What is Aeration?

Everyone wants to have a green, healthy, and beautiful lawn. To achieve this, we have to learn how to take care of our gardens. It is important to aerate your lawn. So, what is aeration? Aeration is perforating the soil. These small holes will allow water, air, and nutrients to penetrate and distribute well through the grass on your lawn. Aeration is good for the roots of your grass. It allows them to take a stronger grip on the soil. You need to aerate your lawn regularly for the health of your turf, and as good practice according to Lenard’s Lawn Care Services in Hampton Roads Virginia.

Why is Aeration Done?

The main reason aeration is essential is because of soil compaction. When soil gets compacted, it reduces the natural flow of air, water, and nutrients, preventing the proper growth of grass. This has a significant effect on the health and beauty of your lawn. Aeration is done to break this compaction. If aeration is poor, your laws will struggle with the stress caused by compaction. It will begin to thin out and die. Single aeration can make a massive difference in the health and quality of your lawn.

How Do I Tell If My Lawn Needs Aeration?

You need to aerate your lawn if the following things have happened.

• If your children use your lawn as a playground or people step on it regularly, you will need to aerate your lawn frequently. Human action and pets walking around your lawn leads to compaction

• If your lawn is on a newly built property, you will need to aerate your soil. Construction workers and equipment usually compact garden soil.

• If your lawn dries out quickly, you need to aerate it. There may be excess thatch. To find out, take a shovel, dig out a small patch of your lawn and measure the thickness of thatch. If it is more than half an inch thick, you should aerate it promptly.

How is Aeration Done?

Aeration is appropriately done using aerating equipment. If you own one, you can easily do this yourself. You can rent the equipment from your local lawn and garden store if you don’t own or have one. You can also hire a professional to aerate the soil for you.

There are three types of aerating machines. They vary in size, from small manual versions to large tractor-like and pull-behind models available. Your needs will determine the type and size of machine you use.

These types are:

• Spike aerators which poke a hole down in the soil with a solid spiky tine. Spike aerators have the singular disadvantage of making compaction worse around the holes they bore.

• Slicing aerators cut and slice through the grass and thatch straight into the soil. They leave the soil in the ground but create grooves that allow water air and nutrients to get through without compacting the soil further

• Core/Plug aerators use rows of hollow lines which remove plugs from the ground. These aerators bring plugs to the soil surface and break them down. Depending on the type of machine you use, the plugs will be of different.

To do aeration effectively, you will have to work back and forth just like you would when you mow. Give particular focus to problem areas. Make several passes to ensure that the aeration is thorough. After aeration, you will have to seed the lawn.

Preparing to seed your lawn.

Before you seed, you will have to determine whether the seed you have is right for the soil and current weather conditions. You will also choose a seed that is compatible with your current lawn. If seeding an existing lawn, identify the damaged spots, remove dead grass and loosen the soil. Spread the seed and rake it into the ground then mulch it. Water it as usual.

Seeding a new lawn

If you are planting a new lawn, you will have to remove debris like sticks and stones from your garden. Using a rake, you will then remove clumps of soil from your garden, and bring the soil to a level. You will add compost, topsoil, and fertilizer, then spread the seed evenly across the soil surface. To get the seed into the soil, rake it again. After that, mulch the garden with straw and cover the garden with a seed blanket. Later, water regularly until the lawn grows.

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