When planting grass seed, the most important thing to do is to make sure the seed has good contact with the soil for successful germination. Aeration and verticutting are essential practices when adding new seed to your lawn. Aeration and verticutting are slightly different processes, but both work to allow more water and nutrients into your lawn while also removing lawn thatch buildup. The result is a healthier, thicker lawn. Call Custom Lawn for these services in Olathe, Overland Park, and the Johnson County area:
- Seeding Services & Overseeding Services
- Aeration Services
- Verticutting Services
Lawn Aeration Services | Kansas City, Olathe, Overland Park
Lawn aeration involves removing plugs of dirt, usually 3/4″ in diameter and three inches deep from your lawn. This allows air, water, and nutrients to penetrate deeper into your lawn to reach the roots of the grass helping it grow stronger and deeper.
The main reason to aerate a lawn is to combat soil compaction. When the soil gets too compacted there is not a proper flow of water, air, and nutrients and the lawn suffers as a result.
Aerating Your Lawn
The best time to aerate your lawn is in the growing season so your grass can properly heal. For cool season grass, ideal aeration should occur in early spring or early fall.
We recommend aerating your lawn once a year. You should aerate your lawn if:
- It gets used heavily by kids playing, pets, neighborhood cookouts, etc.
- Was established as part of a newly built home as much settling occurs
- Your lawn dries out easily
- Water puddles on lawn after rain
- Vehicles drive or park on lawn
- Thatch layer is thicker than one-half inch
- Difficulty sticking a screwdriver or pencil into soil
- Heavy clay soil
- Thin, patchy, or bare grass
Lawn Seeding Services in Kansas City, Olathe, & Overland Park
Unless you are starting from scratch with bare dirt, most homeowners overseed, which is done to help thicken an existing lawn. It is critical to plant the right seed, quality seed, and to get good seed-to-soil contact for successful germination.
Best Time to Seed Your Lawn
When it comes to seeding your lawn, timing is everything. If you do not time the process right, the grass will not germinate properly or remain healthy for very long. Cool season grasses do best here in the Kansas City area.
The best time to plant cool season grasses is early fall. The cooler temperatures allow the grass seeds to germinate without drying out or burning up first.
Best Type of Grass Seed for Johnson County
Here in Kansas City, we plant cool season grasses including fescue and Bluegrass. Quality seed is critical when seeding your lawn. At Custom Lawn & Landscape, we only use high-quality seed. Most homeowners don’t realize it, but grass seed can contain weed seeds and other crops.
Look closely at the label when purchasing for “0% weed seed” and “0% other crop”, or you will be adding hundreds of weeds and undesirable grasses to your lawn inadvertently.
Verticutting Services
Verticutting is a similar process to a lawn aeration, but has a little bit of a different objective. Verticutting is mainly trying to cut through the lawn thatch so that new seed can make it down into the rich soil and not be stifled on the top by the compact soil and lawn thatch.
A verticutting machine cuts small grooves through your lawn’s thatch layer. These grooves allow for better soil contact with the grass seed and increased the rate of seed germination.
Verticutting Is Best for Thin and Bare Lawns
Because verticutting is a little more destructive than aeration, it can be harmful to your existing lawn. Verticutting is best for lawns that are thin and require a bit more work to restore. We would recommend verticutting for total lawn renovations when most of the yard is dead or bare. The lawn pros at Custom Lawn & Landscape can determine whether verticutting will help or harm your lawn.
Bottom line: When you want to improve soil conditions, use an aerator. When you want to grow a lot of grass seed, use a verticutter.
Lawn Maintenance After Aerating, Verticutting, & Seeding
Once your new lawn is established, proper maintenance will help keep your lawn healthy and growing. Custom Lawn provides Prescription Lawn Care Services that include weed control, grub and insect control, mosquito control, and fertilization.
If you need help with seeding, lawn aeration, or verticutting, give the lawn experts at Custom Lawn & Landscape a call at (913) 782-8315.
What's included
- Core aeration to relieve soil compaction
- Verticutting for thin and bare lawns
- Overseeding with tall fescue and bluegrass
- Seed with 0% weed seed and 0% other crop
- Seed-to-soil contact done right
- Follow-up care instructions
- Reseeding at no charge if you followed the plan and it failed
Questions about aeration & seeding
When is the best time to aerate and seed in Kansas City?
Early fall. Cool season grasses germinate best when air temperatures start dropping but soil is still warm. Early spring is the second best window.
What is the difference between aeration and verticutting?
Aeration pulls plugs of soil to relieve compaction and let water, air, and nutrients reach the roots. Verticutting cuts grooves through the thatch layer so seed reaches soil. Use an aerator to improve soil conditions and a verticutter when you need to grow a lot of new grass.
How often should I aerate?
Once a year for most Johnson County lawns. Aerate more often if your soil is heavy clay, the lawn gets heavy foot traffic, water puddles after rain, or you cannot push a screwdriver into the soil.
What kind of grass seed do you use?
Cool season varieties, primarily tall fescue and Kentucky bluegrass. We only use seed labeled 0% weed seed and 0% other crop. Cheap seed is how homeowners accidentally plant hundreds of weeds.
Where we provide this service
Aeration & Seeding is available across the Kansas City metro and Lawrence: Olathe, Overland Park, Lenexa, Leawood, Shawnee, Mission, Prairie Village, Roeland Park, Fairway, Spring Hill, Stilwell, Gardner, De Soto, Kansas City, Lawrence, Lee's Summit, Independence, Blue Springs, Liberty, North Kansas City, Riverside, Leavenworth, Paola, Louisburg, Kansas.
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