrate over winter and your soil microbes wake up hungry in spring. Early spring works too but I find fall application less stress on the lawn here in North Jersey. We get those weird warm spells in March that mess with spring apps sometimes.