Skip to content

With normal wear and tear the soil beneath your lawn can become very compacted resulting in poor growth due to the reduction of air circulation and correct water and nutrient absorption.

Aerating your lawn simply means punching holes throughout your lawn to about 7cm deep. By doing this at least annually; your lawn will be greener, healthier and less prone to thatch.

Daleys Turf directions to aerating your lawn yourself

  1. Damp conditions are best for aerating so do it in either Autumn or Spring. It’s important to allow enough time for the lawn to recover from the stress before the heat of summer really hits.
  2. You can test your soil to check whether it needs aerating by inserting a screwdriver into the soil. If the screwdriver goes in relatively easy, then your soil is fine and has no need of aeration. If you struggle to get the screwdriver into the soil then your lawn may be in need of aeration.
  3. Before aerating, it’s important to prepare your soil adequately. Mow the lawn first, clear any dead plants, fallen leaves, sticks and lawn cuttings. If this has formed into a layer of thatch, you will need to remove it as air and water won’t be able to penetrate the soil. You can use a metal rake to do this.
  4. To aerate you need to systematically poke holes in the ground either by spiking the lawn with a metal rod or garden fork. Push it into the soil to a depth of about 10cm and gently rock it back and forth. Repeat at 20cm intervals. If you have to aerate a large area, you may want to use a mechanical aerator.There are devices you can hire called lawn corers which will actually remove small cores of soil and deposit them on the lawn or you can use this device to remove them completely. These soil cores contain microorganisms which can enrich the soil and decompose thatch so you may want to leave them on the lawn.
  5. Once you have aerated evenly apply a thin layer of top-dressing to help loosen the soil and improve drainage. Use a spade or shovel to put the top-dressing on the lawn and then spread it out with a garden rake or broom.

This Post Has 0 Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back To Top