Aerating your lawn is an essential part of maintenance to keep your landscape looking its best. Aeration involves punching small holes into the lawn and removing plugs or cores of dirt and thatch. It can be done on a DIY basis, but does require an aeration machine.
Why Should You Aerate Your Lawn?
Aerating your lawn helps to prevent the soil from compacting and allows the roots of your lawn to have easier access to fertilizer and water. Most lawns endure heavy foot traffic, whether from dogs, children, or lawn equipment.
Combine that with our heavy clay soils that are common in the Kansas City area, and soil compaction creates a difficult environment to grow grasses.
What Are the Benefits of Aeration?
Professional core aeration strategically removes plugs of soil and clears thatch, relieving the soil so air can more freely exchange among the roots of your grass, promoting robust lawn growth.
Small holes in the soil provide a pathway for water to soak into the soil and a way for fertilizer to reach the roots of the grass.
Additional oxygen reaches the soil and roots, and the soil stays loose and fertile, which supports the growth and health of your lawn.
What Are the Consequences of Not Aerating?
If you don’t aerate your lawn, the soil isn’t going to support the grass on your lawn, because it will be too densely compacted – also known as hardpan. When soil is hard and compacted, water and fertilizer sit on top of the soil.
On a slope, water and fertilizer – and any benefit that might otherwise go to your grass – runs downhill and leaves the high areas of your lawn overly dry. Unfortunately, the only thing that will grow in poor soil is weeds, and your lawn becomes full of weeds as a result.
How Often Should I Aerate My Lawn?
The frequency for aerating your lawn depends on the amount of foot traffic it endures, the time of year, and the type of soil you have in your landscape. Your lawn may require more maintenance during the growing season.
As landscape professionals, Custom Lawn & Landscape can assist you in determining how frequently your lawn will benefit from aeration.
Why Should You Hire a Lawn Professional to Aerate Your Lawn?
Aeration is a crucial process for the long-term health of your lawn.
This is especially essential in Kansas City’s southern Midwest climate, where large amounts of fall debris contribute to a heavier layer of thatch.
Why hire a professional service to aerate your lawn instead of handling the job yourself? We have six reasons, right here:
1. It’s a Time-Consuming Process
Core aeration is the best method for aerating a lawn, but it requires a careful plan for spacing plug removal and getting full, efficient coverage around landscaping and other obstacles.
2. You’ll Need Specialized Equipment
Proper aeration requires heavy equipment for core removal as well as de-thatching. Unfortunately, rental equipment tends to never get as deep or remove as many cores as professional equipment. Owning professional equipment is prohibitively expensive for many non-professionals, and rentals are still a large expense that require time and labor on your end.
3. Hours of Research Isn’t Enough
Lawn professionals have experience and have the expertise necessary for treating a variety of lawns. They know the local climate. They know the right approach to aeration for the time of year.
Hours of Googling simply don’t match up to the breadth of knowledge that a professional provides.
4. Managing Thatch Is a Balancing Act
Doing aeration right means leaving just enough thatch to reduce soil compaction. Too much mitigates the benefits of aerating, while too little can affect the overall health of your lawn. Professionals know how to get it just right.
5. Safety First
Core aeration involves jabbing large steel tools into the ground, which means there are several safety concerns involved with this task. Cables and irrigation lines are a worry, as well as your own feet!
Professionals work with these tools and machines every day and go through safety training. By hiring a professional to aerate your lawn, you’re protecting yourself from damaging your yard and from dangerous accidents!
6. Aeration Encourages Growth
The goal of aeration is to have a healthier lawn. But healthier soil also helps weeds grow faster, and in new locations. Have a lawn care professional deal with this problem before it arises.
As a professional lawn service, Custom Lawn and Landscape is your resource for lawn aeration and lawn care in Lenexa, Olathe, Shawnee, Overland Park, KS and in the Kansas City area. We use the industry’s best equipment, which provides golf course style reciprocating aerators to create more holes per square foot than any homeowner, rental equipment, or any other lawn company can provide.
While it is more time consuming to do it this way, we believe it’s the absolute best thing you can do for your lawn in the fall. Please contact us today for complete information about our lawn aeration and landscaping services.
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