Aerating Your Lawn By Hand

Once you aerate the lawn in the fall you can apply weed killers so the open holes are protected from weeds.

Aerating your lawn by hand.

With a spike aerator you simply use the tool to poke holes into the ground with a solid tine or fork. How to aerate a lawn. Although aerating your lawn in the spring certainly isn t wrong it would have to take a close second compared to aerating in the fall. Apply at least one inch of water.

This will help with the number of weeds growing in the springtime. If you live where heavy clay soil is the norm annual aeration is probably needed to keep your lawn from becoming thin and weak. Aerating is the process of punching small holes all over your lawn. This soil type needs aeration as it tends to.

For the best results use an aerating tool or machine that actually removes plugs of soil. You fail to push a screwdriver through the moist soil. The day before aerating your lawn apply 1 inch of water to the lawn to soften the soil. Dethatching and aerating are two different tasks but they often go hand in hand.

For lightly compacted soil go over your entire lawn once with the aerator making sure to follow directions for use. Make sure to mark any sprinkler heads or shallow irrigation septic or utility lines so that you won t accidentally run them over. You are required to hold the handle using both hands so that you can drive it into the soil. Your soil type is clay.

Thoroughly water your lawn a day or two before you begin the aeration process. How do you decide whether your lawn needs aeration. Thatch is the layer of decomposing organic matter that forms right at the lawn surface between soil and grass. Two main aerating tools exist a spike aerator and a plug aerator.

Spiking is not nearly as effective as core aerating but it s better than nothing. It is difficult for water to sip below the surface when watering. Other aerators use short spikes to punch holes in the turf. Plug aerators remove a core or plug of grass and soil from the lawn.

In areas where the soil is too compacted the foot bar offers extra leverage. The grass is starting to change color or look unhealthy. The most effective type of aerating is with a gas powered machine called a core aerator that pulls out small cores of grass and soil.