Table of Contents
6 Steps To Aerating Your Lawn Step 1: Mow The Grass. Before you get started, you should mow the lawn as short as possible and kill off any weeds. Step 2: Water The Soil. Step 3: Select Your Tool. Step 4: Aerate Your Lawn. Step 5: Break Up Remaining Soil Plugs. Step 6: Resume Regular Lawn Care.
Can I manually aerate my lawn?
The best method of manually aerating your lawn is done using a ‘manual core aerator. ‘ This is a tool designed with a handle and a foot bar. You are required to hold the handle using both hands so that you can drive it into the soil. In areas where the soil is too compacted, the foot bar offers extra leverage.
Is it easy to aerate your own lawn?
Aerating is easiest on you (or your equipment operator) and your lawn when your soil is moist from irrigation or rainfall the day before. Overly dry soil can be tough to aerate, so moisture eases the process. Never aerate overly wet lawns; wait a few days instead.
Can I aerate my lawn with a pitchfork?
You can aerate a lawn with many different tools. The most inexpensive way is with a pitchfork or spading fork. This tool is most useful for aerating smaller areas. Simply punch holes as deep as possible in the turf layer and then rock the fork to enlarge the holes.
Can you aerate a lawn with a fork?
For small lawns, a normal garden fork will be all right to aerate your lawn. Just push it in between four or five inches deep and pull back, so the grass lifts a little. Pull it back out, move back about six inches, and then do exactly the same again.
Can you aerate yourself?
While it’s possible to aerate and overseed your yard on your own, both you and your lawn stand to benefit from professional care.
What month Should I aerate my lawn?
When to Aerate Your Lawn You want to aerate the lawn when your grass is in its peak growing period so it can recover quickly—think early spring or fall for cool-season grasses, and late spring through early summer for warm-season grasses.
What is the best way to aerate your lawn?
A smaller area of lawn can be aerated manually with aerating sandals (sandals with spikes that aerate the lawn as you walk) or a sturdy garden fork. Simply insert the fork into the lawn and wriggle it back and forth to fracture the soil profile. Aim for a spacing between the holes of around 8 – 10cm.
How much does it cost to aerate a lawn?
Professional Lawn Care Aeration and Treatment The cost to aerate your lawn by hiring a lawn care company is about $15 to $17 per thousand square feet. The average lawn size is about ten thousand square feet, making the average aeration cost around $150.
Is aerating your lawn worth it?
Is lawn aeration necessary? Almost all lawns will benefit from aeration, and a great lawn demands it. That said, most lawns do not need it. Lawns suffering from heavy foot traffic, excessive thatch (>1 inch thick) or grown on heavy soils will benefit most.
Does Epsom salt make grass greener?
As such, Epsom Salts is a very effective addition to your lawn fertilizer, to improve growth in your grass lawn by increasing chlorophyll production thereby making it greener.
How deep do you need to aerate your lawn?
The holes are typically 1.5 to 6 inches deep (more on what depth we recommend below) and the holes are 2 to 5 inches apart. So, what exactly does aeration do? It allows for air circulation at the root level of your lawn. This provides the optimal soil condition for healthy grass and growth.
Is it OK to put sand on grass?
Experts agree that sand should only be used on a lawn to level low areas, cover exposed tree roots, and to fix heavy thatch build up. Sand particles cannot retain any nutrients, so applying a layer of sand year after year to lawns actually causes lawns to lose their fertility.
Can you aerate lawn too much?
Loose soil doesn’t need to be aerated very often. Especially thick types of grass may also call for aerating more frequently. As a general rule, you shouldn’t need to aerate more than once a year at any time (“too much of a good thing” applies here, since you don’t want to damage your soil).
When should you not aerate your lawn?
Spring is not the ideal time to aerate the lawn, but circumstances may require it. If the soil is so compacted that existing grass can’t grow, it may be necessary to aerate in the spring. 1 Generally, though, spring aerating is discouraged because the aeration holes provide a perfect spot for weed seeds to germinate.
How do you know if you need to aerate your lawn?
10 Signs It’s Time To Aerate & Seed Your Lawn It’s Fall or Spring. The fall is the perfect season to aerate and seed your lawn. Puddles. Puddles are an indication of compacted soil. Worn Areas. Patches in the yard? Inability to Moisten. Thinning Grass. Discolored Areas. Uniformly Thin and Dull. Yard Stopped Growing.
Should I aerate or dethatch first?
Excess thatch blocks out air, light and water from reaching root zones. Dethatching and aeration services go hand in hand. Dethatch first, then aerate.
Can you aerate in the rain?
You can aerate a lawn when it is wet provided that it is not excessively wet. Lawn aeration involves making small holes on a lawn’s surface at regular intervals and moist soil helps the process. However, depending on the soil type, excessive moisture can hamper the process.
How do lawn aerators work?
Lawn aerators use rows of spikes or hollow tines to penetrate the soil, cutting through thatch and breaking up compacted soil to allow air, water, and other nutrients to reach the roots of your grass. Aerating your lawn promotes the decomposition of organic matter, helping to fertilize the grass.
What is power raking a lawn?
Power raking removes excess organic debris from the lawn. Aerating is meant to reduce soil compaction and improve grass root development.
