Best Times to Aerate a Lawn

One of the most important treatments for enhancing a lawn is to improve the soil. Allowing adequate moisture, nutrients and fertilizers to reach the lawn’s root bed improves the grass’ growth rate and health. Aerating the soil provides a means for vital necessities to penetrate the ground and feed the lawn. Both seasons and soil conditions determine the optimum times to perforate the ground.

Warm Season Grasses

After a long winter of dormancy, warm season grasses begin greening up in early spring. A plug aerator run through the lawn’s soil in spring will jump-start new growth and help prevent weeds.

Cool Season Grasses

Cooling temperatures with the approaching fall season brings out wintering grasses. Permeating the ground just before fall relieves soil compaction and allows rain and irrigated water to penetrate throughout the soil.

Clay Soil

Tightly-knit clay becomes impenetrable to moisture and necessary elements that promote vigorous lawn growth. Plug aeration applied twice yearly in these conditions aid in alleviating soil tension and creates paths for fall fertilizers and water to reach their mark.

Sandy Loam Soils

Generally loose and acceptable to minerals and oxygen, sandy soils need to be aerated every only three to four years or more. Nonetheless, occasionally running a plug aerator through sandy loam soils helps to improve distribution of minerals and moisture and encourages microbial growth.

Aerate Your Lawn

If a house is like a lovely diamond gemstone in an engagement ring, then the yard is the elegant platinum setting in which it rests. The flowering bushes and trees are much like smaller gemstones enhancing the sparkler at the center, and a lush lawn is like the gold mounting, polished to perfection. Mowing and watering are obvious. And you probably know about fertilizing. But were you aware a lawn needs aerating to keep it healthy and thriving? It reduces soil compaction—in which soil is tamped down—and allows water, air, and nutrients to flow down between the roots of the individual plant roots. Always aerate in mild temperatures to reduce stress on the grass, and never aerate in the summer, when many grasses are semi-dormant but the weed crabgrass is flourishing. Different soils have different aeration needs. Assess soil compaction by pushing a screwdriver or pencil into the ground. If it sinks easily to a depth of half the blade, the soil isn’t compacted. In this case, it definitely needs aerating.
* The grass looks patchy and thin, turns brown during heat spells, and stops growing in the August swelter. Many different manufacturers produce these tools; they cost roughly $25 to $80. Buying one of these will put you out several thousand dollars, so they are normally rented. 
* Towable plug aerators make short work of wide expanses of lawn. If you don’t want to do the aerating yourself, hire a lawn care company or landscaper to do it. Place your foot on the foot bar and push down fully into the earth.  3. These machines are generally gas-powered, with engines that are started by a pull-crank or sometimes an electric starter. Engaging the clutch starts the machine's wheels turning and the drum working to dig out cores of soil and grass. A towable aerator can be used if you own a riding lawnmower or small tractor, or can borrow or rent one. Make two passes, with the second pass made at a 90-degree angle to the first.