WHAT IS IT?
Aeration is the process of putting many small holes throughout your lawn and doing this gives your yard a better opportunity to be able to take in water, air, and nutrients. Without aeration, it can be challenging for your lawn to retain the necessary water, air, and nutrients. Once the property is aerated, it also gives your lawns roots a better opportunity to grow thicker, deeper, and healthier. In many cases the soil on a property begins to become compact and restricts the lawn from developing to its fullest potential, aeration will help solve this problem, and give your property an opportunity to live at its healthiest state. If your grass does become deprived of these essential nutrients as well as the proper amounts of water, and air than when there are extremely high temperatures, and or extremely low temperatures than your grass will be more likely to thin out over time and eventually die off. If you have any question or concerns about your property needing aeration, you should contact a lawn care professional today!
WHEN SHOULD AERATION BE DONE?
The best time for a lawn to be aerated is before and after it either goes into dormancy (early spring or late fall). It is essential that a lawn in the dormancy stage is not aerated because it will cause unwarranted stress for the yard. If you are located in Morris County and have cold weather grasses the best time for you to aerate your property is going to be early spring or early fall. However, if you have warm weather grasses which are more common in southern states, you should begin your aeration process in the late spring or the early summer months. Timing is very important in the process you should always confirm with a lawn care professional when looking to aerate the property because if the aeration project begins at an unfavorable time, there will be adverse effects to your property.
SHOULD YOU AERATE YOUR PROPERTY?
If your property experiences a lot of foot traffic, such as kids playing on the lawn, or pets running around the lawn soil compaction will begin to occur. If you have had a recent home renovation or some project that brought heavy machinery or a vehicle of some type driving or operating on your lawn than aeration can be a tool that could save your property. Additionally, large commercial lawn mowers can also cause soil compaction so if your lawn care professional does not properly shift its cutting patterns aeration will be required. If you want to test your property, you can stick a sharp object into your lawn and if it penetrates the soil with ease than your property most likely does not need any aeration.
WHAT TO DO AFTER AERATION!
Let your lawn heal! After the process of aeration is complete, you should stay off the lawn for a few days to allow for it to heal and rejuvenate. The chunks of the yard that come out from the aeration will naturally break down and go back into the lawn. It is also a great time to over seed the property after aeration, the newly aerated lawns give the seed a place to go and will expedient the growth process.
We would love to hear from you! Feel free to leave feedback and comments on our Facebook page. We will be posting a weekly blog post to educate people on lawn care so keep an eye out for our post! Additionally, if you have any question, please feel free to contact a Pando Landscapes’ team member today!