Do you have a poor-looking lawn, perhaps with disease or insect problems? Your first instinct might be to reach for the chemicals and blast away at your lawn. But often the problems are caused by horticultural practices (poor ones!) and the solution is a simple, non-chemical, non-toxic way to help your lawn recover.  Try an aerator first!

Pictured at left is a gas powered core plug aerator. These are big, heavy and expensive, but are available to rent. Better yet, rent someone to push this thing for you!

Aerating the lawn involves literally punching holes in the soil and extracting a soil plug that lays on the lawn and quickly dissolves. What you’ve created is a hole into which oxygen, water, and light goes, right down to the roots of the lawn. This simple practice can work wonders and should be the first thing you try to repair an ailing lawn before bringing out the heavy artillery. Many lawn care experts say that there is no need to dethatch regularly aerated lawns.

At left is a tow-behind (your lawn tractor) model core aerator.

Here is a more detailed article on whens and hows of lawn aeration from Clemson University. As you’ll see, lawn aeration isn’t difficult and you’ll love the benefits.

Our friends at the Cooperative Extension at Virginia Tech provide some more useful tips including information on aerating equipment.

Here are a couple of low-tech and environmentally friendly ways to aerate your lawn. The first picture shows a tried and true step-in tool that only takes your weight to push into the soil and pop out the soil plugs. This one is fun to use, but wear shoes with firm soles because after a while the arches of your feel will HURT!

The spiked sandals used to only be available in fashion-forward “gadget” and specialty garden catalogs, but now you’ll find them in just about every nursery and garden center. Strap them onto your sturdy shoes and just walk around the lawn. The sharp spikes slide into the soil. Unlike the other tools, the sandals don’t really remove a soil plug, but they do open up a hole for air, water, and nutrients to get deep into the root mass. And they give your legs a good workout!

Whether you do it yourself or hire a lawn care service to do it for you, the benefits of aerating your lawn are well worth the investment.