Why You Should Aerate Your Lawn

Dec 31

A lot goes into lawn care. If you want to keep your lawn green, even, and glowing, you have to do more than water it once in a while. You have to cut the grass to an appropriate length, monitor the soil and mulch, rip out any weeds, and make sure you don’t drown it with water. With all of that, it’s easy to forget about aeration.

Aeration is all about breaking up your lawn by letting air flow through. For a healthy and long-lasting lawn, you want your lawn to be tougher than sand but not compacted. When you don’t aerate your lawn, that’s what it becomes, and compaction has a negative effect on your lawn.

AERATE YOUR LAWN TO STOP COMPACTION

Compaction is when the soil of your lawn is packed so closely together that it can’t hold the water, oxygen, or nutrients that plants need to survive.

Monitoring soil health is about making sure that the right amount of water, oxygen, and nutrients get to your lawn. Soil holds back excess water, holds nutrients in itself, and stores what your lawn needs. If it keeps out too much, it has voided the whole point of the soil. Compaction not only leads to the death of the plants on your lawn but voids your investment in your soil.

SIGNS OF COMPACTION

When you think that your lawn may be suffering from compaction, it’s time to aerate, but you need to know what to look out for first. Here are a few things you’ll see if your lawn is compacted and you need to aerate it sooner than later:

Puddles of water are forming in areas of your lawn where it’s lower elevation
The grass on your lawn is becoming thin
There are water runaways forming away from trees and taller plants
Your trees and taller plants have shallow roots
There are patchy areas of grass where it’s taller, shorter, thinner, fewer, or browner than other areas
There are areas nearly devoid of grass, where not even weeds are growing
The ground is hard when poked with a shovel
Thatch is building up on your lawn

All these symptoms appear on a scale. Sometimes if the compaction isn’t terrible or hasn’t been hurting your lawn all that long, the effects will be less pronounced. This makes it important to check your lawn regularly so you can notice these effects before they become too bad.

HOW DOES AERATION STOP COMPACTION?

Lawn aeration is the process of making small holes in the soil. This process will allow water, oxygen, and nutrients into the soil. This can work to keep enough space between the soil particles before compaction happens, and it can work to add space between the particles in the soil if it has already happened.

You want to be more careful if you’re not planning to replace the soil. You don’t want to cause the opposite problem of compaction where the soil allows too much into the ground. What you can do to be safe is use light aeration tactics and tools, and then replace the soil.

REPLACE THE SOIL AFTER YOU AERATE IT WITH SOIL FROM PIONEER LANDSCAPING

It’s best to lay down new topsoil is after the lawn has been aerated. This leaves a lot more room for error, so if you over aerate, the new layer of topsoil will make up the difference. The experts at your local Pioneer Landscaping Center can help you find the perfect topsoil for you. We carry a large selection of materials for you to choose from to best fit your lawn’s needs.

Carli Holas