Aerating a lawn is essential in most of the northern regions of Georgia because the land is so rich in clay. Clay becomes very compacted over time, and this reduces the grass’ ability to get water, air, and nutrients. It also makes it weak and susceptible disease. Aeration is the process of pulling out hundreds of tiny plugs from the yard, so it sort of resemble Swiss cheese.
Now (September and October) is the time to aerate your fescue lawn. This is because fescue is a cool season grass, and you want to aerate a lawn during its growing season. This means your lawn will recover quickly and benefit from the aeration for a longer period of time.
First, you must make sure your lawn is in the right condition to aerate, which means not too dry and not too wet. Dry soil may cause the tines of the aerator not to penetrate, and wet soil may plug the tines.
Piercing the ground with solid tines doesn’t do much because the soil remains compacted. Instead, use an aerator with hollow tines, so the plugs of dirt are removed from soil, and you get a true Swiss cheese effect. This is called core aeration, and a core aerator can typically be rented from a local equipment rental business.
You should have about 30 holes in every square foot of your yard. This means you’ll have to go over your yard multiple times in order to get enough aeration to be effective.
Did we mention Swiss cheese? No chunk of this alpine cheese ever had uniform holes all going in the same direction. Making passes in different directions ensures effective aeration because water and air can reach the roots of the grass in multiple directions.
When you are finished, your lawn will be quite the site. Even if you pick up the plugs (which is not necessary), your lawn will look stressed for a week or two. It probably already looked stressed, but you’ve now given it the chance to rebound. Be patient, and your lawn will look great in a week or two. If you leave the plugs, they will return to the soil without incident.
If you want have a healthy lawn that breathes well and gets proper water and nutrients, you need to aerate. If you have cool season grass, such as fescue, September and October is the time to do it. Aeration makes yards thick, healthy, and disease-resistant.
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Greenfeet Lawncare Provides Service to the Following Areas.
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North Fulton, East Cobb, Cherokee, Forsyth Counties - including Alpharetta, Canton, Cobb, Cumming, Dunwoody, Gwinnett, Johns Creek, Marietta, Milton, Roswell, Sandy Springs
