Signs That It Is Time To Aerate My Lawn

A healthy green lawn brings life and vitality to a home. It makes your home and yard look clean and regal. A pristine lawn can even increase your property value. But maintaining a lawn to ensure it stays emerald green and glorious takes some work and regular maintenance. There is regular mowing and landscaping, fertilizing, and even aeration. Aeration is something not everyone does on a regular basis, but it’s very important. It is critical you notice the signs that it is time to aerate your lawn.

It is time to aerate your lawn when you notice peculiar puddles on your lawn, thinning grass or even notice your lawn is turning brown. Other signs that it is time to aerate your lawn include water absorption issues and noticeably compact soil. Heavily trafficked areas require more attention. Lawns should be aerated at least once a year, so if it has been longer than this, then consider aerating it.

Everyone knows they need to mow their lawn. Most homeowners with lawns have a seasonal nutrient, weed, and pest control routine to ensure the lawn stays uniform and green. But aeration, while sometimes tedious, is just as important to ensure new growth, health and longevity for your grass. Make sure you read further to know when you should aerate, and what the signs are that you should aerate the lawn right away.

As a general rule of thumb, you should aim to aerate your grass every year. There are, of course, some variables to consider when you set up a lawn aeration schedule. The point of aeration is to free up the soil and allow for new growth so that grass does not start competing with itself and struggle to find soft soil to root in.

For sandy, lighter soils, you can often wait longer, sometimes upwards of two years, before you need to aerate your soil. But for those who have more hard soil types, you should never wait longer than a year. This is especially true for those who have clay soil, which is notoriously hard. If your soil is frequently trafficked, or parked on with a vehicle, consider aerating it every six months.

One tell-tale sign that it is time to aerate your soil is when you start to notice puddles on your lawn in places they did not exist before. The puddles you should look for aren’t the ones you notice after a flash flood or tons of rain. Instead, when you notice puddles after minimal rain, or simply after watering your lawn, then it might be time to aerate the soil. This is a sign that the lawn has grown too thick and needs to be broken up a bit to allow water in. After all, without water, you will see a major decline in the lawn’s appearance.

Trees tell us all sorts of things. They can tell you when the soil is dry, when the air quality is poor, when the weather is warming up, and even when the lawn needs aeration. If you have trees (particularly younger more sensitive trees) surrounding your lawn, pay attention to them.

If you notice the trees are struggling more than normal for no particular reason, then you might need to aerate the soil. Trees will show these signs of struggle because non-aerated lawns might fail to provide the trees with the nutrients and water they need, since there is a barrier between the roots and the water.

Aerating your lawn is an important part of lawn maintenance. You should aim to aerate your lawn once a year or so. If you do not stick to a schedule, you should at least look out for all the signs it is time to aerate the lawn.

These signs include random puddles of water where puddles normally don’t form, thinning grass, or even grass turning brown.

If you notice a layer of dead grass (thatch) that is more than half an inch thick, or your soil is noticeably compact, then you should act quickly to aerate the lawn.