Top Dressing

About Top Dressing

Up where the Etowah River bends through Cherokee County, Canton keeps its old cotton mill standing in brick, and the town's lawns spread out around it toward the foothills. Top Dressing takes its name from the lawn work at its heart: spreading a fine layer of soil or compost across turf so it can level out and root deeper. Autumn suits that work here, when foothill mornings turn crisp and the summer heat finally loosens its grip on the ground. A top-dressed lawn settles smooth, its low spots filled and its color evening out from one side of the yard to the other. It is patient work, and in Canton it makes a lawn that walks soft from the curb to the front steps.