Keeping your Lawn Thick, Green and Healthy
Most everyone understands the need for regular feeding, weed control, proper mowing, and watering when maintaining a thick green beautiful lawn. But did you know that aeration is just as important as any of these? The benefits of aeration aren't just here today and gone tomorrow. They continue for months after being performed and work together with all the other services your lawn receives throughout the year.
The best way to understand aeration is to think of it as a re-arrangement of your soil without damage to your turf. Aeration removes thousands of soil cores from your lawn and deposits them above the thatch layer. The cores are about a half inch in diameter and 2 to 3 inches long.
It sounds simple, but as soon as aeration is completed, a lot of good things begin to happen to your lawn and continue for months afterwards. The first immediate benefit is the creation of tiny pockets in your lawn to catch and hold water and fertilizer. This is especially important in heavy soils that tend to be compacted and shed water rather than absorbing it. You will notice the soil cores begin to dissolve during rainfall and irrigation. This soil is mixing with the thatch layer, helping it to decompose, and preventing a thick solid blanket of thatch from forming over the lawn.
Then, because the holes are catching water and fertilizer, the grass roots begin to grow more rapidly, getting fuller and thicker on the way. And since there’s extra space, the compacted soil of your lawn begins to loosen and that means more oxygen reaches the roots so they can grow deeper without hitting hard soil.
The important final result of all these steps is the lawn will be thicker, greener, have less thatch, and hold up to hot and dry weather better than before. Consider including core aeration in you annual lawn care program. It’s a wise decision that will continue to pay dividends at the “grass roots” level long after the aerator is gone.