Aerating - filling holes

[johnnyshapiro]

Hi

When aerating should you fill the holes or leave them. if filling them what should you use

thank you in advance

 

[oneeye]

You can put compost or composted manure in them and it will help the soil a lot . I would just top dress the whole yard with compost after the aeration.

 

[Peace perfect peace]

Sand and the soil you removed, mix both until they're ready to be brushed into the holes using a good stiff brush and then water, wait a while and the mix would have settled and may need a repeat of this "filling and brushing", you should have plenty of the mix to do the job and some left over,

 

[DirtMechanic]

My yard is so big, not gonna brush by hand. How do you spread that much compost? I cannot imagine it being moist at all to spread well.

 

[Peace perfect peace]

Hi Dirt Mechanic,
Your reading what ive said wrong,
the 4inch compost over growing area"s ie borders is the way a lot of gardeners keep weeds down,
If you've a big area then it'll take you time to build up such an amount
And this is why its a life saver for the large area"s, The more ground you cover and slow down thge weed growing time , The more time you have to do other things;

Now ref spreading sand/compost in the holes after you've made the holes,
Then do one smaller area at a time,

I never said gardening was easy,

I live for my country life style and enjoy both learning new ways and never get to the stage we're i think " Im not enjoying this anymore"
If i did then its time to do things a bit differently,
Im pleased we have such a large amount of good machines /tools these days that make a lot of the jobs a lot less labour tiring.

 

[DirtMechanic]

Hi Dirt Mechanic,
Your reading what ive said wrong,
the 4inch compost over growing area"s ie borders is the way a lot of gardeners keep weeds down,
If you've a big area then it'll take you time to build up such an amount
And this is why its a life saver for the large area"s, The more ground you cover and slow down thge weed growing time , The more time you have to do other things;

Now ref spreading sand/compost in the holes after you've made the holes,
Then do one smaller area at a time,

I never said gardening was easy,

I live for my country life style and enjoy both learning new ways and never get to the stage we're i think " Im not enjoying this anymore"
If i did then its time to do things a bit differently,
Im pleased we have such a large amount of good machines /tools these days that make a lot of the jobs a lot less labour tiring.

It just rained a good bit and I have a pull behind plug aerator and I do believe I need to step on out there and get it done.

 

[DirtMechanic]

Ok that was a few hours of semi-muddy fun. The grass is long so when I mulch it will be a green manure type deal for the holes. I had fertilized earlier too so that is good. I thought to dethatch it but I did a big one for the fall seeding of fescue and its not that thick. So I punched it with 160lbs on the pull behind and we will see what happens. I had seeded burmuda and centipede when it finally started warming in late May so even some of those slow starters may show up in the holes. I have seen it happen before. With fescue as well. I have St Aug, Centipede, Fescues (inc red), Burmuda and I am trying to get some Bahia going in one sun anvil dry area.

 

[DirtMechanic]

Ok so I geeked and got out the power rake for dethatching. I told myself I was only gonna do the small area in the westernish front of the fence out by the street and the thin strip along the south side of the driveway.

OMG.

I had to get the pull behind lawnsweeper out. I would have lost a bet on the amount of thatch a fescue lawn can put out in 9 months.
Here is a picture of my power rake. https://www.gardening-forums.com/threads/stihl-mm-55-dethatcher-kit.16538/

 

[Peace perfect peace]

Hi Dirt Mechanic,
I still use the old tine "pull yourselfe method, But i must admit i like the look of that giant tooth pick one you've got,
As ive said pre our chat ref this subject, you can grow old and still do lots & lots of the heavy work thanks to modern machines,
Thanks for the photo and the idea for future "buy's"

 

[Mick Emery]

The guy that put the sprinkler system in, at my old house, said they use sand in the holes from cores. Spread over lawn & rake.
It helps the water go farther down & the roots seek it which makes them longer & healthier.
His main job was making golf courses around the world & seemed pretty knowledgeable.

 

[DirtMechanic]

The guy that put the sprinkler system in, at my old house, said they use sand in the holes from cores. Spread over lawn & rake.
It helps the water go farther down & the roots seek it which makes them longer & healthier.
His main job was making golf courses around the world & seemed pretty knowledgeable.

This is further proof that internet advice works for everyone but me. We have this gnarly clay that gloms onto sand particles and makes a beautifully hard conglomerate. What I need are some animals to pass away in it because I am sure it would preserve a fossil in a next level fashion.