How to aerate a lawn

Lawn aeration 101: Why, when, and how to do it

Maintaining a luscious lawn requires dedication and effort. Achieving that perfectly manicured look involves more than just regular mowing, watering, and weeding. To ensure your grass receives the nutrients it needs, it's crucial to have healthy soil underneath. This is where lawn aeration comes into play – a key step in promoting a thriving lawn. By aerating your lawn, you allow air, water, and essential nutrients to easily enter the soil.

This article is your ultimate guide to understanding the aerating process. Discover the secrets to a healthier lawn. Let's get started!

What is lawn aeration?

So, what does aerating a lawn do exactly? Lawn aeration is the process of poking small holes into the soil beneath your lawn. This technique improves the air circulation of the soil, and doing so helps to improve its nutrient and water consumption. It’s crucial for the soil beneath your grass to have efficient air circulation. This allows stagnant carbon dioxide to escape, making room for fresh oxygen to enter. Not only does lawn aeration help with air circulation, but it can also penetrate piled-up thatch and reduce lawn compaction, helping to prevent moss growth.

Why do I need to aerate my lawn?

If you want to achieve a luscious, green lawn – aeration is one of the key ways of ensuring your grass stays healthy. Poking holes into the turf’s surface allows more air and water to circulate through the soil and reach the grassroots. This process creates a gaseous exchange; as the grassroots suck in oxygen, they expel stagnant carbon dioxide.

Aeration helps break through piled-up thatch, reduces lawn compaction (which is one of the main causes of moss), and allows your lawn to absorb water more efficiently. Your grass needs more water during the summer when the weather is hot, this is because a lot of the water evaporates through the leaves. If your grass is losing more water than it’s taking in, then there’s a risk of it turning brown and eventually dying.

When should I aerate my lawn?

The best time to aerate your lawn is one or two days after a rain shower, when your soil is still moist. Most people choose to aerate in spring or autumn, as these seasons typically see a lot of rainfall. It’s best to aerate your lawn in wet weather conditions because it’s easier to poke holes into damp soil. We suggest that you avoid aerating your lawn after extremely heavy rainfall, as the ground could be waterlogged – this is when the water sits on the surface of your lawn rather than draining through the soil.

How can I tell if my lawn needs aerating?

To maintain a healthy lawn, it is recommended to aerate once or twice a year. If you notice any of the following signs, it's a clear indication that your lawn is in dire need of aeration.

Soil compaction

Does your lawn feel hard to the touch? Or are you finding it difficult to insert gardening tools like garden forks, trowels, or shovels? These are all signs that your soil is compacted.

Thatched lawn

Does your lawn look brown after you’ve mowed it? This could be an indication of excessive thatch build-up. Thatch is a layer of dead grass and roots that build up between the soil and grass. If the thatch layer is more than half an inch thick, it can hinder water and nutrient absorption, and air circulation.

Poor water drainage

Is excess water running off your lawn? Or is water pooling in certain areas? This is a sign that your lawn isn’t effectively absorbing water, most probably due to soil compaction.

What’s the difference between scarifying and aerating my lawn?

Scarifying and aerating are two distinct lawn maintenance techniques. Scarifying involves cutting into the turf to remove excessive thatch build-up, while aerating reduces soil compaction by poking small holes beyond the surface. Scarification removes thatch, whereas aeration enhances air, water, and nutrient absorption in the soil.

What are the different lawn aeration methods?

There are three main types of lawn aeration: core aeration, spike aeration, and liquid aeration.

Core or plug aerators use hollow tines to extract small plugs of soil from the ground, leaving behind small holes in the lawn. Core aerators are generally considered more effective compared to spike aerators because they remove plugs of soil, allowing for deeper and longer-lasting benefits to the soil.

Spike aerators use spikes to punch holes in the soil without removing any soil plugs. It’s worth noting this process of spiking can sometimes increase compaction over time. Therefore, it should only be used for shallow aeration purposes. Liquid aerators are soil conditioners that can improve soil structure by breaking up compacted soil particles.

Liquid aerators are a useful alternative to physical lawn aerators since they can be used on lawns with difficult soil or weather conditions that makes physical aeration too difficult.

Our favourite lawn aerating tools:

How to aerate your lawn

So, now you’re aware of the basics of lawn aeration… it’s time to take on the task yourself. Read this step-by-step guide on aerating your lawn.

Step 1 – Choose the right time

Pick a suitable time to aerate your lawn, ideally during spring or autumn when the grass is growing. Avoid aerating during hot and dry periods, or excessively wet weather conditions. For best results, make sure the soil is moist. Dry soil is difficult to pierce, so we suggest aerating your lawn the day after a rain shower when the soil is soft.

Step 2 – Prepare your tools

Choose your aerating method and tool. This will depend on the size and condition of your garden’s grass. If you’ve got a particularly large garden, an electric aerator will let you cover a lot of ground in a short amount of time. However, you will need somewhere to store the machine and it might need regular maintenance. If you’ve got a small garden, we recommend using a manual aerator such as a hollow tine aerator or garden fork.

Step 3 – Aerate the lawn

Now it’s time to aerate. If you’re using a garden fork, manual spike aerator, or hollow tine aerator, cover the entire surface area with holes that are around five inches deep and leave a six inch gap between sections. If you’re using an electric aerator, we suggest following the guidance in the manual to ensure you do it properly.

Step 4 – Water and maintain

After aerating, give your lawn a good amount of water to help the soil absorb moisture. Repeat the aeration process once or twice a year to maintain a healthy lawn.