How And When To Aerate And Overseed Your Lawn
During the hottest and most stressful months of the growing season, your lawn can take a real beating. As dry, stressed grass thins out, sometimes even going completely dormant, weeds will invade, diseases run rampant, and bugs move in. Lawns that are being regularly watered will usually do good, but even then, it’s likely the grass is suffering.
As the end of summer nears, one of the best lawn maintenance and recovery procedures available, is core aeration. Pulling small plugs from the soil, allowing air, water and fertilizer to reach grass roots can make a real difference in helping the lawn recover in the fall. Thin turf should be over-seeded. And the best way to over-seed an existing lawn, is to combine it with core aeration. As plugs or cores are removed, seed is dropped into the open aeration holes, where seed to soil contact is established and the seed is protected.
Watering regularly after aeration and over-seeding will ensure satisfactory seed germination in time for the new seedlings to send down vital roots before cold weather slows growth for the winter season. The results will be seen the following spring, as new grass plants fill in thin areas.
Aerators can be rented at tool rental shops and some big box stores. Seeding can be accomplished with a rotary or drop type lawn fertilizer spreader. A note of caution though: aerators, even the lighter models are very heavy and unwieldy. Transporting aerators can also be problematic. Without a pick-up truck and a method of loading and unloading the equipment, and a strong back, necessary to handle an aerator, perhaps the best option is to have a lawn care professional do the job.
Should you decide to have the lawn aerated and, if necessary, over-seeded, you’ll want to be sure the job is done properly. Like every other maintenance practice, there is a correct way to aerate and plant new seed. Hiring the local guy with a truck and aerator may or may not make sense. Wise homeowners have learned that, in the long run, where results count, scheduling aeration with an experienced service will deliver the results you expect.
If core aeration and lawn overseeding makes sense at your home, contact ExperiGreen and let experienced technicians make this important maintenance and repair job a no-brainer.
Prefer to do it yourself? No problem. Click here for what you need to know.
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