Lawn aeration is the key to having the greenest grass around, but how do you properly aerate your lawn? Many people struggle with the idea of how to aerate, but once they get started, they realize that not only is lawn aeration easy, it is the easiest way to improve the look and feel of your lawn and keep thick green grass coming back year after year. Here you can learn the theories behind aeration, when to aerate, and where to get the best aeration supplies.
The key to understand aerating your lawn is to realize what the point of aeration is. Over time the soil that makes up your lawn becomes hard, this is caused by compaction due to: human traffic, animal traffic, tractors, cars, trucks, or even settling under its own weight. A lawn aerator simply cuts out cores of dirt, and lays them on the surface of the lawn so that rain can dissolve the dirt and fill the hole in with loose, non-compacted dirt. After the dirt falls back in the holes that are left after aeration, the entire lawn can absorb water better, and roots can grow easier, making the grass healthier. In order for the aerator do work, the soil needs to be slightly moist, and the aerator has to be heavy. Lawn aerators work by weight, it is the weight of the aerator that gives it the power to pull out 3-4 inch plugs.
Lawns need to be aerated twice a year for best results, once in the spring, and once in the fall. The spring time aeration gives you a great opportunity to fertilize your lawn, the fertilizer pellets will fall into the soil, allowing the roots of the grass to reach it easier. It is also a good idea to sow grass seed out when you aerate to grow new grass and keep it your lawn looking great. The fall aeration allows water to easily reach the roots of your lawn while it is dormant, helping it come back greener in the spring time.
When aerating your lawn, the right products will get you the best results. Be sure to use an aerator that removes plugs from the lawn instead of one that pushes spikes into the lawn, as a “spiker” can worsen compaction instead of helping. Shoes that offer to aerate your lawn as you are working in your lawn rarely ever achieve any real results. The best aerators on the market feature hollow tines to allow cores of soil to come out, and are heavy so that they can push their tines deep into the lawn.
The perfect aerator for lawn maintenance would need to be heavy, yet maneuverable, inexpensive, but not cheap, and something that the average homeowner can care for, much like the one that Everything Attachments has developed.
Ted from Everything Attachments has designed this aerator from the ground up with the sole purpose of being the best performing aerator on the market, at a factory direct price that all homeowners can afford. The wheels of the lawn aerator are made from 22 3/16″ plates bolted together, weighing a total of 85 lbs., so the wheels alone weigh 510 lbs. on the smallest size aerator, more than enough to get good cores out of your lawn.