Lawn aeration

Lawn aeration is an extremely important procedure which should be done if the soil is compacted. Lawn aeration means pulling up plugs of soil. It helps the air and the water to reach grass roots easier. As a result, roots become stronger and the grass becomes green and lush. Nowadays you can do aeration yourself with the help of lawn aerator, either you can call any lawn care provider and everything will be done for you by specialists. Generally, it is recommended to do lawn aeration once or twice a year.

If you want to do lawn aeration yourself, you should know the following:

To find out if it is the time for aeration, make a simple test: try to make a hole in your lawn with the help of a screwdriver. If the task is done easily, the aeration is not necessary. If it took you some efforts, then lawn aeration is advisable.

It is better to use aerator which plugs out the soil but not the one which uses spikes. The reason is that spikes do not take the soil, and water as well as nutrients hardly get to the roots. Moreover, the usage of aerators with spikes often leads to soil compaction, as a result. So, in such case the problem may remain unsolved.

It is recommended to water the lawn thoroughly the day before the aeration in order to make it soft. If the soil is dry, it will be difficult to aerate.

Speaking about the depth of the holes it can be noticed that there is no certain dimension of an ideal size, moreover, it may vary depending on the type of the soil, its moisture level and many other parameters.

The areas where the traffic is very high should be aerated more thoroughly, because if aerated not properly, these parts of your lawn will soon become compacted and the grass will grow slower. The owners of the lawns with weeds should better apply herbicides during aeration.

When the lawn aeration is finished it is better to remove the plugs as they spoil the look of the lawn and your neighbors may think about who let the dogs out. It is possible to mow over the plugs and break them up or simply gather them up.