Spring is just around the corner, and it’s time to start thinking about yard care. One of the things that you can do to ensure a healthy lawn is to aerate it. Over time, even with light traffic, the soil in a lawn will become compact, making it difficult for air, water, and nutrients to penetrate, and reach the roots of the grass. Aeration basically pokes holes in the soil to loosen it up and allow the water and nutrients to penetrate.
There are several products available to help aerate your lawn. If you have a small lawn, you can use a handheld aerator, this is just a spiked roller that you roll over your lawn, which help to penetrate and loosen up the soil. Another product is a set of spiked sandals that you strap to your shoes. The spikes penetrate the lawn as you walk over it. These work well if you have a small lawn, or if the soil isn’t too compact.
For larger lawns and very compact soil, you may want to choose another option. Larger aerators, meant to be towed behind a lawn tractor are also available. You can place weights over these to ensure good penetration of the soil. Another powered option is a core aerator, which pulls out plugs of soil. These plugs can be raked up and discarded, or simply allowed to dissolve back into the lawn over time.
Whichever method you choose, you need to make sure that you get good penetration. The aerator needs to go deep enough to get to the roots of the lawn, so that the water and nutrients can reach them. Try the spiked rollers or the spiked sandals. But remember if your soil is too compact, the spiked sandals will do nothing except make you a couple of inches taller. If you have extremely compact soil, go for one of the powered aerators.
Aeration is usually done in the spring, as the grass is starting to grow. By aerating you will ensure that the grass is able to get the necessary nutrients and water that it needs to grow strong and healthy.