How to Aerate Your Lawn
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Aerating a lawn is one of the many tasks that can improve the health of your grass. Spring and fall are ideal times to aerate your lawn so that oxygen, water, and fertilizer can penetrate deeply into the soil. Overall its pretty easy and inexpensive, but these are a few tips and tricks to make sure you're getting the most out of your lawn.
Choose an Aerator
You can rent a gas-powered walk-behind core aerator for about $50-$80 per day, but only use it when the soil is moist and soft, but not muddy. This machine will punch holes into the soil and extract plugs of dirt. You can also tow a spike aerator behind your lawn tractor or use a manual aerator, though they can be extremely time consuming.
More: The Best Lawn Aerators
Check for Sprinklers
Before aerating, map out your sprinkler system and make sure there are no pipes or sprinkler equipment close enough to the surface of the lawn to get damaged. You also don't want to get too close to sprinkler heads as an aerator can easily destroy them.
Aerate Your Soil
Aerators use a series of hollow tubes that dig into the soil as you pass over it, and remove small tubes of dirt that can be up to 3-inches long. After a single pass, you'll be left with a lawn full of small holes. These holes will allow water, air, and nutrients to reach deep into the ground to promote turf root growth.
The discarded soil plugs will eventually decompose and release nutrients back into the ground. Don't take more than one pass across each section of your lawn because too many holes and damage your lawn.
Overseed, Fertilize, and Water
Immediately after aerating, you'll want to overseed, fertilize, and water your lawn. If you wait too long the holes will fill up and the soil will dry out. You'll also want to use a spreader to distribute seed and fertilizer evenly across your yard.
Call the Pros
If you've got a lawn that is an acre or more, you may want to call a professional landscaping company. Some charge as little as $100 for aerating 5,000 square feet, which is dollars well spent when time is money.
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