Adjust Your Soil's pH

Before applying fertilizer or lime, it is best to have your soil tested. Your Local Extension Service may provide soil testing services for free, or at a low cost. Test results will indicate any nutrient deficiencies, and the amount of lime needed to correct soil pH. Be sure to purchase "pelletized" lime. Pelletized lime is much easier to broadcast with a rotary spreader, and it activates instantly upon irrigation or rainfall.

Typically, the more clay and organic content in your soil, the more lime you will need to correct the pH. Sandy soils usually require less lime, if any.

In the absence of a soil test, and if the soil in your region is typically prone to being acidic, an application of at least 40 pounds of pelletized lime per 1,000 square feet is recommended. After spreading lime, water the lawn to wash the particles off the grass leaves and into the soil.

Broadcast Fertilizer

When restoring a lawn, either follow fertilizer recommendations provided in your soil test results, or apply a commercial, slow-release "starter-type" lawn fertilizer. You may substitute commercial-grade fertilizer with an organic lawn fertilizer, or chicken manure based fertilizer.

Build Organic Matter and Microbe Numbers In The Soil

The right dose of fertilizer won't help much if your soil does not contain an adequate population of microbes. You need billions of these microscopic organisms per handful. Microbes not only digest grass clippings, dead grass roots, and stems, but they also make their nutrients available to living grass plants.

To have a thriving microbe population, your soil must contain 2 to 5 percent organic material. A topdressing of compost, such as mushroom compost, composted cow manure, or your own home-made compost, mixed with topsoil followed by aeration will incorporate some organic matter into the soil without disrupting the lawn. When restoring your lawn, apply about one cubic yard of compost per 1,000 square feet.