Basic lawn care such as mowing, feeding, and watering helps your yard get that stunning green grass. But because seasons change, you may have to do more than that. Your grass needs oxygen too to grow, like any other plant. To keep up with the change, you need to aerate your yard's soil. Lawn Aeration is as essential as practicing basic lawn care. This method allows your soil to breathe and promote root growth for healthy grass.
Particularly after winter, when the soil on your yard is compacted due to ice, this method will break it up and allow the air to flow around the roots. When the soil is deprived of air, they will lose their color and eventually die. Once the grass is dead, you will have to remove it. You'll end up having patchy areas on your lawn and have to start from scratch to grow a new set of grass. On this blog, we'll talk about aeration, how it works and, when is the best time to do it to get the best results for your lawn.
"Lawn Aeration is as essential as practicing basic lawn care"
What Is Aeration and Why Lawn Aerating Is Important?
One of the most common questions homeowners ask about their lawn is, why is there a need for lawn aeration? When soil is compacted, grasses will gradually thin out and die because air, water, and other nutrients do not reach the bottom. No matter how many times you water and feed your lawn if it doesn't reach the roots it's useless. There are many reasons why soil gets compacted. From simple things like equipment running over your lawn or someone walks on it. To dethatching, where a layer of an organic matter is decomposing that it hardens and creates a block between the soil and grass. Lawn aeration is the process of punching small holes on the soil to allow air to pass through from the surface down to the roots. This is usually the first step in plant treatment. Through the small opening, air and water can get to the roots and provide it with the necessary elements needed to make the grass stronger and healthier.
Aerating Machines and Tools
There are two ways on how to do aeration; manually or by using a machine to poke holes on the dirt. For manual poking, you can use spiked sandals, a handheld spike core aerator or a rolling lawn aerator. The most commonly used among the three is the rolling aerator. It's easy to use and does not need force to push it. If you prefer to use a machine, there are also different models and brands. You can check out these sites, here and here to view walk-behind, tow-behind and riding type of aerator machines.
When To Do Lawn Aerating and What Is The Best Way to Aerate Lawn?
Not all lawns require regular aerating. A healthy lawn can have one in every 2-3 years. When should you aerate your lawn? Check for these signs first that indicate your lawn needs aerating:
Grass looks stressed
Water is not absorbed right away
Soil is compacted
The lawn gets dehydrated quickly
The thatch layer is too dense, about half an inch
Evaluation
To evaluate if your lawn needs to be aerated, test first by digging up a small section on the soil up to 4 inches deep and examine the roots. If the grass' root growth is less than 2 inches, then aeration is needed. You can also stick a screwdriver into the soil directly. If the screwdriver cannot penetrate, that means the soil is compacted and it needs aerating.
Start of Process
After evaluating your yard, if you determined that aeration is needed, you can start the aeration process. Here are the steps on how to do it:
Check the soil's moisture by deep forking the soil or use a hand aerator. If soil sticks, then that means the soil is too wet. If the soil comes out powdery, that means its too dry. If it's too dry, water the lawn to soften it. Keep adding water until the soil is moist. Make sure the soil is moist enough before you start aerating.
When the soil is ready, if the surface is heavily thatched, rake the layers of grass clippings, moss and other materials that are on the surface. Make sure the surface is free from any debris before you start poking holes.
When you're ready to start, run the aerating machine over the lawn if you are using one. Make multiple runs especially on the most compacted area. If done manually, you can start walking all over it if using spiked shoes. If using a hand aerator, push the aerator into the soil to make a hole. Remove the aerator and leave the soil cores on top of the surface. Repeat the process until the entire lawn is covered.
After the entire lawn is aerated, leave the soil cores on the surface until they dry. The soil cores may not be pleasing in the eyes but they will not harm your yard. These will eventually break down over time and decompose. You can now start overseeding and fertilizing your lawn. This is the perfect time to do it since the direct contact of the fertilizer and seed on the soil makes it quicker for your lawn to absorb the food and plant the seed.
When Is The Best Time To Aerate Lawn?
Aerating can be done any season, depending on the condition of your lawn. But the best time to do it is during fall when the temperature had cooled down and weed growth is minimal or late spring when grasses are coming out of dormancy.
If you enjoy reading this, make sure to subscribe to our mailing list and be the first to know about new updates from Tedious. Check out our other blogs too for more tips, guides and how to's for your lawn. Need someone to take care of your lawn? Head on to our website and order on-demand lawn care requests anytime! We are also on Facebook (Minnesota, Sioux Falls, and Omaha) and Instagram! Follow us on our social media channels for news, announcements, and promos!
コメント