Spring Is the Time For Core Aeration

Spring is a great time to aerate your lawn to help get it ready for the season.  Regular aeration is necessary to reduce the soil compaction that naturally occurs throughout the year.  Compacted soil makes it harder for your lawn to grow and reduces the amount of moisture and nutrients that soak into the soil and promote health root grown.  Aerating the yard allows moisture and nutrients to penetrate deeper into the soil and loosens the soil so that turfgrass roots can grow deeper.  In addition, aeration helps reduce runoff by helping the soil absorb rain water.

During the winter, soil becomes compacted and spring aeration is necessary to loosen up the soil.  Core aeration increases the effectiveness of your springtime application of fertilizer and overseeding by reducing the amount of fertilizer and grass seed that is washed away.  Instead, the nutrients and seeds penetrate into the soil where the seeds can grow and the nutrients are available to nourish you lawn.

For best results, have your yard aerated by your landscaper.  Landscaping professionals use high quality core aerators.  A core aerator removes small plugs of soil and distributes the plugs on top of the lawn.  In most cases the plugs should be left on top of the lawn where they will decompose and add additional nourishment to the yard.

Spike type aerators should be avoided.  These use spikes to poke holes in the yard and are not nearly as effective as core aerators.  In fact, spike type aerators can even contribute to soil compaction.