Don’t you always feel proud when you have a well-manicured and healthy lawn? We sure do. However, obtaining a healthy lawn requires a wide range of regular care. Common care practices include watering, mowing, and fertilization.
However, if you wish to have a truly healthy, beautiful lawn, then there is one more thing you will need to take care of, aeration. Aeration is imperative because the grass on your lawn needs to maintain a steady supply of oxygen, water, and nutrients.
In a modern world, there are plenty of machines and tools to help you aerate your lawn and promote healthy growth of your grass. However, even with the best technologies you still need to understand why and how to aerate effectively. We are here to help.
What is Aeration?
Technically, lawn aeration is the process of perforating the soil by making small holes that enable water, air, and nutrients to penetrate into the roots of your grass. When you correctly aerate the soil, you help the grass’ roots to grow stronger and penetrate deeper into the soil.
We advise you to consider aerating because it also promotes soil compaction and dethatching. Compacted soils have a variety of solid particles that are likely to inhibit the proper circulation of essential nutrients, water, and air in the soil.
Excess thatch means that your lawn has accumulated too much organic debris between the soil surface and the green grass blades. The dense cover can hinder the essential elements from penetrating into the soil. You, however, can solve this issue by aerating the soil.
How do you Determine When to Aerate your Lawn?
So we have already established why it is crucial for you to aerate your lawn. Unfortunately, most homeowners are still uncertain of the proper time to actually carry out soil aeration. If you belong in this category, here are some of the things that you need to look out for to identify when to aerate your lawn.
If your lawn is subjected to heavy use, for example, your kids or pets spend most of their time playing in the backyard, you need to aerate your lawn.
If your lawn is spongy or if the grass dries out much faster then this could be an indication that your lawn has excessive thatch. To be sure of this you can remove a section of the lawn using a shovel. If the thatch covering the blades of grass exceeds one and a half inches, we recommend that you consider aeration.
We also advise that you aerate the lawn when you have grown your grass in a place where the subsurface previously encountered a lot of stress. Such as construction.
If your lawn began as sod, then you should also consider aeration because the soil layering of sod may adversely affect the circulation of essential oxygen, water, and nutrients through your grass. If your lawn began as sod, then you should consider purchasing aeration equipment.
When is the Ideal Time for Aeration?
Another thing to consider is the appropriate time to aerate. First, you have to establish the type of grass that grows on your lawn, because different types of grass require different times of aeration.
If your lawn consists of warm-season grasses such as Bermuda grass, we recommend aeration in spring. You should carry out the process immediately after the soil has thawed.
However, if your lawn has cool-season grasses like Kentucky Bluegrass, it would be wise to conduct aeration during the fall season. Overall, spring and fall seasons are the ideal time to get stuck into this task.
The best time is when the ground hasn’t gotten too hard, or after the frost has killed all the weeds. We also tell homeowners to consider spreading some grass seeds after the operation, but you have to water the lawn for about two weeks to promote germination of the seeds that you have scattered.
Additionally, lawns that have sandy soils require aeration every 2 to 3 years while lawns that have clay soils or those that encounter heavy foot traffic require you to aerate each year.
Aerating your Lawn by Hand
Compacted lawn soil hinders proper growth of grass, thus resulting in an unhealthy, unattractive lawn. Fortunately, you can tackle this problem through aeration, and you don’t even have to use a machine to get the job done. There are still plenty of manual lawn aeration methods that are equally effective.
Although manual methods may not be as effective as using a machine, they are still capable of delivering excellent results. Moreover, the tools are quite affordable. The major downside with manual methods is that they can be quite tedious and laborious.
Methods of Hand Aeration:
Using a manual core aerator
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. This tool works best on moist soil, and it aerates your lawn by penetrating the earth with sharp cylinders which make perforations into the turf and remove small plugs of lawn. This process can be, but it is essential to run the aerator over the entrie lawn.
Using a manual spike aerator
Another manual tool that could help you aerate your lawn is the manual spike aerator. This tool operates similarly to the manual core aerator, but instead of cylinders, it has a number of spikes. Instead of plugging the lawn, it drives small holes into the turf to loosen the soil. This allows for better penetration and circulation of air, water, and nutrients.
Using a fork
A fork can be a useful tool for aerating your lawn. The process is more or less like spike aeration. It is an effective method because it penetrates compacted soils efficiently to loosen the particles, and if you already own a fork, you don’t have to spend more money on new tools to aerate your lawn. The process, however, is extremely tedious and time-consuming, especially if you have a large lawn.
How to Aerate your Lawn
Before you aerate your lawn, you must understand the process. These are some of the critical things to be mindful of while aerating:
Determine the type of grass
The first step to aerating your lawn is establishing the type of grass that grows on it. As we’ve mentioned above, the grass type determines the ideal time for you to aerate. Once you’ve established if your grass is warm-season or cool-season, you can then plan your aeration efforts accordingly.
Determine the soil type
Soil also affects the intervals between each aeration. Some soils such as clay require shorter aeration intervals while sandy soils call for longer intervals before the next aeration process.
Understand your lawn habits
Different homeowners use their lawns in different ways. If you drive over your lawn frequently, or if you have children playing on your lawn all year long, we recommend aeration every year to avoid excessive soil compaction.
Additionally, if you have recently spread grass seed on your lawn, there is no need to rush into aerating the soil. You should wait about a year to allow enough time for the seeds to germinate and develop strong root systems. You should also check the depth of the roots of your lawn’s grass. If the roots’ depth is less than 2-inches, we recommend aeration. You can examine the depth using a small shovel or a screwdriver.
Decide on the manual aerator to use
You also have to establish the type of manual aerator that you would like to use. Do you want a core aerator or a spike aerator? Depending on your needs and preference, select the tool that works best for you. You can also use a fork for the operation.
Prepare your lawn
Before you proceed with the aeration process, ensure to prepare your yard accordingly. The preparations involve raking debris, sticks, and leaves off the lawn. You should also mow your lawn to make the penetration easier. If you have sprinklers, be sure to turn them off before aerating.
Assess the moisture level
Next, you need to check the moisture level of your lawn’s soil. Manual tools work best in soft, moist dirt. Be sure to water the lawn before you carry out the operation.
Focus on sensitive areas
If you have areas on your lawn that receive more traffic than others, we recommend paying close attention to these areas. You could even go over them twice to ensure adequate results.
How to Aerate Soil in Potted Plants
If you are a homeowner who has houseplants, you should know that houseplants’ care practices go beyond watering. To aerate the soil in potted plants, water the soil, then get pointed sticks (like chopsticks) and gently poke the soil to loosen it.
Lawn aeration is an essential lawn care process that promotes proper penetration and circulation of air, nutrients, and water in the soil. The process supports healthy grass growth, which leaves your lawn looking beautiful and attractive. Also, you don’t have to rely on machines when you want to aerate your yard. You can always settle for manual lawn aeration methods, which are both effective and affordable. There are tools available for aerating lawn by hand, and you can select the method/tool that best suits your needs.
