Over time your lawn can become compacted as a result of thatch and other unwanted material building up and creating a dense barricade. If this structure is not disturbed the lawn can literally become suffocated of air and water, resulting in conditions in which fungi and bacteria needed to help keep the lawn healthy, and in a constant state of re- growth and rejuvenation, are unable to survive. Once the lawn is weakened in this way it then becomes susceptible to disease and dry and tired looking grass that needs more than just fertilizer to put life back into it. The solution to these problems is to aerate the lawn.
What is Aeration?
Aeration is quite simply the process of breaking through the barricade of thatch in the lawn and giving it a chance to breathe and take on water. In most cases this involves ‘prodding’ the lawn either with a fork or lawn raker/aerator to create holes that allow the air and water in. However with particularly sticky or heavy clay soils this approach is ineffective as the hole will simply push the compacted thatch layer to one side, therefore moving rather than solving the problem. With this type of soil the only option is to physically remove soil to expose the grass roots and healthy soil with the aid of a hollow tine aerator, this device removes small ‘cores’ of soil giving this type of lawn a much better chance of recovery.
Aeration can be done in conjunction with scarification as part of the process of stripping back a lawn to be regrown, free of obstruction from thatch and moss. If a lawn is prone to thatch overgrowth, then aeration should be used to give the turf the best chance possible to thrive.
