Aerate Lawn?

[chrisfromwa]

Hi,
I thatched my yard for the first time this spring, first time in about 10 years. Pulled a lot of stuff up, and seemed to make things healthier but I still have some bare spots and the ground just looks hard in spots.

I have heard people say that I need to Aerate the yard to help get water down to the roots. Is this true?

Is it actually worth the time and effort to do this?

Thanks!
Chris

 

[Chuck]

Hi,
I thatched my yard for the first time this spring, first time in about 10 years. Pulled a lot of stuff up, and seemed to make things healthier but I still have some bare spots and the ground just looks hard in spots.

I have heard people say that I need to Aerate the yard to help get water down to the roots. Is this true?

Is it actually worth the time and effort to do this?

Thanks!
Chris

It is and it isn't. Aeration is an excellent thing to do but in my opinion an added expense and labor. If you will put about 1/4" of good compost and mix a good organic fertilizer with it on your entire lawn it will rejuvinate your lawn much better than just aerating it. And if you spray a mixture of 2 oz of mollases with 1 gallon of water over your lawn and water it in you will see results you cannot imagine.

Just aerating your lawn will definitely help in letting in oxygen and water to the roots but doing what I stated above will soften the soil and achieve the same thing as well as enriching your soil thus making a much thicker and healthier turf.

Also if you spray the molasses mixture about 4 times a year you will not have a thatch buildup. The molasses greatly speeds up the decomposition process of the old cut grass plus it will give the grass a little jolt of nitrogen.

 

[chrisfromwa]

Thanks for the response, I've never heard of the molasses thing before.
I'm going to try that! That seems like a very inexpensive thing to try.

 

[Chuck]

Thanks for the response, I've never heard of the molasses thing before.
I'm going to try that! That seems like a very inexpensive thing to try.

Go to the Organic Gardening forum on this site. There is a lot of information and helpful tips there

 

[jacksonmic]

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[Gardener]

I don't think it is worth the time and effort. I paid a student to do my lawn a while back, and I honestly didn't see any results. My lawn was the same old lawn, not any greener. I paid about 50$ to do it to, which is money better spent on adding more plants to my garden. I bought cow manure once and added that to my lawn, which showed significant results. My grass was much greener, and I didn't notice the weeds either, which was kind of strange.

 

[MindyT]

I can't imagine taking the time to aerate my lawn. I have a lot of clay in my soil. That is just how it is where I live. It would take me forever to puncture holes in it. Plus, the clay layer goes pretty deep. I don't think it would do any good.

 

[claudine]

I've never tried to aerate my lawn and I don't plan to do it. I don't need to. My little dog digs holes everywhere in our garden, it's his hobby Also, grass here looks pretty healthy and grows too fast.